Eater

[Sneakeater]

22 minutes ago, Sneakeater said:

Although me, I'd order the testa.

Although if things go according to plan, I'll soon be eating so much headcheese at home that I'll never order testa out again.

[voyager]

13 hours ago, Sneakeater said:

I can only assume that McCart doesn't cook.  She doesn't shop the Greenmarket.  She isn't familiar with ingredients.  So when she saw the Foul Witch menu call out the Upstate Abundance potato variety, she must have figured that it had to be special in a way that could drive that dish's price.  And she did some internet research and misunderstood what she found.

 

A negative trifecta.

[Sneakeater]

Are they SURE pulque is non-alcoholic?

[Sneakeater]

Just to be clear about what I was trying to say in that long post, I don't want to read that a restaurant is charging too much for very high-quality prawns because all the writer knows are other less-good prawns (well really he said shrimp) that are cheaper, and then read that an expensive potato dish is worth it because the potato used is so expensive when in fact it isn't (although there's another ingredient in the dish, not fastened on by the writer, that is at least a little expensive).

If you don't know what you're talking about, don't publish professionally on the subject.

Morons.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Sneakeater

[Orik]

If you keep complaining about their google skills, they'll just stop and make things up instead. 

One of the most memorable dishes at early Blanca was their potato plate. I hope they bring that back.

[SethG]

5 hours ago, Sneakeater said:

Are they SURE pulque is non-alcoholic?

The actual Bar Nena menu literally describes pulque as “this ancient alcoholic beverage”

Edited December 12, 2023 by SethG

[small h]

I'm a little confused by the assertion that

Quote

Non-alcoholic fermented drinks..are a focus

when 90% of the drink menu is alcoholic drinks. Does focus not mean what I think it means?

[Sneakeater]

I'm sorry, I can't let go of this.

The other thing to note about that Foul Witch dish that knocked Melissa McCart out is that it's absolutely nothing new.  There are millions of variations you see at restaurants of caviar and smetana/sour cream/crème fraîche on blini.  Many of them involve swapping in smashed potatoes for the blini.  This Foul Witch dish is just another one.

I'm not knocking the dish.  Even in my rendition, it was tasty as hell.  And Foul Witch didn't make any claims for its originality.

It's just that when a food writer writes about something like this dish as if it's something new to her, exclaiming about its unique combination of "a designer potato [heh], butter [I'll bet she doesn't know that beurre blanc isn't butter, either], and umami", it makes me wonder about her credentials.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Sneakeater

[Sneakeater]

It's like a music writer writing about a rock show, "Wow.  There were two guitars, a bass, drums, and a vocalist.  The bass and drums played the rhythm, and so did one of the guitars.  The other guitar played melody and soloed.  I've never heard anything like it!"

[Sneakeater]

Can it be that Robert Sietsema doesn't know what an English breakfast is?

[Wilfrid]

Hopeless. English or Irish, or indeed Australian, but not surprising, even the beans.
 

I see Rosner is on Foul Witch this week but I haven’t read it yet.

[backyardchef]

13 hours ago, Wilfrid said:

 

I see Rosner is on Foul Witch this week but I haven’t read it yet.

I hope she blows the lid off of potato gate. 

Edited December 13, 2023 by backyardchef

[Orik]

I think I know the couple she mentions.

[relbbaddoof]

On 12/5/2023 at 12:07 PM, Sneakeater said:

Sietsema happily engages with the owners of a new Bengali restaurant. 

"Paya ($7.50) is a goat soup"

Paya is more a foot soup than a goat soup, and if you folk keep up this anti-Sietsema rampage you may find yourselves stumbling around.

[backyardchef]

9 hours ago, relbbaddoof said:

"Paya ($7.50) is a goat soup"

Paya is more a foot soup than a goat soup, and if you folk keep up this anti-Sietsema rampage you may find yourselves stumbling around.

Foot in mouth? 

[relbbaddoof]

9 hours ago, backyardchef said:

Foot in mouth? 

A mouthful of foot?

[backyardchef]

I am still shocked and surprised over and over again at this new and different world in which food "critics" suck. Lololol. 

[Wilfrid]

I think it's more interesting than that. Helen Rosner, long known as a long-form feature writer on food, turns out to be a really sharp and informed restaurant columnist. I don't think anyone here thinks Tammie Teclamariam sucks. We won't always agree with Pete Wells, but I would contest that he sucks. The replacement for Platt, Matt Schneier, hasn't seemed prepared to deal with the details of the food so far; but it's early days.

Then there are the ones that do suck -- although I think a lot of the pieces we criticize are written by young writers at an early stage in their career who just can't be expected to have breadth or depth of food experience (I wouldn't have had, aged 25 or 26). And the reasons those writers are shuffled out to do "criticism," or at least comment on food, are purely economical. They're cheap. A lot cheaper than Ryan Sutton, for example.

[backyardchef]

15 minutes ago, Wilfrid said:

I think it's more interesting than that. Helen Rosner, long known as a long-form feature writer on food, turns out to be a really sharp and informed restaurant columnist. I don't think anyone here thinks Tammie Teclamariam sucks. We won't always agree with Pete Wells, but I would contest that he sucks. 

I haven't encountered a food "critic" that I can stomach reading. But, I applaud the tenacity of the criticism in this thread. 

Edited December 18, 2023 by backyardchef

[Sneakeater]

Eater has acknowledged that the price of the Foul Witch potato dish is driven by the paddlefish roe, not the potatoes!  Potatogate has ended!

[Sneakeater]

But further down in that article, Prawngate continues!

[Sneakeater]

It's interesting that right below the blurb challenging Fox Nat's prawn pricing, they celebrate expensive offerings of butter.

It's not clear why they understand that one kind of food that's often inexpensive (or, at restaurants, free) can sometimes be justifiably expensive based on ingredient quality, but not another.

[Mitchell101]

5 minutes ago, Sneakeater said:

 

It's not clear why they understand that one kind of food that's often inexpensive (or, at restaurants, free) can sometimes be justifiably expensive based on ingredient quality, but not another.

It's as if my mother now writes for Eater. 

[small h]

Alright, I have some thoughts. First, about

Quote

Gotham Burger Social Club, a viral pop-up that’s opening on the Lower East Side early next year.

It's not a viral pop-up that's opening. It's a restaurant.

I'm also confused by the reference to

Quote

what used to be an accessibly priced classic (served with shrimp).

As far as I can tell, which is pretty far, 'cause I've had it, this "classic" is not WITH shrimp. It IS shrimp. Also, shrimp cocktail was never all that accessibly priced. That's why it's served in steakhouses. Get back to me when fried calamari is $10/ring.

[Anthony Bonner]

I just want to see the look of joy on Orik and Sivan's faces when they find out they are as vital as a dish of overcooked pepperoni with a cup of ranch!!!  To be in such hallowed company. They must be blushing with pride.