Thanks for filling me in on his various shortcomings.
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I’ve been reading him since his Village Voice days.
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I really like him, too. I love that he has never catered to the wealthy and entitled. His coverage is much more interesting and varied than just about any other ‘critic’ in the city and always has been.
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It’s not up to him. He has a beat like any other reviewer. And if you’ve read him recently, his beat now includes expensive restaurants, so you’d probably categorize that as catering to the wealthy and entitled. Or maybe just people who save up money so they can have an occasional fancy dinner, like me.
I’m sorry if you took that personally, I certainly wasn’t meaning to describe anyone here, but the NYT reviews have always skewed out of the reach of most new yorkers. The Times’ reviewers acknowledged that in the past. Yes, some people save up for a fancy meal once in a while, of course and rely on those reviews.
As you said, Sietsema’s “beat” was geared toward more affordable restaurants. I appreciate the editors that gave those assignments, I guess, more than him. It gave me a lot of wonderful meals. He still reviews a lot of affordable restaurants at Eater from what I see, but I don’t really follow that site carefully, since it’s annoying to just read press releases.
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Oh, I didn’t take it personally at all. I just thought you were giving Sietsema too much credit for “keeping it real,” when that was just his job. If you recall, the NYT used to have a $25 & Under column that was an incredible resource for affordable dining. But times being what they are, both the Times and Eater shrank their coverage, so that now there’s only one main reviewer at each publication who has to cover the entire financial spectrum of restaurants, for better or worse. And the Times does low end a lot better than Eater does high end.
But so economical for the site!
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That was one of the only parts of the NYT food section I liked!
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Why do you think I brought up Eric Asimov earlier?
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You’d like Scott Lynch, I bet.
Although he’s not terribly discerning. He likes almost everything.
Nah. For many reasons, Lynch is a no.
Oh! Maybe you will DM me to tell me why, as I am interested.
Yes, of course:
a post you also responded to.
Due to their deteriorating quality, over-pricing, weak consumer demand and sustained business loss, DTF in China is closing at least 17 shops in the mainland!
By opening up in NYC, they must have thought US consumers have higher spending power and less discriminating taste?!
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Gee, restaurant expands into national then international chain, rides the buzz out like a wave, and then goes even and flat. No mystery there.
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perhaps they thought there was less competition for their food in NYC than in China.
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I’d said in a report upthread that I had a mediocre experience here, but that I’d return. I did today, mainly because of its inclusion in lists such as these:
I’m here to tell you that it was all a PR lie. They had no special dishes (and my server assured me they never had any over these last several days of the NY celebration), just the normal menu. The food was marginally better than on my first visit: the rice cakes were reasonably tasty, the pork&crab xlb were decently crabby, and the spicy wontons had a mild tingle. But, it’s a mildly expensivish place and it isn’t really worth it. Plus, those lies.
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does the time-out article promise new dishes for the lunar year?
See the headline.
I think the Din Tai Fung “special” for Lunar New Year referred to the golden ticket distribution rather than special dishes.
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Sounds like a Time Out mistake, not a lie by the restaurant.
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