"Philafoodie" news and stories

Back in July, I wrote a post about how Craig LaBan, the food critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, was being sued by a local restaurant for libel. They claimed that he had incorrectly identified a cut of meat in an article, thus giving them a negative review that they hadn't deserved. The real big brouhaha about the whole thing was the fact that if the case when to trial, LaBan's secret identity would revealed, making it impossible for him to do his job effectively, as he would then always receive special service from the restaurants in question.

Well, LaBan's days of anonymity are now over, not because of the lawsuit, but thanks to Philadelphia Magazine who ran a picture of his face along with an article about the case in their September issue (as far as I can see, the picture is not available online). Folks have been buzzing about this decision, especially since Philly Mag editor Larry Platt has for years respected LaBan's choice to keep his appearance concealed. For further discussion about this latest installment in restaurant critic outing, check out Philafoodie's recent post.