How Can A Critic Get It So Wrong?

A recent meal at Les Racines in the 6th left me so puzzled, indeed angry, that I thought it should be food for further discussion.  I’m aware that lots of times, reviewers either omit reporting on bad meals or bury their judgment of the food in a blizzard of words about the welcome, the space, the décor, the service and so on, so as to make the reader have to infer that the food was bad.   Each year when I buy the food guides (and they appear one by one from December to May), I scan them for information on new places and winners of various categories to see what I’ve missed. This year’s Pudlo Paris’s Bistrot of the Year was Les Racines and since I happened to be in the neighborhood several weeks ago, I looked at the menu in the window (required by law) and the blackboard specials.  That should have been my first warning.  The menu was like that in 200 average restaurants in every quarter of the city; salads, terrines, simple mains like entrecote, sausage and steak tartare, and desserts such as crème caramel, ice cream and sorbets (but from Berthillon.)  What was appealing though was what was on the blackboard: onion soup (5 €), oysters (7.50 € for 6), a wild duck terrine (5.50 €), beef with big grains of salt (15 €), Toulousain cassoulet (14 €), lamb souris (13 €) and scallops (16 €) – they all sounded delicious and were nicely priced.    So I induced two friends into coming along, figuring we’d test the kitchen.  Well we did, and it was found wanting.  It failed two important tests; (1) can I/we cook the dishes as well or better than they and (2) can I/we get the same level food at a place closer to my apartment than the nearest Metro stop?  Each time we’d taste an item, we’d shrug as if to say “Why did we bother to come here?”      Sure, it was cheap, but getting out for less than 28 Euros per person was not our goal.  So, let me return to my theme.  How did Pudlo get it so wrong or did we get it wrong?  Was the chef away today, did they forget to buy good product today, did someone add water to the sauce, oversalt the potatoes and dumb-down every dessert?  Who knows, but if Gilles Pudlowski had the best meal of the year here, I want to be with him the next time he discovers a Bistrot of the Year.    For those folks who want to eat in this neighborhood but avoid my experience, I’d recommend instead:   La Maison du Jardin 22 Rue de Vaugirard, 6th (Metro : Rennes, St Placide) T: 01.45.48.22.31 Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays Menus 22 and 27 €.    La Ferrandaise 8, rue de Vaugirard, 6th (RER: Luxembourg, Metro : St Michel) T: 01.43.26.36.36 Closed Saturday lunch, Sunday and Monday Menu at dinner or 3 courses at lunch = 30 €, plus wine running 14-63 €.    La Bastide Odeon 7, rue Corneille, 6th (RER: Luxembourg, Metro : St Michel) T: 01.43.26.03.65 Closed Sundays and Mondays Menus at 29.50 and 35.50 €.  ©2005 John A. Talbott