I don’t get it. What is so objectionable about this New York Times review of chain restaurants that has a certain brat pack of bloggers scolding the Times for snobbery? Sure, the reviews are overwritten. But most Times food reviews are. Could these bloggers be projecting a bit?
Listen to the way the city-dwelling foodie bloggers start their critiques:
Ezra Klein: I’m pretty much your consummate coastal elite (I biked back from the farmer’s market today with a baguette and artisan cheese fastened to my rack) …
Matthew Yglesias: I was actually born and raised in Manhattan by fancy-pants parents who wouldn’t dream of darkening the door of an Outback Steakhouse…
Megan McArdle: I was raised on the Upper West side by a woman who made her own croissants…
These bloggers apparently want us to know that while they are not of the suburbs, they have come to understand and appreciate your reasonably priced basket of jalepeno poppers, and how dare the New York Times make a mockery of your favorite restaurant by reviewing it in the same space as Le Bernardin? Heaven knows there’s no comparison!
I thought the Times reviews were pretty accurate. But what do I know? I grew up in the suburbs waiting tables at restaurants like these and eating croissants made by Poppin Fresh.