Chillounge Sat. night in St. Petersburg!

Looking for something to do on Saturday night? Check this out. It looks super fun, with lots of good local restaurant participating.

More blather about the discussion yesterday

So, colleague and all-around good guy Jim W. sent me this review. It's a slam--a gleeful, meanie-pie, whoa-this-restaurant-blows shellacking. Fun to read, but going back to our ongoing debate, necessary? Like I said to Mr. Peel in an e-mail:

I don't like writing negative reviews because I understand how many moving parts there are in a restaurant, and just how hard it is to have them all working effectively, day in and day out. I have to write them occasionally as a service to readers--a small mom and pop restaurant I'll just choose not to write about if I have a really horrendous experience. Readers probably haven't found it anyway, why draw negative attention? But I'm not doing my job if there's a high-profile opening and I choose to adopt Thumper's credo: "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all." Gourmet magazine is a good example--Caroline Bates wrote a total of 10 stories in an average year. She could afford to draw the nation's attention to just 10 GREAT places. I write more than 100 reviews a year, more if you include "round-up" stories. I'm only doing half my job if I'm only doling out glowing praise. But my aim, and I think I'm fairly successful, is to never be vicious. It's unnecessary, and certainly unflattering to the critic herself.

Every art (dance, theater, visual art, pop and classical music, film, etc.) has critics. Their function: to serve readers by guiding them toward the great and away from the mediocre. What makes a critic capable of doing the job is years or decades of diligent study of their given subject. If you define the culinary arts as an art, isn't this a valuable service that restaurant-goers deserve as much as opera patrons or museum visitors? And in a truly lousy economy, shouldn't readers receive MORE guidance about how best to spend their money rather than LESS?

What I do serves readers as a "vetting" process--essentially my job is to pre-screen new restaurants or unknown restaurants so readers can make informed choices about where to spend their money. I'm aware that what I say impacts the livelihood of real people, which I why I try to choose my words carefully and err on the side of generosity (plenty of readers on this blog think I'm too easy on restaurants here).

So, that said, do I participate in a expectations-of-mediocrity-equals-self-fulfilling-prophesy kind of thing? Is it diners' (and critics') high expectations that raise the bar for restaurants, or do the restaurants have to lead the way? It's hard to say.

Do we really need restaurant critics?

In a follow-up to the heated post last week, Michael Peel, owner of WineBurgers in Tierra Verde sent me this letter. Although some of it I very strongly disagree with, I think he has some worthwhile points. I'll paste his thoughts below:

I have been in the restaurant business for forty years and owned my own restaurants for thirty and I ask: Do we really need restaurant critics? We don’t have critics for banks or car dealerships or insurance companies or mortgage brokers or real estate offices and they impact our lives a lot more than where we’re going to have lunch today or dinner tonight.
 
Someone has determined that we need restaurant critics so they are a part of the business and when you go into this crazy business you know that and you have to accept it.  A lot of restaurant owners and chefs go by the theory that it’s like teaching – If you can’t do, you teach. – If you can’t cook or run a restaurant, you critique.  If they have to be critiqued, they would rather be critiqued by Janet Keeler, who actually cooks than by Ms. Reiley, who doesn’t.  Now don’t get me wrong. I think Ms. Reiley and her predecessor Mr. Chris Sherman certainly know restaurants, quality food and write eloquently about them. Some of the others in town, like the guy over at Creative Loafing seem to enjoy just being vicious. When you look at the judging tables of such popular shows as Top Chef, Chopped and The Next Iron Chef you can see that they are convinced being vicious is what sells and they are probably right. I guess it is only human nature to enjoy watching someone else squirm when they are ridiculed. But when it comes down to some small independent restaurateur, who works 16 –18 hour days so that they can pay their mortgage, car payment, insurance, taxes and everything else, is it really necessary?  I know a lot of people work hard in their businesses, but if you know anything about the real restaurant business, you know these people work in an especially hard environment for a lot of hours each and every day. The idea that these people walk in the door at 5:00 and open up and start making money is ludicrous. 

Oh, Brian, honey, what are you doing?

I know all proceeds benefit The Children’s Home, which is a good thing. But dear Mr. Ries, why make our breed of misfits look like bigger ne'er-do-wells than we are? Here's the deal: For Creative Loafing's Holiday Auction, restaurant critic Brian Ries is auctioning off a five-star review. It's tongue firmly in cheek and all (he's never given a five-star review in his tenure with the paper), but even a mock sell-out makes me a little queasy. He says he will "laud the food, decor, service, napkins, even the bathroom" in a review to run Jan. 20. See all the details here. So far the bid is up to $127.34 for the ersatz five-star love.

CL, my love can't be bought (she says in her haughtiest voice). Well, I guess this is more of an editorial lap dance for charity.

Rawbar Sushi changes chefs, menu

Today Rawbar Sushi introduced a new menu of sushi, cooked dishes and bento boxes, for lunch and dinner. Owner James DeVito also announced the hiring of chef James Lee, Rawbar’s new executive chef. Chef Lee, a Tampa local, has served sushi in Tampa for over 30 years. DeVito describes the transition from the prior menu as bittersweet, “Former chef Nao Higuchi is very talented with experience at the highest caliber of restaurants such as Nobu, but for various reasons, it just didn’t work out.  Keeping a kitchen staff was a challenge and that limited us from offering a full and flexible menu.” 
 
 DeVito admits, “We had a complicated opening but in this business you have to move fast. In six months we’ve identified opportunities to improve, acted on them and persevered. Our new menu is here, we are open for lunch offering $10 bento boxes, takeout and catering are now available, and we have an aggressive happy hour Tuesday to Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. offering a $4 bar menu, $5 martinis and $3 draft beers. 777 N. Ashley Dr., Tampa; (813) 422-5220.

Beaujolais Nouveau party

The St. Petersburg Woman’s Club at 40 Snell Isle in St. Petersburg is throwing a Beaujolais Nouveau celebration tomorrow (Fri.) from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door. A portion of the proceeds benefit the Dali Museum and the Opera Tampa. Emmanuel Roux is preparing the food, and the Beaujolais Nouveau will be served in a commemorative glass. There will be singing by Opera Tampa, and try your luck at winning prizes from Neiman Marcus, Sephora Cosmetics, Villa Rosa Linens, A Touch of Bliss Spa Package, Apple Tree Medical Wellness Center, a night at the Marriott, a night at the Vinoy, restaurant certificates, tickets to Opera Tampa as well as to the Dali Musem, French classes by the Alliance Francaise and more.

The Table makes shift to St. Pete Brasserie

I was walking by the other day and saw the guys putting up the new sign at 539 Central Ave., St. Petersburg; (727) 823-3700. And here's the new menu. 

Panera Bread donating big to Children's Cancer Center

Panera Bread is donating $100,000 to the Children’s Cancer Center of Tampa. The money was collected through the company’s Community Breadbox donation program in 24 bay-area bakery-cafes and matched by Covelli Family Limited Partnership, a franchisee of Panera Bread. A ceremony takes place at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Children's Cancer Center, 4901 W. Cypress St.  

With the $100,000 donation, Panera Bread will kick off its next Children’s Cancer Center benefit through its Giving Tree campaign. From Thanksgiving through the end of December, 24 Tampa-area Panera Bread bakery-cafes will display Giving Trees filled with wishes from bay-area children who are battling childhood cancer. This year, customers will receive a free gingerbread man cookie for every gift purchased for a child on the tree. In its six-year partnership, Panera Bread’s Giving Tree program has provided gifts for 400 families.

Belleair Grill and Wine Bar changes hands

Mark Marone recently sold Belleair Grill (formerly the Peppermill, 1575 S. Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater, (727) 449-2988) to Matt Camp. Camp is new to the area, having just relocated from Massachusetts. He has brought chef Cathryn Peplowski back (a good move, as she's a very talented chef) and his primary objective is to maintain the restaurant's base of more mature customers while attracting a younger audience, as well. How, exactly? Half price apetizers after 8 p.m., more inexpensive wines by the glass and bottle, more nightly specials and, starting Dec. 6, Sunday brunch.

Why can't we do things like this at our IKEA?

I'm all for the super-bargain Swedish meatball days, but get this: Last week in Norway, the world's tallest man, Sultan Kösen (8'1''), unveiled the world's largest gingerbread man at an Ikea store in Oslo. This was one big cookie. It weighed 1,435 pounds.

(AP Photo / Morten Holm / Scanpix)