Blowing Craig LaBan’s Cover

Inquirer food critic Craig Laban has a problem: Philadelphia magazine is going ahead with plans to publish a non-disguised picture of him in their September issue. LaBan has been traditionally protective of his identity — which is not much of a surprise, given Philly’s food-obsessed media. However, the Chops/Alex Plotkin libel lawsuit has been taking its toll on LaBan and Plotkin’s plan to unmask LaBan has apparently worked. Although LaBan has taken steps to put disguised pictures in the media over the past year (such as the photograph from a recent Inky feature above), this will be the first picture of him in a major media outlet… Though, with a bit of creative Googling, one can find pictures of him from a weekly community newspaper. Shh.

Over at the Daily News, Dan Gross got a sneak peak of the Philadelphia issue in question:


In his editor’s letter, Philadelphia magazine’s Larry Platt writes that LaBan’s photo has already appeared in the Chestnut Hill Local and Ted Beitchman’s Real Philly magazine. Platt says Philly mag has always protected LaBan’s identity, but “this whole debate of his anonymity just smacks of so much self-importance. Listen, the guy eats meals and writes about them. He’s not Valerie Plame, okay?”

Mag blows food critic’s cover [Daily News]

Tags:

Blowing Craig LaBan’s Cover