AS MORE RESTAURANTS CLOSE, LET US NEVER FORGET THIS DIDN’T HAVE TO HAPPEN
By Larry Levine – Measured on a scale of more than 165,000 dead, the loss of some of our favorite restaurants doesn’t seem like much. Until we remember the people whose lives are invested in those restaurants. The owners who operate on slim profit margins. The... Read More
I DON’T WANT TO SEE YOUR BUTT CRACK / and other sartorial transgressions in an America that lost its couth
By Larry Levine – She was wearing a nice dress, dark with a muted floral print. Tasteful ear rings, hair well dressed. Totally appropriate for a Saturday night dinner at a nice restaurant. She looked to be about 30 years old. The man with her appeared to be about the... Read More
WHO’S CRAZIER, DONALD TRUMP OR THE FARMERS WHO SUPPORT HIM?
By Larry Levine – Suppose a candidate for public office told you that your biggest problem didn’t really exist and you knew he was either misinformed or lying. Suppose that same candidate promised that if elected he would do something to give you an even bigger... Read More
THE ANNOYING SNOBBERY OF TOP 50 RESTAURANT LISTS / don’t tell me it’s the best until you’ve tried them all
By Larry Levine – I really don’t like the word “best” when it comes to describing food or restaurants, or much of anything else for that matter There are too many great restaurants serving great food around the world for any to be designated the best, or the 50... Read More
WHY THE CMT (CORPORATELY MODIFIED TASTEBUDS) GENERATION LOVES FAST FOOD BURGERS / part three of three
By Larry Sheingold – Ever wonder why burger chains use near-naked models as their sales images? Why not run ads featuring goggle-eyed mad scientists instead? Yeah. Silly question. But the truth is today’s Dr. Frankensteins have more influence over your burger-buying... Read More
CAN RESTAURANTS SURVIVE IN THE PROCESSED FOODS ERA? / part two of three
By Larry Sheingold – “Devour food that’s good for you, the same way you devour food that is not good for you.” That’s the ad copy for a recent Panera Bread TV campaign – and the core of the restaurant chain’s marketing strategy for surviving the Corporately... Read More
CMT / what it is and why it’s a more immediate concern than GMO – part one of three
By Larry Sheingold – Are you OK with frog DNA in your corn chowder? Provocative topic no doubt, especially for vegans, but no less compelling than: are we regularly eating the food equivalent of lead paint? Extreme? Perhaps. But those were the kinds of... Read More
TURNING DOWN THE VOLUME ON INTERNET REVIEWS / when restaurant patrons get it wrong online
By Larry Sheingold – I’m at Alfred’s Steakhouse in San Francisco. Having precisely the dining experience I came for. And wondering about the on-line “real people” reviewers who saw Alfred’s differently. The cult of Internet tastemakers keeps growing. As does... Read More
FOR RESTAURANT RESERVATIONS / it’s time to can the ap and pick up the phone
By Larry Levine – ATTENTION: All you folks who think an ap button is human contact If you have come to rely on aps and the internet to make restaurant reservations: STOP. Go back to the old fashioned way; skip the online reservation services and call the... Read More
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