Guest reviewers
(Sun archives)
In a comment under the "No Review Preview Today" entry on Sunday, Robert asked why The Sun doesn't use a guest reviewer when I'm on vacation.
It's not my decision, but I'm just as glad I don't have a substitute. I have two selfish reasons and one more altruistic. ...
The first selfish one is that I don't want to give up any restaurant to anyone else. What if the one time Happy Eater Rob goes in my place he gets the four-star meal and I miss it? (Of course, I realize how extremely unlikely this is, but I'm the kind of person who hoards chocolate. Only another foodie would understand.)
The second is that half the readers will think it's me anyway because no one looks at bylines. No matter how big the box is announcing that I'm on vacation, people will still think they remember me saying I hated that new sushi place.
The more altruistic reason is that readers rely on my opinions being consistent, so to throw in a reviewer for one week doesn't give them any context to judge whether they would agree or disagree.
I thought Robert's idea of running very old reviews of iconic restaurants an excellent one, but I don't know if relative newcomers to the city would agree.
I've also thought of writing up capsules of recently run reviews to print when I'm on vacation -- say, the last five -- but I don't know if readers would find that useful or not.
No one was able to identify the Peppermill in the entry yesterday. How about an easier one: What's the restaurant in the photo above? Would you want to read a 17-year-old review of it?
Comments
Art floor to ceiling; strawberry pie (why show the other desserts?) can only be Haussner's!
We have a winner. Elizabeth
Posted by: Alan | July 10, 2007 5:01 PM
I'm relatively young and guessing by the paintings on the walls behind her, I think its the Hausnners?
We have two winners. Elizabeth
Posted by: Eric | July 10, 2007 5:07 PM
I think it is a great idea to run old reviews, if not in the paper then on the blog.
Posted by: MWW | July 10, 2007 7:24 PM
I disagree that newcomers to the city would not be interested in the old restaurants. I am interested in bygone restaurants of other cities. I always find it fascinating to see what regional foods were once prominent in an area. I think you can tell a lot about the history of a city by finding out what they ate. As Brillat-Savarian said: "Tell me what you eat, and I will tell what you are."
Now are there some people who wouldn't care? I'm sure there are, but who really cares about those people. They are probably the same kind of people who don't care about books, music and film created before they were born.
I'm only 32, and I never got the chance to go to Hausner's, Chesapeake, Harvey's or Marconi's, but I love hearing stories about those places.
Posted by: Robert | July 10, 2007 9:57 PM
Haussner's strawberry pie! (sniff, sniff!) My daddy used to pick up a whole pie to go. I attacked it first, eating all of the toasted almond slices off the top, then having a big slice.
Sometimes Mom and I would sneak up there on a lark (we lived in Fells Point, and Highlandtown was just a short #10 bus ride away) and have lobster dainties, fried eggplant, and stewed tomatoes, and eat all of the fancy rolls. Good times, and tons of nostalgia for my childhood.
I don't mind a week without a review. You deserve first crack at the 4 star meals (because they are so rare). But if you ever decide you need a substitute, I'm your woman. :)
Posted by: Kathy | July 11, 2007 9:11 AM
You may want to change the file name on the pictures you use for these "Guess the Restaurant" things. If you hold your mouse over the picture it gives the file name - in todays case "haussner%27"
Good point, but since there's no prize I'm not going to worry too much about cheating. :-) Elizabeth
Posted by: Andy | July 11, 2007 9:24 AM