"They were pillowy in the sense of the word that describes the taste of a pillow." That killed me, I admit. Still, I worry that Mr. Sifton will wander down the same terrible path that I fear Anthony Lane has gone down, i.e., writing prose so delightful in its rapier wit that the articles become more about the writing than the thing being reviewed.
Maybe it won't be devastating, but instructional. Sifton very clearly laid out the problem…consistency. That can be fixed in a restaurant, but it takes discipline. Maybe Sam2 will rise to the challenge.
More difficult, the fact that the restaurant was outed as a place where a Real Housewife might hang.
THAT makes it a non-starter for me.
Yikes. Sifton's finally taking up the mantle from my favorite Bruni review, of Ago in 2008:
"This restaurant isn’t in the hospitality business. It’s in the attitude business, projecting an aloofness that permeated all of my meals there, nights of wine and poses for swingers on the make, cougars on the prowl and anyone else who values a sort of facile fabulousness over competent service or a breaded veal Milanese with any discernible meat. The one I had one night was pounded so thin that the breading on top met the breading on the bottom without pausing for much of anything in between. A vegan could have made peace with it."
That's one of the best written, devastatingly negative reviews I can recall reading. Poor Sam.
Heads will roll.
Thought experiment: Would a comparable document about fishwrapper served by the Times likely have the same consequences.
"They were pillowy in the sense of the word that describes the taste of a pillow." That killed me, I admit. Still, I worry that Mr. Sifton will wander down the same terrible path that I fear Anthony Lane has gone down, i.e., writing prose so delightful in its rapier wit that the articles become more about the writing than the thing being reviewed.
I guess I'm glad he won't be in South Carolina when I go.
this is delightful
Maybe it won't be devastating, but instructional. Sifton very clearly laid out the problem…consistency. That can be fixed in a restaurant, but it takes discipline. Maybe Sam2 will rise to the challenge.
More difficult, the fact that the restaurant was outed as a place where a Real Housewife might hang.
THAT makes it a non-starter for me.
"Menu listings and prices are subject to change."
OUCH!
Yikes. Sifton's finally taking up the mantle from my favorite Bruni review, of Ago in 2008:
"This restaurant isn’t in the hospitality business. It’s in the attitude business, projecting an aloofness that permeated all of my meals there, nights of wine and poses for swingers on the make, cougars on the prowl and anyone else who values a sort of facile fabulousness over competent service or a breaded veal Milanese with any discernible meat. The one I had one night was pounded so thin that the breading on top met the breading on the bottom without pausing for much of anything in between. A vegan could have made peace with it."
@Astigmatism That was the one with the Poseidon Adventure of wine spills, right? That was one fantastic takedown.
Zing zang zam!