I can't help myself...

I'm sorry...I am. But this is too good to pass up...

Found on Chowhound's Chicago board.

P. Powers wrote:We just had rijstafel for the first time in Amsterdam. Does anyone know of a Chicago restaurant where I can find anything that resembles this great meal?

Reply from The Reader's reviewing queen:

Laura Levy Shatkin wrote:You might try Tre Kronor at 3258 W. Foster. They serve Scandivavian fare.

Similar geography problems have been documented previously. Who cares whence or what, as long as it tastes good?

That post was also from May 26, 2000. Not that it makes the response any less funny

Good point. Maybe it was the same geography problem. Old news, I guess.

JeffB wrote:Who cares whence or what, as long as it tastes good?

Ordinarily I wouldn't. And, were the response from anyone else, I wouldn't have bothered. But from someone who, at the very least, holds herself out to the public as knowledgeable about food, restaurants, and the like, I find it funny (as well as depressing, I guess).

And even if you don't know that rijstafel is Indonesian, Scandinavian food is nothing like Dutch food.

Please don't look at my earliest posts on Chowhound

I've learned a lot since then

Gypsy Boy wrote:

JeffB wrote:Who cares whence or what, as long as it tastes good?

Ordinarily I wouldn't. And, were the response from anyone else, I wouldn't have bothered. But from someone who, at the very least, holds herself out to the public as knowledgeable about food, restaurants, and the like, I find it funny (as well as depressing, I guess).

I was being sarcastic, a common failing. I very much care about those things. Of course I am an amateur, if not an arriviste.

Mike G wrote:Please don't look at my earliest posts on Chowhound

I've learned a lot since then

Okay. I won't. But I would bet that you weren't holding yourself out as a restaurant reviewer in a regularly published paper when you wrote whatever you did.


Edited in the interest of visibility.

For the record, Laura Levy Shatkin no longer works for the Reader.

(Guys - the mini print is a real pain to read. I often have go to the 'quote' button to see what is written.)

m'th'su wrote:For the record, Laura Levy Shatkin no longer works for the Reader.

In which case I stand corrected. Thanks, Mike.

Makes sense to me here.

-ramon

m'th'su wrote:For the record, Laura Levy Shatkin no longer works for the Reader.

Curiously enough, The Reader with a 5/11/07 publication date--ironically the date this started--features a bunch of restaurant mini-reviews with her name signed to them. I gather that she is now an independent contributor who, coincidentally enough, continues to hold herself out as someone knowledgeable about restaurants, and the The Reader appears to concur.

Because it's a big archive of reviews from which they select a group of reviews on a theme to run each week.

They've been working on replacing many of hers which are outdated-- that's why you can read a Spoon review which knows about the secret menus now, for instance-- but it's not like they generate 50 new reviews each week and never run the others ever again.

Okay. I promise: no more LLS bashing.