This past week, I have had a great opportunity. I had the VP of Web Operations at insidestl.com, enjoy my blog so much that he wished to create a whole new section on the site and allow me to write for it. So, I wrote an introduction article and thought I'd see how it goes for a few weeks, which is what they wanted me to do as well. What struck me immediately, was the amount of people who question, doubt and call "Fraud!".
I do like to write and I do like to eat and I do like to cook. One of the things that I'm not a huge fan of, us when people write about topics that they haven't really experienced themselves. What I mean is this: I call myself a credible writer for restaurant reviews, having some fundamental knowledge on how a restaurant works and should be run. I also think I am capable of writing about cooking and other foods, as I am also an avid cook and experiment a lot with various ingredients. I've worked with food, studied food and eat food. I think this makes me capable of lending some truthfulness to writing about food.
Are the best baseball writers merely fans? I would say the best sports writers are those who have at least tried the sport at some time; not even professionally. I don't know enough about football to write about it. (Truth be told.) But still, you don't see me writing about it.
I have heard from a lot of people who think their idea of reviewing a restaurant is saying whether it was "good" or "terrible" and that's it. These same people only have experience eating food as their wife or girlfriend do all of the cooking and their idea of fine dining is Hooters.
While some may not believe me, when I explain about bad service at restaurants like 1111 Mississippi or bad food at Johnny's Pizza, what matters to me, is that I try to show some evidence, be it through photos or just other witnesses with me. I try to make my posts seem credible. I am not being paid or given a free meal to tell the world about how great the food is somewhere when I know it really isn't.
With that off my chest, I will say this, I don't review bars. The food at a place like BoBeck's is probably no different than the bar food at Show Me's. Most bars in St. Louis serve the same type of items and there is a minimum amount of difference. I know you certainly can't review the beers, well you can, but on what factors? This beer is 30 cents cheaper here than there? Some things are the same. Beers tend to be the same. A Bud Light at Growlers is the same as a Bud Light at Top Shooters. You can't really say one is better than another. So, the only thing you can look at then, is the food quality, taste and service. And even then, a regular burger at one place, even with a different taste, may still only be as good as a regular burger at another place. So, which bar is better? I would say that there are close to 5,000 bars just in st. louis, so checking each and every one would be impossible.
So, there you have it. My ranting. Feel free to email or leave comments.
I do like to write and I do like to eat and I do like to cook. One of the things that I'm not a huge fan of, us when people write about topics that they haven't really experienced themselves. What I mean is this: I call myself a credible writer for restaurant reviews, having some fundamental knowledge on how a restaurant works and should be run. I also think I am capable of writing about cooking and other foods, as I am also an avid cook and experiment a lot with various ingredients. I've worked with food, studied food and eat food. I think this makes me capable of lending some truthfulness to writing about food.
Are the best baseball writers merely fans? I would say the best sports writers are those who have at least tried the sport at some time; not even professionally. I don't know enough about football to write about it. (Truth be told.) But still, you don't see me writing about it.
I have heard from a lot of people who think their idea of reviewing a restaurant is saying whether it was "good" or "terrible" and that's it. These same people only have experience eating food as their wife or girlfriend do all of the cooking and their idea of fine dining is Hooters.
While some may not believe me, when I explain about bad service at restaurants like 1111 Mississippi or bad food at Johnny's Pizza, what matters to me, is that I try to show some evidence, be it through photos or just other witnesses with me. I try to make my posts seem credible. I am not being paid or given a free meal to tell the world about how great the food is somewhere when I know it really isn't.
With that off my chest, I will say this, I don't review bars. The food at a place like BoBeck's is probably no different than the bar food at Show Me's. Most bars in St. Louis serve the same type of items and there is a minimum amount of difference. I know you certainly can't review the beers, well you can, but on what factors? This beer is 30 cents cheaper here than there? Some things are the same. Beers tend to be the same. A Bud Light at Growlers is the same as a Bud Light at Top Shooters. You can't really say one is better than another. So, the only thing you can look at then, is the food quality, taste and service. And even then, a regular burger at one place, even with a different taste, may still only be as good as a regular burger at another place. So, which bar is better? I would say that there are close to 5,000 bars just in st. louis, so checking each and every one would be impossible.
So, there you have it. My ranting. Feel free to email or leave comments.
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