At the Journal, No One's a Critic

by Nichol Nelson, Posted Mar 11th 2010 @ 5:00PM

The newspaper business isn't exactly stable these days, but still, the departure of Wall Street Journal restaurant critic Raymond Sokolov is somewhat of a surprise. According to the New York Times, Sokolov, who's been a critic for The Journal for four years, was recently asked to cover food trends instead of writing reviews. He opted to leave the paper instead. "We certainly parted amicably," he told the Times. "The conversation was as friendly as it could have been."

But here's where things get a little bit confusing: Sokolov says he was told that the Journal was discontinuing restaurant reviews altogether, but Ashley Huston, the paper's director of communications for the paper, says otherwise. "We are not abandoning restaurant reviews and are still committed broadly to food coverage," she told the Times.

So what's behind the move? It could be related to the Journal's plans to create new section centering around New York City. While at the Journal, Sokolov covered restaurants around the globe, from Las Vegas to London. Perhaps the paper is planning to hire a New York critic to compete directly with the Times. We won't know until the Journal makes a move, but we wouldn't be surprised to see Sam Sifton end up with a little friendly competition.

Filed Under: Newspapers