Buquebus And Best B.a. Restaurants.

[Ries]

Dan-
I was the one you are "defending" yourself against, and I want to re-iterate that I am not attacking you, either personally or professionally, and that I respect and appreciate your website, reviews, and thoughts on food in general.

I can only repeat my earlier statement about learning a reviewers personal tastes, thru reading their writing, then sampling the reviewed things yourself, and building a personal opinion of where you agree and disagree.

I read Saltshaker reviews, and find them valuable.
Same thing with Pick Up the Fork.

 

[SaltShaker]

"Defense" was probably a poor choice of words. I didn't really take it as an attack, and that was why I prefaced that responding may have been a mistake. It was more to let you know that I'm out there, reviewing, and quite actively. I probably should have just left it alone.

 

[Redbeanz]

"Defense" was probably a poor choice of words. I didn't really take it as an attack, and that was why I prefaced that responding may have been a mistake. It was more to let you know that I'm out there, reviewing, and quite actively. I probably should have just left it alone.

We've enjoyed and trusted your reviews for 8 or more years, Dan, and look forward to updates on old favorites, along with new choices. Keep it up, please!

 

[Mano Negra]

Personally I get much more out of Dan's reviews as I can normally tell whether I will enjoy a restaurant or not from reading them. I do read Alys' to keep in touch with what is new out there but I cannot decipher them in terms of my own tastes and have to admit I find the non stop sexual metaphors very unhelpful as explanations of the quality of the food. I suspect Dan has a more varied and cosmopolitan food background (and of course more years of experience) and the fact that he is also a chef lends interest on the technical side, at least if one cooks oneself. I also find that there is a difference between the US and the European palate and that Dan's tastes, which perhaps are derived from what I think of as more classical cookery, are closer to my own. Finally, he doesn't get confused between the quality of flavour and the beauty of the presentation, which I find a big problem in the obligatory photo food blogging world and I find it more helpful to read a negative review of a restaurant than none at all.

 

[SaltShaker]

Thanks. If, by the way, there are older reviews that any of you think are really off-base these days because a place has changed over time - I'd always love to hear about it (probably best to just send an email or tweet or something, since I may miss it on this forum) - gives me a reason to go back and re-check something out. Given how much is happening here in town, I sometimes just don't hear about the changes - a new chef, new ownership, new style - and places like that that have made the effort to improve deserve another chance! There have been quite a few "redux" reviews that I've done over time that have completely changed my opinion about a place.