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Haiku for Obama
Republicans buy shoes too. That was the rumored response by a famous basketball player about why he did not campaign for or endorse a Democratic candidate. Fortunately, I do not sell shoes and I'm not remotely famous. Some people might be hesitant about politicizing their blog in fear of alienating a segment of readers. I really don't see the point of having a blog if you're not going to say what you mean. Plus, people who don't like this can leave for all I care. This week's haiku comes courtesy of my sister and it very accurately represents how I feel about the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. I want Obama to win. And the truth is that I have unkind words for that other candidate. I won't litter this with those unkind words but I think this is shaping up to be an important election. If you want to register to vote, check out, Go Vote.
I was wanderingly aimlessly yesterday when I came upon The Smoke Joint. I had heard about their hot dog being tasty and decided to give it a try. The hot dog was grilled to perfection. The skin snapped as you bite into it, and a salty and beefy flavor explodes in your mouth. Usually at The Smoke Joint I like to get Tips and Bits, which is the ends of the rib that they've put together in one dish. Their hot dog (while not cheap at $3 for a skinny dog), might become a second favorite.
Here you get a picture of a real dog thrown in because it was looking cool on the sidewalk and barking for attention. Yes, quite pointless...
Since I'm going all out and politicizing this blog, might as well get it all out there. It's time to reveal a huge pet peeve. My biggest pet peeve by far, has to be chefs who don't understand blogging yet hate bloggers. Last month the Chicago Tribune published an interview with Bill Kim of Urban Belly which has been reviewed here on Food in Mouth. Graham Elliot Bowles of Graham Elliot, and Paul Kahan of Blackbird and Avec were there too.
The question was, "Your biggest pet peeve about diners?" Bill Kim answered, "Bloggers". Graham Elliot Bowles said, "Yelp" And Kahan compared food blogs to sports talk radio.
Whenever I hear things like this, I think about how ridiculous and uneducated chefs are with regards to blogging and technology. It would seem from Bill and Graham believe food bloggers are unreasonably obsessed about food. It would seem that Bill and Graham want their diners to come in, eat the way they dictate diners should eat, behave the way they dictate diners should behave, and then move on out. Seriously, someone remove that pole for him, it'll help him sit down and relax a little.
I think food culture in American is undergoing a transformation as we speak. Frozen foods as we knew them are on their way out. Fresh produce and farmers markets are on their way in. Chefs would like to believe that the only reason this is happening is because they started cooking better food and the food revolution stems from the restaurant kitchens! Hurray! I disagree that is the only reason.
Media coverage of food has increased just in the last ten years. Look at the Food network or Chowhound or Yelp. People want more information. They want to see it, read it, and eat it. I think sites like Chowhound and Yelp help stir up interest in new restaurants. Blogs like Grub St an Eater keep New York foodies up-to-date on food and restaurant news. I think blogs help foster a healthier and more delicious attitude towards food in the U.S. Just go look on Tastespotting for all the delicious recipes and dining out experiences.
But if a blog dislikes a restaurant's food? Well blogs MUST be the downfall of humanity!! Of course! Why didn't I see it earlier?!?! It seems that chefs dislike the way technology is shaping the way people communicate their interests and their lives. If chefs like Bill Kim ran the world, you could blog about how your cat can play fetch like a dog, but you can't blog about how you ate at a restaurant. And do chefs come out and say, "Man, all those bloggers who love my food? Completely unreasonable people! Compare them to those diners who enjoy my food and never blog about it! We need more of the latter!" No, you never hear that from chefs.
What you do hear is a disdain when a blog dislikes a chef's restaurant or its food. And if there are anonymous comments left on a forum like chowhound, then we must go on a witch hunt!
As a whole, bloggers help. But its easy to exercise extrapolation unfairly. A few anonymous commentors do not define the entire blogosphere. It would be like me saying, "oh hey, Taco Bell represents all restaurants!" How stupid does that sound? And I'm ok if chefs wanna compare my blog as the taco bell of blogs. I'm down with being grody and diarrhea-inducing. But that doesn't mean all blogs are like mine.
Yes, it must be tough when you are in a business where everyone of your customers can judge your product. That's the restaurant business. That's the music business or the movie industry or many others that depend on materialistic consumption. No one is taking pictures of an actuary or a particle physicist and blogging about it. Does it make it unfair to blog about a restaurant? I think it comes with the territory. If you have a good restaurant, it's going to survive even if there are unreasonable bloggers out there. Because if it's good, there will be positive reaction from other bloggers to cancel out the noise.
Of course all this said is pointless because chefs can easily just disallow photography at a restaurant. Momofuku Ko did this to some fan fare earlier this year (but since I disagree with the action, not gonna find a link for it). The easiest way for a restaurant to combat blogging is to simply disallow it. It's perfectly within their rights to do and if the restaurant is good enough, people will go anyway.
All of that was pointless. And my biggest pet peeve will go away as soon as chefs with blogging pet peeves stop being unreasonable and open their eyes. Or maybe I should just go eat at Urban Belly and compare it to taco bell. I dunno, what's better? Should I relax or be unreasonable?
Sign up to the feed and never miss a post!Posted by Danny on October 20 2008 at 11:43 am
Cute dog! Also, those chefs need to get over it. Bruni has a blog. Are they going to discount food critics all together?
Ang on October 20 2008 at 2:19 pm
That recap of the interview with Kim/GEB/Kahan certainly brought up some strong reactions here in Chicago (see the colorful posts on LTH) I have a few thoughts about this whole chef blogger-hating issue.
1) I'm not so sure what all was said at this interview; I'm sure they didn't post everything that was said in those 2 hrs, but it certainly seems like they have some distaste for bloggers. I can only guess that some of it has to do with fanaticism. I'm sure the spirit of getting out to be the first to blog can be a little annoying; but it should be more annoying to either other bloggers or food critics who have to compete. If anything they benefit from fanaticism. They essentially get free publicity from the web. And if anything bloggers are providing free market research. Need ideas to improve your restaurant, I'm sure someone has provided some. I think there is also some worry of bloggers being overly critical and not giving restaurants the same thorough evaluation that food critics generally need to appraise a restaurant. But to this I say that blogging takes up a different space than food critics. Some people read food sites for fun, and others just to get and idea of experiences of a restaurant that may be a substantial investment. Either way, I think that there are more positives than negatives for the chef and owners of restaurants.
2) GEB: "They come in and order three courses, and it's a 10,000-word essay that includes stuff about the placement of their silverware. Why this obsession with food online? You don't see people blogging about their new shoes in the same way."
--People do blog about their shoes and accessories this way. In fact they blog about everything this way. Looking for an LV purse? There's a blog about every single one with a breakdown of available colors.
3) Now onto the point about pictures. For me this is the most touchy for me. As a consumer I am totally against banning photos. Even before blogging was prominent, I took photos of food to help remember the moment or occasion. I'm not rich and restaurants are still special. Also, I'm paying for this service. I think it's a bit much for you to say that I can't take a picture of the food which I paid for (often quite a bit). There is the argument that it's disruptive to the other customers. This is the only argument that may have any value, but even then cameras can be small silent and unobtrusive. General human awareness should take care of that. A chef on LTH did mention that it makes some chefs nervous as they feel that they are being examined especially closely. To this I have no response except, if you feel that way (and I don't mean to be callous): may be you should not be a chef. If you are not proud of the food when it goes out and are worried about someone taking a picture of it, then you either need to be more confident in your work, do better work or do different work. Whether you think that food is an art or a craft I think that I should have a write to photograph it if I am paying for it. Would a carpenter not let me photography a shelf he made for me? If I buy a tailored suit, can I not take a photo with it? You can say no pictures of the staff or other people or even the room, but the food should be mine.
Jonathan on October 20 2008 at 5:51 pm
Amen, brother!
Greta on October 20 2008 at 10:01 pm
Sarah Palin, My good friend and fellow maverick and god luvver emailed this wicked burgurrrr recipe for you all! What a nice lady! Let's all go vote ;)
From Sarah:
Here's a tasty recipe for all you young maverick republicans out there for my family favorite. Do I kill em and grill em? You Betcha!
MOOSEBURGERS
1 lg. egg
1 tbsp. bitters
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tbsp. melted butter
1/2 c. minced celery
1/2 c. onion, minced
2 c. bread crumbs (dry), cubed
2 lbs. lean ground moose meat
6 strips thick sliced bacon
24 toothpicks
Kill a big old moose. In a bowl, beat egg, bitters, salt, and pepper. Stir in butter, celery, and onion. Toss in bread crumbs. Divide moose meat into 6 flat patties. Put 1/6 of stuffing on each pattie. Wrap pattie around stuffing into a ball. Mash balls into patties again. Place stuffed burgers on oiled roasting pan. Cut bacon strips in half. Secure atop burgers with toothpicks. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Broil for a minute to brown burgers before serving. Serves 6 young republican mavericks.
Hungry Bitch on October 21 2008 at 11:13 pm
hahahaha. 'Kill a big old moose.' oh man..
Danny on October 22 2008 at 1:43 am
Or a young small one. Whatever, if it gets in the way of my bullet, consider it grilled.
Hungry Bitch on October 22 2008 at 7:01 am
Hmm, I feel like the first part is aimed at me, and maybe it's not, but I still feel that way :P I appreciate you refraining from slinging insults (which is more than we can say for either candidate) though... and I see Hungry B* has graced your page with the same recipe she put on mine :P
Anyway, to the part of the post that more interests me: How is "bloggers" a response to the question "What is your biggest pet peeve about diners?" Wouldn't "Those who request special changes" or "Those who eat one bite of everything and just waste" or "Those who pick through the food" whatever- aren't those more reasonable answers? "Bloggers" isn't exactly a pet peeve about a diner : taking photographs with flash, that would be a reasonable answer. Or something.
I have to say that I am very used to being the food photog in my group of friends. Lately I've eaten out with 4-5 different food bloggers on separate occasions, so I was put on the other side of the fence, so to speak, as I had to wait to eat (or to take my turn for a photograph). That didn't really bother me, as no one took an obsessively abnormal amount of time, and everyone was respectful. And I hesitate to say this next part but oh well: the part that really started to bother me was when, at a dark restaurant, one of the other people repeatedly used their flash (and took upwards of 5 shots of each dish). I won't name names but it was making me feel really uncomfortable. I realize this is probably somewhat hypocritical of me, as there was a time when my camera skillz were less than what they are now (still lacking, but able to go without a flash), but I'll admit that I must have been super annoying back then too. It's the flash that is obtrusive.
Just my 2c... and I have more thoughts about bloggers being annoying and how our negative reviews are "bad for business" etc. blah blah blah - are they projecting their feelings of print media critics onto us? Because what of a 0 star review from Bruni?! Oh my gosh, I could go on and on about this. But I won't. Grrr.
Yvo on October 22 2008 at 11:34 am
Haha, no it wasn't directed at you. More than one person has told me about politicizing the blog. It's a point I like addressing, and it seemed to have resonated with Hungry and now there's a moose burger recipe up there...
And I agree with you about the Frank Bruni part. No blogger has the kind of weight a real food critic has. Plus, most of us are not read by the mainstream.
Danny on October 22 2008 at 12:05 pm
best recipe ever.
Jonathan on October 22 2008 at 3:37 pm