Our Pick for Richman’s Replacement: Ashford Lawrence, Shirtless Critic
While the food world wonders who will assume Alan Richman’s reviewing mantle, we’d like to offer an endorsement: Ashford Lawrence, a food critic like no other, played by local comic and Chappelle’s Show regular Donnell Rawlings. Despite a fondness for ascots, Ashford betrays a twinge of pedestrianism when he dines shirtless at New Leaf Café and requests wines such as a Tublanc Shakur and a 2013 Chardonnay (“I like my wines from the future”). Okay, so he doesn’t have the most sophisticated grasp of food— he declines a Heron Pinot Noir by snipping, “I don’t do drugs” — but, then again, Richman was never a hard-core foodie, and if there’s a line worthy of Richman’s hyperbole, it’s Ashy’s verdict on the lamb: “It’s like a midget cow!” All we ask of you, Bloomberg higher-ups, is that you watch the video.