blogging restaurant reviews project! please help.

[JessLeung]

Hey all,
I am a student at Drexel taking an online food writng course given by Craig Laban of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Our final project is to learn how to interview and do first hand report along with writing a 2,000 word piece about a subject of your choice.

I am writing about the effects of food blogs and their impact on the restauant world. I have a couple of questions if anyone doesn't mind answering.

1. Is there anyone on this site who posts food/ restaurant reviews frequently? How frequently? WHY do you write reviews?

2. What are your criterias for judging or grading a place?

3. What makes your reviews true and legitimate? Are you just a foodie or have you had experience in the hospitality field to allow you to know about food?

4. What gives you the right or persission to write restaurant reviews? How are you different from Craig Laban or any other food writer?

5. I heard that there are some restaurant owners who don't read the reviews written about them by average people. Is not listening to the people hurting or helping a business, in your opinion. How does that make you feel as a writer?

Thanks, -Jessica

[Janet from Richmond]

I have a local food blog. Since I dine out more than I cook, it's nearly all restaurant reviews rather than recipes. I've had it a year and have written 75 posts.

I write to promote a various assortment of restaurants in the Richmond, VA area and to give a source for locals and out-of-towners, especially since I often disagree with the local "hot" places and local newspaper/magazing food critics.

My criteria is the overall experience and value....food, service, ambience, parking, wine and how satisfied I am when I leave.

I am a foodie and have dined out extensively since I was 10 years old. I have never worked in the restaurant industry, but love, love, love dining out. I present them as my opinion, not as an expert opinion per se (much as I do here).

I have the right because I exist.....and fully expect everyone to consider the source.

I have never heard that restaurant owners don't read average reviews...I doubt that is true. They may ignore them, but we all like reading about ourselves and with being a chef or owner, there is a certain ego there (not being critical). I'm more concerned about a customer or potential customer reading my blog than the owner. I have gotten both favorable and unfavorable response to my blog.

www.richmondfoodforthought.blogpost.com

[Chowpatty]

Hi Jess,
Wow, 2000 words is a lot for an online article. Anyway, did you see this story recently? It mentioned a post I made on Chowhound so it might be relevant.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...

Here's my answers:
1. I post every day on my blog, including about one review per week. My blog is nearly five years old. I review to share my L.A. restaurant discoveries, to practice and refine my foodwriting skills and to network with possible writing outlets and with others in the community.
2. My biggest criteria is how good the food tastes, then I will take ambiance, value and service into consideration.
3. I have not had restaurant experience, but I've been a professional journalist for 20 years-plus, I'm an L.A. native and I'm fairly well traveled. I would never use the words true or legitimate to characterize any type of review. It's solely my opinion, just as the New York Times' reviews are those reviewers' opinions.
4. Same as 3, would never consider whether I have the right to write reviews. If people like my writing or my opinions, they can read my blog, if not, they don't have to. I may have eaten in fewer high-end restaurants than the professional reviewers, they may be more experienced food writers than I am, but I think people appreciate my more casual, less stuffy approach.
5. I think restaurants should certainly pay attention to Yelp and others' opinions, but restaurants and diners need to understand that many of these people are not very experienced in writing about food. But they would be foolish not to be interested in various peoples' opinions -- who are they cooking for, after all?

[Frodnesor]

1 - I comment pretty much daily on this site though only a minority of them might qualify as "reviews." I post reviews on my blog roughly weekly. Why? I enjoy food. I enjoy writing for the pleasure of it. It gives me satisfaction to steer interested people to good food, and to help good restaurants find an audience. The latter, particularly for less trafficked places, is somewhat a matter of "enlightened self interest." Occasionally there are places that may not be so good, and people may want to know that too.

2 - I've never strictly broken down my criteria, but my primary interests are the quality of the food and the skill of preparation, followed closely by the creativity and inspiration of the chefs. I pay attention to service and atmosphere but they're not usually my main concerns (unless service is notably rude or incompetent).

3 - After reviewing all the recent takes on food blog ethics codes, I came up with two rules: (1) be honest; (2) don't be a douche. "Legitimacy" is up to the reader and whoever reads me can make their own decisions on that front. My only hospitality experience is a couple summers working fast food type places in high school, which surely doesn't count for much at all. What I know comes from a lot of eating out, a lot of reading, a bit of cooking, and talking to chefs and others in the business when I have the opportunity.

4 - The only "right" or "permission" I have is some very rudimentary knowledge of how to operate a computer and maintain a blog, coupled with a basic command of the English language. There's a huge gulf of experience, knowledge and training between myself and (many) professional journalists.

5 - I have been "outed" by some restaurateurs who, quite to the contrary, were appreciative of the feedback (even when it was not universally positive). My general impression, at least in my locality, is that many restaurateurs *are* reading. Not necessarily everything (possibly Chow and eGullet more often than Yelp) and not necessarily paying attention to everyone, but I think a lot of them do pay at least some attention to "average people."

Incidentally, if you really want to learn to interview people, you'll probably also want to get off the computer and seek some actual face-to-face time. Maybe local restaurant owners to get their take.

Good luck.

www.foodforthoughtmiami.com