27 August 2010 Local restaurant reviewer probably asked for ketchup

Recently, we were fortunately able to eat at a local restaurant, Babylon, in Johnson City TN. Our two visits for meals allowed us to sample a moderately broad spectrum of the menu. We enjoyed both meals enough that we plan on dining there as often as possible.

Today’s newspaper contained the regular Friday “mystery diner’s review. Rather than reviewing a local hotdog stand, or featuring a review of a carnival food stand at the local county fair, now ongoing, he chose to review Babylon. The level of misinformation, lack of understanding of various cuisines, and just poor journalism is pathognomic of local food critic columns.

He began his review by making fun of a possible typographical error on the printed menu. The item in question was listed as Garden Blue Chicken. He decided it must be “chicken cordon bleu” and began demanding the waitress tell him how it was made. He then made fun of her in his column. Her linguistic skills certainly outclass his. She’s working in a second, foreign language while dealing with a customer whose native language is foreign to him.

We’ve made it a point, on our visits, to talk to the wait staff. They are Iraqi immigrants, working hard to provide excellent food at fair prices. They don’t need a local bozo making fun of their accent or hammering them about a menu typo at a peak load hour.

The restaurant serves freshly made baked on the spot pita-type bread. It has an excellent flavor and is quite well prepared to be used when dining Middle Eastern fashion. Our noble reviewer felt it to be too doughy and decided it must be pre-baked and then nuked on demand. He has obviously confused what they served with the dust-dry “pocket-pita baked for vegans, vegetarians, and dieters. When we were there, we were told that the bread was being baked for us. When it arrived, hot to the touch, wonderful in texture, tough enough to serve as silverware, there was no doubt that it was freshly baked

The routine review turned in by this columnist rarely details why the food was acceptable or not. He writes about everything else but the food quality unless he’s reviewing a breakfast stop or a fast-food store. Today’s review was no exception. In the last couple paragraphs he said that the lamb shanks were well cooked and that the hummus was to his taste.

The hummus we were served was a relatively blank slate, prepared to be augmented with oil and spices to the diner’s taste. I can only assume he failed to understand this. He certainly did not pass on this information to anyone not already familiar with real Middle Eastern food.

During our visits we have been served truly excellent kabob sandwiches, on fresh rolls, dressed with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and tahini, which came with French fries. Various appetizer plates contained hummus, fresh, chewy, pita, peppers, onions, cucumbers and tomatoes sufficient to stave off serious hunger. The falafel appetizer plate is adequate for a lunch by itself. The falafel was wonderfully spiced, not at all greasy or oily, and came wrapped in pita and vegetables. Various sauces were provided to add flavor.

During one visit, we were unexpectedly provided with bowls of an excellent lentil soup which we had not ordered. We asked about the surprise and were told that they wanted us to have something while the bread was baking.

We like this restaurant quite a lot. We want them to succeed but such unschooled reviews as the one published today won’t help them. He did a very poor job of introducing a restaurant that offers a cuisine unfamiliar to most local residents. Instead, he made fun of hard working people, failed to educate anyone about the food he was served, and possibly damage the chance that this restaurant will succeed.

We’ve complained to the newspaper about this columnist several times before. I think it is time to do so again. This writer failed dismally to sample anything beyond his comfort zone of local cuisine. He seems more interested in assigning letter grades to pizza, burgers, fried chicken, and biscuits.

He owes an apolgy to the restaurant and readers for failing to review the food they feature, and he owes the waitress a huge apology for his rudeness to her there and later in print.

I’ve written my letter to his boss. He’ll get a copy, too. Perhaps he’ll assign it a letter grade.

Shabbat Shalom!