Who do you trust?

1 November 2005 by John Talbott    453  
Who do you trust?
To many of us who witnessed the startling birth, dazzling growth and current distressing semi-comatose state of the monthly, now bimonthly, and yearly Gault & Millau’s, its publications were the most interesting and reliable sources of information on restaurants, in Paris and without, for many years,. But the magazine’s appearance has become so irregular and its reviews of places so dated, that it is no longer of much use, and the annual guide, while useful while traveling, is not much good in Paris. No, now one must have a shelf-full of books and access to a large number of newspapers and magazines. And, it helps to know the cast of characters writing in them, their audiences and biases. Currently, I find one of the most interesting critics to read is Sebastien Demorand, who reviews four restaurants a week, 48 weeks a year, in Zurban, the magazine targeted to young folks interested in food, bars, music and entertainment. In addition, he contributes monthly to Omnivore, a specialists’ newsletter edited by Luc Dubanchet and Laurent Seminel, and Optimum and occasionally in l’Express + Biba. Yearly he writes the guidebook GuideZurban: Restos&Bistrots, a book, StyleCity Paris, with Phyllis Richardson and Ingrid Rasmussen and less frequently, Vignobles et Vins de France with Luc Dubanchet, Marc Esquerré and Aymeric Mantoux. The frustrating thing about his reviews is that they bear no numerical or star-type ratings or comparisons with restos of the same genre. Zurban has succeeded two other weekly publications – L’Officiel des Spectacles and Pariscope, the latter having had within it a six page magazine within a magazine written in English by the staff at Time Out Paris, that alas, is no longer to be found there, thus diminishing the usefulness of both publications. Time Out Paris does publish an annual guide in English that is fairly good and continues to have a diminished restaurant presence on its website. The second most interesting and reliable person is the founder and father of Figaroscope’s food sections in 1988, Francois Simon. Figaro is considered the newspaper of the stogy old right but in culture, etc., it is mainstream. Simon is difficult to read, as he prides himself, as does Demorand, on being a journalist first and foremost and a food critic only second. His picture is famously missing from all publications and reportedly has been taken only once. He publishes largely in Figaroscope’s weekly Restaurant section, contributing a “Haché Menu,” that while dense, usually ends with the cost of a meal and the answer to the question “Should One Go?” which is a tip-off as to whether or not to eat there. Also, in the daily Figaro, he used to (and may again) write a “Table d’Affaires” on most Mondays in Figaro Entreprises and a “Croque Notes” on Saturday; the former, a review (with stars) of a resto that business-folk are likely to visit; the latter, a chatty column including chefs’ comings and goings, personal favorites and recommendations from readers who phone his published telephone answering machine. Simon also writes books, whose latest titles (liberally translated) are How to pass for a food critic, Tuscany + Not everyone who wants to be a gourmand can be one. He also contributes verbal commentary to the television channels ITV and Paris Premiere. Since we’re talking about Figaroscope, one fairly good but not always accurate set of reviews is written by Emmanuel Rubin and team, including Simon, who hit five new restaurants (“C’est nouveau”) a week, for 48 weeks a year, rating them weekly with hearts (e.g. stars) as well as semi-annually with numbers (1-10 theoretically, but more like 5-9 in practice). Not to be ignored is the rejuvenated A Nous Paris, a free newsletter published with the cooperation of the RATP, stacked in Metro stations starting late Monday afternoon/Tuesday morning and often depleted by noon Tuesday. Its reviewers, Jerome Berger and Philippe Toinard, award blocks (e.g. stars) and are pretty much on target. Berger also has published a book, again roughly translated as White Nights in Paris: From the cocktail til afterwards. A widely respected critic and prolific writer (and Science Po grad) is Gilles Pudlowski. I used to think he was the best there was, but I have been disagreeing with him more and more recently. He publishes about ten quite brief reviews of places in and outside of Paris weekly in Le Point and turns out yearly guidebooks on Paris, France, Corsica, Brittany, etc. He also just published the same book in two languages, Elles sont Chefs aka Great women chefs of Europe. He also publishes in Saveurs, les DNA, le Républicain Lorrain, and Bon Voyage. Another weekly reviewer is Jean-Claude Ribaut who contributes about three reviews each Thursday (dated Friday) to Le Monde. I have found him to be inconsistent but someone who occasionally finds good new places no one else has. He has also published books on wine, cheese and cigars. Then there is Jean-Luc Petitrenaud in L’Express. He also does a food show on Channel 5: e.g. France 5 and Europe 1. He has also published books, including I’ll cook for you (my translation), a book of recipes. Alexander Lobrano, a prolific Anglophonic and insightful critic, contributes several short and one lengthy piece monthly to Where Paris, available at the front desks of most fancy hotels as well as to many American food magazines. A puzzle to me is Patricia Wells, whose articles in the IHT are legion and legendary and whose books are 99% spot-on. The doyenne of American critics in Paris, she can be right on target (as with her discovery of the Bistrot du Dome in 1991), but her adulation of certain celebrity-chefs, some of whom she works with, and change in geographic focus (that I assume came with the change in ownership of the paper) to outside Paris and even…
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By John Talbott