Consuming Ambitions

Zagat Survey for San Francisco and the Bay Area

It's that time of year...until April 15, participate in the Zagat online survey and receive a free copy of the resulting 2008 version of the guide when it's published in the fall of 2007. Reviewing a restaurant only takes a minute or two: give three ratings on a scale of 0 to 3 for each of food, decor, and service, then guesstimate the cost per person of dinner plus tip, and write one or two pithy comments, and you're done! There is even a $100 bounty for the wittiest comments. So once you get that pesky tax return in, review a few of your favorite (or hated) eateries and see your handiwork in print later this year.

Spicy Words Dished by Food Bloggers

Following on the heels of last month's New York Times piece on the "sharp bites" taken by increasingly influential food bloggers, which I had blogged at the time, this morning's Sunday San Francisco Chronicle featured a front-page story on the same phenomenon: Food Bloggers Dish Up Plates of Spicy Criticism. (Thanks to Mike Capuano of Cisco, who rang me bright and early to make sure I caught the story; and also to the others who tipped me off.)

As the name implies, the Chronicle piece highlights the potential for bloggers to tear down restaurants and angles more towards the lack of standard journalistic practices in the blogosphere, echoing a concern frequently cited by many commenting in recent press on the rise of citizen journalism. One other interesting contrast between the articles is the heavy mention of Yelp in the Chronicle, whereas the Times article does not mention the community review site at all. It makes sense that Yelp would get greater exposure in the Chron, given that San Francisco is Yelp's flagship city, where its community is the strongest. For any foodie based in the Bay Area, I'd say that Yelp is a great resource to complement your favorite food blogs or newspaper reviewers. It is not a replacement for a well written blog or restaurant review that captures the nuances of a restaurants, recommends good dishes or warns of ones to be avoided. In fact, I often find that Yelp reviewers are totally out to lunch (yes, pun intended!); I totally disagree with many of the comments. Where Yelp shines is in breadth, both in terms of encyclopedic coverage of the Bay Area restaurant scene, as well as a wide range of opinions for any one given place. Whereas a blog or restaurant review provides one person's opinion, Yelp gives you the "wisdom of the crowds." I've found that for any place with at least a dozen or so reviews, the average rating tends to be directionally correct, a fair representation of the quality of a restaurant. Even though a review site tends to bring out the extremes (i.e. people only write in when they really love or hate something), and despite the fact that any restaurant in Yelp with enough reviews will have people posting polar opposite opinions on the same place, I have never seen a really good place with a bad average rating in Yelp, or vice versa. If there is a clear trend, the outliers get averaged out and you get a good picture of reality. So even after I read a compelling restaurant review in a blog or print media, I always like to "sanity check" it in Yelp too -- a nice complementary resource for those of us in the Bay Area, or the few other cities where Yelp is beginning to get to critical mass.

Growing our Liquid Assets

My second-cousin-in-law Richard Wolf of Buffalo Trace forwarded me a recent article from Forbes describing the arc of American beer and bourbon as it has progressed from (in the words of the article) "colored water and paint thinner" to quality products winning respect internationally. The American wine industry followed a similar path as it climbed in world recognition from also-rans to top tier, with a quantum leap provided by the vinous 1976 "shot heard round the world" where the Americans spanked the French at a blind tasting in Paris.

There are really two interrelated phenomena here. The improvement in American "liquid assets," our wine, beer and spirits, is not merely the fruit of the labors of artisans such as Harlen Wheatley (whose Buffalo Trace Distillery has won over 150 awards since 1990, more than any other distillery in the U.S.). The artisanal movement must be matched by, and indeed supported by, a refinement of the American palate. In other words, if we Americans were content drinking swill, the Harlens of the world would find little market for their high quality, but more expensive, product. (By the way, how excellent is it that a guy who makes wheat-based spirits is named "Wheatley"? Although given that at least 51% of bourbon must be made from corn, he would more aptly be named "Corny" -- somehow it does not tickle the ear the same way.) So there is a virtuous circle, with increased American consumption of higher-quality wine, beer, and spirits giving rise to greater numbers of domestic craft brewers and quality wine and spirits, which in turn engender even greater numbers of fans. I'll drink to that!

Have It Your Way

As a foodie I don't hit the fast food joints that often, but there are those times and places (such as the long, long drive down I-5 between the Bay Area and Los Angeles) when you just have to do it. For those times, or for those who just like the occasional Big Mac or Gordita (the latter is Spanish for "Check out how fast I can ingest 25% of my recommended daily fat intake, and 32% of the sodium"), check out The Really Big Guide to Secret Menu Items brought to you by the Consumerist (the blog where "Shoppers Bite Back"). In this compendium (well, actually it's just a really robust blog post) you can find out how to go off the menu with style at some of your favorite fast food joints and diners. Examples: chili is supposedly no longer on the menu at Chili's (who knew?), but they will bring you some if asked. You are taking your own chances with how long that can of chili has been sitting on the back shelf of the Chili's pantry (behind the "Break Glass in Emergency" sign no doubt). At In-N-Out, the "secret" menu is actually published on the company web site, where it remains safe from prying eyes. I have been known to enjoy an Animal Style burger in my day, but lacked the imagination (or appetite) to consider the existence of a 3x3 (three patties, three slices of cheese), or heaven forbid, 4x4. Disturbing (or tantalizing) photographic evidence exists on the Consumerist post for the rumor that the 4x4 actually can be extended to NxN where, as my math professor used to say, N may be an arbitrarily large number.

BTW, props to Doug Klein for the pointer to the Consumerist post!