A question from MM
Hi Frank, I just finished reading your book and I would like to thank you for sharing such an honest recount of the journey of your life. Not only you have attained great heights in journalistic achievement through your previous work, but by writing this book you have successfully underscored the ability to overcome the challenges of human weaknesses by self-control. I am sure it will provide inspiration to many. I have two questions for you:
1) As a food critic, you tried all possible ways to hide your identity (you mentioned them in your book and they were really funny), but now you do not have to go through that. Will you feel unease visiting restaurants you have reviewed in the past (including the ones you gave not so good reviews)?
2) Now, due to websites like yelp.com, many people have become food critics of their own, writing reviews for the local restaurants they frequent. What are your suggestions to write a good restaurant review?
I live in Washington, DC and I look forward to seeing you at the Politics and Prose tomorrow. Once, congratulations on your new book!
Best Regards,
MM
Answer:
Thanks for your kind words, and to answer your questions:
A restaurant I reviewed negatively is probably a restaurant I wouldn't visit. So that's a scenario I think I'm unlikely to encounter. I've been visiting, as myself, with reservations in my own name, restaurants I DID like, and it's sort of neat for the servers and chef(s) there to be able to interact with me without pretending they don't know who I am. The wall's come down, and it's nice, and in six months if not a whole lot sooner they'll see me as just another customer, and just nod at me, I'm sure. That'll be nice, too.
A good restaurant review? It's honest, clear and passionate if the feelings about the restaurant are strongly positive or negative. It's lively. And it gives you enough basic information about the restaurant in the course of what is, in an ideal circumstance, a less blunt, prosaic piece of writing.
