sea change
Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's namin'. For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin' Bob Dylan
We are in the midst of a sea change in the way we collect and view information. Newspapers, and media publications across the world seem suddenly to be far less relevant, or at least in their printed formats. In the face of Matt Drudge, and Ariannna Huffington, the venerable New York Times is apparently teetering on the brink. Locally the StarTribune is floundering, Msp, and Minnesota Monthly have laid people off. Some have argued, though they typically represent the same seemingly antiquated interests, that this downturn is simply the result of a weak economy and the drop in ad dollars. Most observers agree however that “the times they are a-changin”.
Rick Nelson of the Strib has wielded the most powerful pen in the Twin Cities for years, and with good reason. Not only is he a fantastic writer, he brings extraordinary passion and vision to the job. He has done wonderful work in educating, and entertaining his readers, the town has come a long way, a lot of credit is due him. But with every new blog, with every new web site, his importance diminishes, by the day and by the hour.
Web sites like tripadvisor, and urbanspoon that rely on anonymous commentary have become very popular. They are easily manipulated, so much so that it’s become common industry practice for rival restaurants, disgruntled employees, and the like to post fabricated reviews. Or conversely create positive reviews about their own restaurants. This democratic experiment has lead to an almost absolute lack of transparency, say what you will about the media in it’s current form, but at least generally people behave with a sense of journalistic integrity.
The Strib, Msp, Minnesota Monthly, take enormous resources to create the content that they do, to employ the stable of extraordinary writers that they do. Now that people are less willing to pay for it, where will these writers and journalists go? To web sites, to blogs, surely some print media will persist with it’s relevance reduced. The question is what happens in the interim? Nature abhors a vacuum. As this void is filled by the likes of tripadvisor, will we be asking ourselves why so many good restaurants are failing before it’s too late? Before you call me a chicken little, please note Chino Latino is ranked as #1 in Best Fine Dining on urbanspoon.
13 Comments to “sea change”
Leave a Reply
I think the ranking of Chino Latino probably reflects, unfortunately, the democratic sentiment. That doesn’t mean that people who give a shit are going to go there, or not go somewhere better.
Also, you might implement this idea:
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/03/pizzeria-delfinas-genius-subversive-anti-yelp-t-shirts.html
I have to believe that people who are interested in Fine Dining aren’t going to consult the Urbanspoon rankings. At least I hope that’s true.
I do think there’s a lot of people who are passionate about good food who use their blogs to evangelize about their favorite restaurants (almost all locally-owned fine-dining places incidentally), and I think that is a strong equalizer against the idiotic rankings of Urbanspoon and CitySearch.
I would agree with Jason. I rarely put much weight on reviews on Urbanspoon and CitySearch. And while I would consider myself only a “closet foodie”, I highly doubt many of our local food critics find much value there.
However, I think a more important issue remains the current Dining environment. While I understand and am supportive of the “locally-owned, locally-sourced, organic, etc.” trend, that trend is not what the majority of the public is seeking. My friends/family/peers seek simple, good tasting food, at a reasonable price point. This is not a new trend because of the current economic downturn.
It therefore mystifies me as to how a restaurant can open, offer a “cutting edge” menu of locally-source ingredients, charge above-average prices, and then be surprised when they can’t make it because the don’t have the “support of the community”. These entrepreneurs need to refine their business models and stop putting what they want ahead of what the customer will support. If they can not balance the two, they are destined to fail.
Scott, thank you for explaining my point with far more eloquence than I could have. Our criticism is becoming democratic. Before you know it we will all be sitting around in our snuggies, eating Champ’s artichoke dip, and admiring our Thomas Kinkaids…after all isn’t all about what “the majority of the public is seeking”?
(actually I am not sure how popular snuggies are, but we own two in a fabulous sage green)
There is a fine line between foodie and snob, and as far as I am concerned for a long time the “critics” came down on the snobbish side. I don’t really need to know – and have the food rated by – if the Tuscan dish at the neighborhood bistro was prepared to the exact specs of the old lady in the little village on the Tuscan hillside.
What we are seeing is the pendulum swinging back a bit (quite a bit actually), but to Scott’s point, maybe the local restaurant scene has to back off a little from the foodie crowd and target a different, and broader audience. Start with the people who are trying and having a hard time to get their kids to eat vegetables.
I think a pretty good example is the infamous “readers poll”. It was very recently that Red Lobster was voted the “best seafood restaurant” in Mpls, right?
Locally, editors and food writers know better. They write about the local restaurant scene and present information that is (usually) insightful. That’s why they get paid to do it. But, even after they do their job the locals STILL vote for Red Lobster, or consider Chino Latino Fine Dining.
I have no explanation for this. People like what they like. People like what they are familiar with. People are afraid of food that doesn’t look like something they know or contains ingredients they don’t recognize. People are afraid of looking stupid then they don’t know what half of the things on a menu are. People aren’t willing to experiment and branch out.
I could come up with more.
The Twin Cities also has a very high percentage of people who are married with kids. That’s a factor. If you get a babysitter for your two kids (at $10 an hour), your night out for dinner costs $30 before you even order anything. Are you willing to take a risk and try something new? Or do you want to go with the tried and true, and order from that Applebees down the block?
This isn’t how I live, but it is how most of my suburban neighbors and friends live.
I, for one, don’t want to read people’s reviews of Chammps and Olive Garden and TGI Friday’s. But then, I am kindof a snob. So I’m cool with snobby food writing.
For what it’s worth, Chino Latino falls under the urbanspoon category of “Affordable Fine Dining”, not “Fine Dining.” These seem to only be names for relative price ranges. LBV owns the #1 spot in “Fine Dining”, with our friends on the hill across the river not even making top 10, perhaps since they are a sponsor.
Jason, concerning families, another reason the chains are a go-to is their kids’ menus. One unhappy kid can ruin a night for an entire restaurant. A few fried, salty items on the menu might open you to the families and the inevitable ice cream stains on the carpet. Yes, carpet.
On the other hand, the few breakfast/lunch places with local and organic foods and kids menus seem to be doing well. Perhaps kids are more tolerable to foodie types in the morning.
Part of thr problem may be the front of the house. I have gone to the same restaurant and had a great meal and another that has kept me from going back. I’m not a regular and once (the great meal) I was treated with respect. The other meal (the bad one) I was treated like I wasn’t worth the servers time to serve me. The quality of the majority of the servers that I have had in MPLS and St. Paul aren’t up to fine dining standards. It’s amazing how good a dinner can taste when your are treated like you are the most important person at the restaurant.
[...] Beard Award-nominated Chef Stewart Woodman of Heidi’s hailed Chino’s #1 “fine dining” ranking on Urbanspoon as a sign of an ongoing [...]
I really liked this post. Can I copy it to my site? Thank you in advance.
love your site