The Other Critics

Bauer Pans Va de Vi, Twice

This is interesting. We have our second test case today for how Michael Bauer is handling the whole paywall situation over at the Chron (please see SF Appeal’s coverage of navigating our first week of this awkward new world), and in the case of his update of Va de Vi in Walnut Creek, he’s essentially re-written the whole review on the blog for all to see. No need to pay for that content today, as Bauer has laid out almost all of the same points about new chef Andy Phillips’s food on the blog (in 520 words, versus the 560 of his review), and revealed his downgraded star rating — two stars down from three, stars which by the way aren’t even visible in the sfchronicle.com version at present, due to some flub. He goes into some more detail about the previous chefs at the restaurant on the blog, and in the review he has a few more negative notes about the dishes, like some bland Meyer lemon ricotta ravioli and some decent fried chicken thighs that were sitting in a “too generous pool of Korean chile sauce.” But the differences end there. Anyhow, it looks like Va de Vi will drop off the Top 100 this year for the first time in eight years. [SFChronicle.com, Between Meals/Scoop]

Bauer Pans Va de Vi, Twice