GQ’s Alan Richman rails against the service at “hipster restaurants”
GQ food writer Alan Richman’s latest column was posted to its website today, and it’s creating a minor scandal in the online food world. The piece details a bizarre spat—complete with allegations of “a hardy pat on the ass”—between the sometimes-curmudgeonly critic and M. Wells, the infamously uneven cult haute-diner in Queens co-founded by a former partner in Montreal’s celebrated Au Pied de Cochon. Beyond the lengthy sermon on the ethics of food reviewing and an exegesis of the actual dispute, the piece is irresistible for Richman’s self-flagellation over the “disastrous decline in service” at the “hipster restaurants” that are now in the ascendancy (of which Toronto no doubt has its fair share). “Critics like me deserve some blame for the current proliferation of impossibly low service standards in so many casual New York restaurants,” he writes. “We tend not to censure lackadaisical conduct, thinking this is what customers want and that we would appear out of touch if we disapproved.” Read the whole story [GQ] »
I have a really hard time believing that a food critic would risk his career by behaving like that in a restaurant. My money is on the waitress making it up as an excuse for providing terrible service.
It’s shocking how the the restaurant owners handled the situation though. That’s a very flippant email for such a serious accusation.
Decline in service, how about decline in common courtesy in general!! I see it every day, and the way the owner handled the situation speaks volumes. That type of accusation is not one that is dealt with via email and without any kind of corroboration from other possible ‘witnesses’ (ie: the other guests he was with). The waitress is lying, and the owner probably knows she is, which is why she changed her tune a bit in the second email. Why would he risk his career? The staff were providing intolerable service and they knew it, why wouldn’t they want to cover their ass? Pun intended. Completely and utterly despicable M Wells!!! Unfortunately that’s the society we live in today, no one will collectively stand up and say ‘shame on you’, that’s the reason why people lie and behave poorly because they know they will get away with it. We’ve become inured.
I hear M Wells is closing…