"Robert Sietsema" news and stories

When restaurateur Noah Ellis decided to shoot a photo of longtime L.A. Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila and post it on restaurant Red Medicine's Tumblr yesterday, he broke a mostly unspoken code among chefs and the men and women who eat their food and then either throw some stars at them or maybe serve up a little vitriol on the side. It's the "we'll pretend we don't know who you are; you pretend you're just a regular customer" dance that chefs and critics do, sometimes more successfully than others.

According to the report on Eater, Ellis claimed Virbilia's "unnecessarily cruel and irrational" reviews . . . have caused hard-working people in this industry to lose their jobs. . . We didn't want her reviewing us. . . .Our purpose for posting [the photo] is so that all restaurants can have a picture of her and make a decision as to whether or not they would like to serve her."

Agree or disagree about the outing of Ms. Virbila? We caught up with Village Voice critic (and Slashfood contributor) Robert Sietsema to hear his thoughts on what it means to catch a critic. Read on after the jump.

Time Out New York has just done something a bit unusual. They have turned the tables on New York's critics and have given them reviews using a panel of distinguished experts in each of the various fields covered. Of course, at Slashfood, we're more interested in what they thought of NY's finest food critics, than of the art or theater reviewers. All were scored on a scale from 1 to 5 in the following categories: Knowledge, Style, Taste, Accessibility and Influence. Those scores were then averaged to reach a final score. A star rating might have been a little more appropriate, but this seems like a balanced way to quantify their performances.

Topping their list with a score of 4.08 is Peter Meehan, from the New York Times. He is usually featured in the "$25 and Under" column. His reviews were described as "smart, witty and very sensible...fair and almost always [place] the consumer first." Number two, with a score of 3.78 is Steve Cuozzo, from the New York Post. "Entertaining as hell to read... it's just too bad that he works for the least credible outlet in town." The other reviewers reviewed were: Adam Platt, multiple publications, 3.72 (No class at all: The words subtle and elegant are not in his vocabulary."); Irene Sax, NY Daily News, 3.68 ("The best cheap-eats columnist ever."); Frank Bruni, The New York Times, 3.64 ("Bruni is the George Bush of restaurant reviewers: He's a little man in a big job who got lucky but has never acknowledged the need to learn on this big job.... He's got an unfortunate, clear bias toward the Italian palate, and it shows in print."); Robert Sietsema, The Village Voice, 3.4 ("A joke."); Moira Hodgson, New York Observer, 3.3 ("stylish and congenial")

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This surely ranks as one of the strangest dishes I've ever eaten. Keep in mind that this roster includes guinea pig and squid guts. It's also one of the best shrimp dishes I've ever had the pleasure of eating. I learned about it when I read a review of Thai Food House by Robert Sietsema, the Village Voice's intrepid food critic.

At $19.95, oat shrimp may seem a bit steep, but I can't remember the last time I've had five such succulent specimens. Much less a quintet that was arrayed atop a mountain of crunchy oats and sesame seeds that would put Nature Valley to shame. Aside from being completely off the map as a concept for a dish, the combination of the meaty crustaceans with the granola brought a new dimension to mixing salty and sweet flavors. It's been a month since I thought about this surprising dish. I just might have to get back there and have it again.

Thai Food House, 41-02 College Point Boulevard, Flushing, Queens. (718) 321-7309.

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