Blogging Around

Erik talks about what it's like to be a restaurant reviewer.

However, even in those things, there are cultural differences that must be taken into account. Explorateur is objectively better cheese than velveeta, which is barely a cheese at all. But velveeta does have a place in the world, and a critic who complains about Billy Bob's Burgers using velveeta is probably out of his league.

There is a Bay Area food critic who misses this distinction all the time. He does not understand that Italian American food is a related but ultimately different animal than Italian food. Instead of discerning whether or not a red gravy is a good red gravy, he laments that it is not a true bolognese. When this critic is reviewing a four star French restaurant, he is pretty good, but when he jumps into Guido's House of Spaghetti, he misses the point entirely.

Movable Feast describes what he's been enduring trying to get into France to work.

Tomorrow I'll either get my French work visa - to finally start working at Les Ambassadeurs - or I won't. If I don't get it they might torture me with yet another appointment - or they won't - they might just say no. And all that is still contigent on if my chef still wants me. And did I mention that there's a one month trial period? In France it's very difficult to fire someone so there's a trial period of usually one to three months. After that you're pretty much secure in your job - which explains a lot of the bureaucracy.