The phone rang today at 8:45 am. The restaurant. I didn't have to be to work until 10am, so I thought it was strange. I answered it, half asleep, and was told that the server on at 9am was in the hospital, and that the restaurant needed me right away. I showered and headed in.
When I got there, who should be sitting in my section but the food critic from the aforementioned alternative weekly. Yup, he was back again. We're definitely being written up in this Wednesday's or next Wednesday's edition. He's not only checking up on dinner, but he's checking up on our brunch (which, by the way, won the AOL Cityguide's Best of 2005 award.)
So I served him again. He asked if I was tired, and we chatted a bit. I told him about the server in the hospital. After I told him that she was in the hospital, he said, "Oh, she's lying." (That's what we figured, anyway. She's either on a road trip or mixed some muscle relaxers with booze, knowing her.) The guy seemed real happy with everything. He said, "I'll see you later, my friend" when he left. I hope we get a good review because, if we don't, there's no blaming someone's else's shitty service for a poor review. It was all me.
Afterwards, Zack and I headed out for some dark and stormies. I had three in a little over an hour - enough to get a good Sunday buzz on, and wish I had someone to continue the drinking with. Zack had to go, and my five calls to possible friends came up fruitless, and now I'm home, half buzzed up, and blogging. Talk about a letdown.
That, and the Tigers lost their first game today.
Poseur Alert
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“The animated GIF, meanwhile—whose origins go back to the antediluvian age
of dial-up modems and whose natural home is the resolutely non-artistic
bottom-f...
12 minutes ago
3 comments:
I give you a lot of credit for holding down a second job in addition to your teaching and school activities. Impressive.
It's funny how some food critics will work very hard to blind their identities, while others don't really bother. This guy appears to fall into the latter category.
Several years ago, there were a couple of critics in New York--Ruth Reichl (NY Times) and Barbara Rader (Newsday) who used to get into all kinds of disguises (e.g. hats, wigs, padding) whenever they went out to restaurants they were going to review. I don't know, I think if it were me, I'd be all about letting the place suck up to me. Sure, it'd make the review less-than-accurate, but given the elaborate countermeasures that some restaurants go through to figure out who the reviewers are, what the hell. Let's all play "friendly enemies" and be honest about it all.
Good luck with the review.
I think this guy cared about blinding his identity, until his cover was blown by another customer. Then, it didn't matter to him as much. Still, he never mentioned it and never was a blowhard about it. I just hope he didn't notice that I treated him differently after I found out. Actually, I hope I didn't treat him differently. I was told I got flushed, though.
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