“from someplace else.” To add insult to an upset stomach, his publicist emailed me right after the article came out, blasting me for only-listing the chef and the GM as the lead on-site collaborators, but not making men- tion of their ten or so side partners, even though they have nothing to do with the restaurant’s day-to-day operations other than as minority investors. She then haughtily demanded a revision within the online reprint. “If you don’t, then I’m going to go to your editor.”
“I’ll tell you what,” I responded, copying said editor in the process, “I’ll include all the other partners’ names, and then I’ll also insert the part I had initially left out of the magazine - the one where I got sick as a dog on the salmon wrap, and your chef declined to take responsibility for it. Will that work for you and all of those extra partners who really want to see their own names in print?”
Obviously, she didn’t take my “bait.”
Another occupational hazard of mine - one that’s also a rarity, yet it happens from time to time - is the owner who refuses to see me or take my calls when I’m seeking to build their story. (My rule of thumb: No backstory = No story. I won’t write about a place if I don’t have all the pertinent details.)
Why, you ask, would a person decline to be interviewed for an article that will be ostensibly read by tens of thousands of hungry locals, and in effect receive free in-print advertising and promotion for a month, not to mention a life online indefi- nitely?
Well, I suspect it had something to do with their culture. You see, each time I was pur- posely being ignored, it was by someone who
7 8 Marchz April2020
had recently come to this country from an- other one, namely Vietnam and China. These fine, hard-working business folks were simply being (rightly) suspicious about the lurking magazine guy (me) asking lots of questions. Most-likely, they thought I was there to scam them. Add to this a definite language barrier, and it makes better sense as to why they avoided me.
Although most unsure restaurateurs will finally get the gist of what I’m there to do, I still get the cold shoulder from time to time. (To the owners of the tasty hotpot restaurant along Route 30, the pho place in Bryn Mawr, and the sushi spot in my old hometown, I take no offense whatsoever to your strong silences!)
Critics can be harsh, but no one can be more hypercritical than the public - especially toward critics! Want proof? Pull up the responses received each week by Ryan Sutton (EATER), Pete Wells (New York Times), or Philadelphia Magazine’s own Jason Sheehan - all of whom receive their own share of mean-spirited skewer-ings on a regular basis.
With this in mind, I’ve had a few folks chime-in in disagreement over some of my own missives over the years, yet never so harshly as the occasional drubbings I’ll receive from “The Artful Diner,” a.k.a. Art Namedorf - a local independent freelance food writer who skillfully covers Delaware Valley restaurants. [Check out his stuff on
artfuldinerblog.com. Dude may be my toughest critic but he’s all-pro; a very thorough and skilled reporter.]
Occasionally pulling up his blog over the years, I realized that I had become a sort of a bullseye for Art. He’s drubbed me for not
being critical enough, labeling me “Ken ‘I never met a restaurant I didn’t like’ Alan.” He once bashed a submission of mine by calling it a “non-review review.”
To defend myself in a polite (yet explanatory) fashion, I took the time to submit an online rebuttal on his Comments section, seeking to inform Art(ful) that, in no uncertain terms, do I pander to restaurateurs, and with only 650 review words at my disposal, I can’t exactly spend 250 of them lambasting a place.
Main Line Today readers want good, vital information, not pithy, run-on smackdowns.
However, I will concede the following: That “non-review review” comment of his was absolutely on the money. I’ll explain…
Prior to 2018, my writings for MLT were being handled indirectly through a second party contractor - a very reputable online- blogging outfit. My editors within that company always wanted me to hit the restaurants with the biggest ‘wow factor’ immediately after their openings, even if it meant dining there within the first few weeks or even days, which is a no-no of mine for obvious reasons.
This was the case with that “non-review review.” My masters were so intent on my visiting the place right out of the gate, I ended up conceding to them by taking a look-see in just the very first week in operation.
This was the only time in my reviewing career where I had to dance around the critiquing process by leaving out my typical observational aspects, which are usually within my copy. Mr. A. Diner apparently saw through my journalistic dance-around.
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