I was reading the story about Tio Pepe in the current issue of Baltimore magazine, and that got me thinking about the last time I reviewed our city's favorite Spanish restaurant. It was a couple of years ago. (Here's the link to the review.)

Anyway, I still smile when I think of it because it's the No. 1 example of You Can't Win in Restaurant Criticism.

I got two pieces of mail in response to the review. One was a snail letter, clearly written by someone who's lived here a long, long time, outraged by my negativity, nastiness and small-minded pickyness toward one of the city's great treasures. The second was an e-mail, even more outraged if possible, expressing total disgust at my fawning review filled with undeserved positive comments. It ended by saying I must have been paid off by Tio Pepe's owners.

You have to wonder if either of them read the same review I wrote. Or maybe that's when you've done your job, when you annoy everyone. I can't quite decide. 

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun Photographer)