Dan’s Papers October 21, 2011 danshamptons.com Page 32
Stacy Dermont
Why I turned down the position of Restaurant Critic for The New York Times. Sam Sifton recently left his position as Restaurant Critic at The New York Times to become its National Editor. He went out with a restaurant review bang by promising—and
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HAMPTONS EPICURE
delivering on—sharing “the what mystified me. I take best restaurant in New York.” the approach of being just Per Se was the declared someone off the street—I winner. Sifton had enjoyed pointedly don’t do any many meals there over the research before I visit. I’m years. With its high prices mainly a writer, I happen to and snazzy details it doesn’t be writing about dining out. really sound like my kind A restaurant critic is of place. I can do fancy but another animal. You make I prefer a bargain. Though, multiple visits in order to with an expense account in try many things and in order hand, I could be persuaded to to try some of the same indulge in a $1,000 dinner for things several times. Yikes. two (plus wine). I’d have to live in the city My approach to reviewing to be a restaurant critic. restaurants for Dan’s Papers There’s no way to do the has been experiential, not job by commuting from this Sam Sifton comprehensive—I go once and beautiful end of the island. describe what I liked, what I didn’t like, I love to visit the city. Wednesdays are perfect for trips into the Big Apple because I can take in a discounted Broadway show and a good meal. Sometimes I shop for colorful socks for my husband, sometimes I visit “my adopted Jewish mother” Chef Sarabeth Levine at the Chelsea Market. There are a lot of my kind of places in the city—cheap, ethnic, clean-enough. But reviewing means not choosing where you eat. I’ve enjoyed Sifton’s reviews over the last three years. What I most appreciate are the very human details—like how he and his wife waited outside a restaurant in the rain for the smoke of a kitchen fire to clear—because the food inside was that good. And how his young children described a waitress so accurately as “kinda mean.” Sifton is a gifted writer with unbelievable discipline. So often people marvel at the fact that it’s my job to write reviews of restaurant meals. Then, after a moment’s thought, they say things like, “Wow, eating like that is WORK.” So true. Sifton was a very hard worker. Another New York Times writer I’ve read a lot of is R. W. Apple Jr. He was mainly a foreign correspondent. I’ve read compilations of his food articles for The Times in book form. He seemed like more of a natural glutton than Sifton. That doesn’t make him a better food writer; it just made his food adventures more dangerous. In my opinion Gael Greene is the best restaurant critic of our time. Her 40 years of reviews for New York Magazine still read well today. They still contain insights and closelyobserved social history that will blow your mind. And she’s still out there reviewing for her website (www.insatiable-critic.com), still telling it like it is. Greene used to keep the weight off by dancing all night. Nowadays she must really restrain herself, she told me she doesn’t go dancing anymore—but she looks great. I was very worried about how much I’d have to eat as the New York Times Restaurant Critic. I mean, how much I would indulge in eating. I’m more an Apple than a Sifton that way…hence my evolving apple shape. Then I read about the upcoming Long Island Restaurant Week. In fact I wrote a preview that will appear in next week’s paper. So many great restaurants, so many fellow foodies, so many fabu, local ingredients. Nowhere are there as many great restaurants as there are in New York—but is it all about numbers? I don’t think so. I’m going to stay here on the East End and watch things grow. 848