Philadelphia Inquirer Food Critic sued by local restaurant

Craig LaBan, the food critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer is currently being sued for libel by Chops, a suburban Philadelphia restaurant. LaBan wrote a short review of Chops calling their strip steak "tough and fatty." The restaurant claims that LaBan didn't have the strip steak, instead eating a steak sandwich without the bread. The receipt for the meal that LaBan still has in his possession is for the steak frites, which the restaurant admits is a dish served with a strip steak.

The issue these days isn't so much about the lawsuit as whether LaBan will be able to keep his identity a secret if the case goes to trial. Back in June he filmed a deposition, which, if the case does not settle, will become part of the public record and accessible to anyone who wants to take the time to look it up. A concealed identity is a vital part of the restaurant reviewer's array of tools, as they go to restaurants to have the same experience as any one of us. If the restaurant knows who they are when they walk through the door, they will be treated differently which defeats the purpose of the review.

There is a terrific food blogger (who also happens to be a lawyer) in Philadelphia who has been closely following this story. You can find his coverage (which is much more complete than my summary) here, here and here.

The backlit picture of Craig LaBan is from an article that appeared in the May 24, 2007 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, in which LaBan celebrates the great hamburgers available in the Philadelphia region.