Food writing gurus will be interested to hear that there’s quite a bit of buzz going on over on the other coast regarding the anonymity of several high-profile restaurant critics.
In the City of Brotherly Love, brothers aren’t getting along very well, with Philadelphia magazine slated to print a picture of the Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan, thereby eliminating the anonymity his reviews provide. Predictably, LaBan and his newspaper aren’t too happy about this development and are doing everything possible to stop it from happening. LaBan even showed up in court with a disguise. He had to remove it, but still.
Meanwhile, over in Manhattan, the big news in the restaurant world and food blogosphere is the first review from the Daily News food critic: Danyelle Freeman of Restaurant Girl fame. Why is important? Well, she’s not anonymous. Like, at all. Food writing Hall of Famer Gael Greene recently shared a meal with the blogger-newly-gone-critic and expressed her dismay over Freeman’s lack of anonymity:
Danyelle is suspiciously thin for a restaurant critic in a summery cotton halter dress.“They say I can’t be a critic because my photograph is out there. I don’t think you need to be anonymous.”“I think you do,” says her mentor.“They can’t bring in a new chef,” she argues.“But they can insist the chef come in if he’s on his day off. Jean Georges is always appearing in immaculate whites whenever I wander in – anonymously – to one of his restaurants. Let’s order and get it over with”
Food writing gurus will be interested to hear that there’s quite a bit of buzz going on over on the other coast regarding the anonymity of several high-profile restaurant critics.
In the City of Brotherly Love, brothers aren’t getting along very well, with Philadelphia magazine slated to print a picture of the Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan, thereby eliminating the anonymity his reviews provide. Predictably, LaBan and his newspaper aren’t too happy about this development and are doing everything possible to stop it from happening. LaBan even showed up in court with a disguise. He had to remove it, but still.
Meanwhile, over in Manhattan, the big news in the restaurant world and food blogosphere is the first review from the Daily News food critic: Danyelle Freeman of Restaurant Girl fame. Why is important? Well, she’s not anonymous. Like, at all. Food writing Hall of Famer Gael Greene recently shared a meal with the blogger-newly-gone-critic and expressed her dismay over Freeman’s lack of anonymity:
