"restaurant critic" news and stories

Last week, we got to know our very own Josh Ozersky through A Hamburger Today's interview series called "Grilled." This week, the burger boys have gotten a few words from New York Times dining critic Frank Bruni. He may be the dining critic, but it can't be about sushi on the sly and Joel Robuchon all the time. Sometimes a man just needs to eat a good burger (though Bruni does say that the second to last burger he ate was a pair of tiny beef and fois gras burgers at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Some choice quotes from the interview:

• On which is his favorite fast food burger: "the Hardee's Thickburger"
• "the Peter Luger burger, served only at lunch, didn't do it for me"
• On avocado as a topping: "I don't want it crowding my wondrous, gorgeous, sexy burger."

Michael Bauer posted a very interesting story from a reader on his SF Chronicle blog, Between Meals. The gist of it is that, on Mother's Day, the reader and his family showed up at a restaurant, arriving at the time of their reservation, to find that their table (and name) had been taken by another, already seated, party. The manager must not have believed that this family had actually placed the original reservation because, instead of offering to seat the displaced patrons as soon as possible, offering them free drinks in compensation, or even double-checking the cell phone number on the reservation, he said "you need to wait until a vacancy occurs in the reservation list. As it is Mother's Day, and we have only so many tables available, it may be an hour or so." 

Source

Last week, Nicole posted about San Francisco Chronicle food editor Michael Bauer's new food blog, Between Meals. If you haven't already, by all means check out his post about the factors he takes into consideration upon reviewing a restaurant. Whether you're a fledgling restaurant critic, an involved diner or just someone who wants more insight into the mind of a food writer, Bauer's list is a great glimpse. It should also serve as a helpful reminder to restaurant staff, especially the front of the house, that in many cases, not a single detail goes unnoticed.

[Via Amuse-Bouche, which was equally fond of Bauer's post.]