Comments on: Stiffed Again

By: Shell Pointer

Shell Pointer — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:47:09 +0000

We have plenty of great restaurants, locally owned, providing LOCAL seafood, in Wakulla County and Woodville. Most are not fancy, but they offer wonderful food. I seldom see mention of some of them. My ranking is:

Hook Wreck Henry’s
Angelo’s (panned by Chowhound)
The Seineyard
Posey’s Up the Creek
Spring Creek Restaurant
The Landing
Coastal Restaurant
Riverside St. Marks
Forgotten Coast
The Lighthouse

By: Anne in AZ

Anne in AZ — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:13:01 +0000

Shrieking???

Heavens to Betsy, everyone knows that a lady, proper or improper, never shrieks. We ululate.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:42:42 +0000

Well, my partner and I can’t marry in this state, so it’s not *my* brother-in-law you’re referring to. In fact, she’s a single child. So it’s not even “brother-in-law, wink wink.”

I’ll ignore the “shrieking jihad” comment (though all, notice how often women are described as “shrieking”?) and say this. I’m no rocket scientist, but I do read and write for a living, and the guide just makes no sense.

It’s not necessarily Stiff’s problem (his poor reviews *are* his problem, though I noticed that in the last one he actually described the food).

The review-rating issue is bigger than some good old boy’s perfunctory write-ups of fast food restaurants. You can diminish my observations, and you can call me a carpetbagger, and say all the other unwelcoming stuff that gets ladled on the heads of newcomers in this town — as if we weren’t all newcomers to this world at some point in our lives — but the reality is that regardless of all the “explanations” the guide doesn’t work as a tool for explaining what’s good to eat in this area, and that’s what newcomers see when they arrive. Munch on that, FSU1.

By: FSU1

FSU1 — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:08:33 +0000

I would suggest that the comparison of Liam’s and Chez Pierre indicates a chronic misunderstanding of Ashby’s rating system. Liam’s is a contemporary American “character” restaurant emphasizing creativity in foods.
Chez Pierre is a high volume, self-styled ” French restaurant with a Southern accent.” It’s a case of apples and oranges.
We should bear in mind that criticism is a highly subjective pursuit. Occasionally I, too, disagree with Ashby, and on the rare occasions that I see him I don’t hesitate to mention and discuss it with him. But I don’t think it is so important as to warrant a shrieking jihad.
Unless, of course, a brother-in-law’s restaurant got a negative review.
After all, it is restaurants, not Abu Ghraib or waterboarding, that is the subject.
As for Tallahassee, it was the gentle, well reared Southern nature – which by no means translates to low self esteem – of its people that originally I found so appealing. I would hate to think it is losing that wonderful asset.
Bon appetit!

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:48:35 +0000

right, yummy, that would never happen at the Demagogue. They are so well-staffed that fleets of editors stand poised over keyboards waiting to groom the offspring of Tally’s Fourth Estate.

By: yummy

yummy — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:30:42 +0000

I’m still trying to figure out what kind of idiot thinks the same people who edit football stories edit restaurant reviews.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:39:54 +0000

As I initially stated, Stiff’s method has several fatal errors. First, within categories his ratings still don’t hold water. Second, he doesn’t clarify what, exactly, results in a good or bad review. Does anyone really think Liam’s is a lesser restaurant than Chez Pierre? Finally, his reviews, taken one at a time, can be ignored, but accumulating these reviews in a “Gourmet Guide” that itself muddles the lines between good and bad is just plain wrong. It’s a phone book masquerading as a regional guide to food in a town that has few alternative outlets for these discussions. That’s not Stiff’s issue — he just writes the reviews — it’s the Democrat’s.

By: FSU1

FSU1 — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:00:29 +0000

Ashby Stiff rates restaurants contextually, each on an individual basis for how successfully it achieves what it attempts to do.
Thus it is understandable that a good little Mexican or Chinese restaurant, or a well peforming chain restaurant, may receive a rating similar to that of a good French or American contemporary house.
This took some adjustment on my part at the outset of his reviews some 25 years ago.
The next time I see him – yes, by way of disclaimer I know Ashby – I am going to suggest that he repeat his explanation of his rating system for the benefit of our welcome newcomers who understandably appear to be unfamiliar with it.
He explained the system when he began reviewing for the Democrat, but I haven’t seen the explanation repeated for a very long time.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:45:32 +0000

I think Stiff could be much kinder to some of the really good local places. Really he could. Again… Jenny’s and The Shell are two delightful places. Why do chains get better ratings?

As for being a newbie, I stand accused. He’s definitely playing to the crowd that talks about those upstarts who move into town with their hifalutin ways. *Shrug*

As for Tallahassee, it can’t be explained quite that easily. I get your point, and yet, there are good-eatin’ towns in badly funded states/regions.

I think Tallahassee could have better restaurants (and some local restaurants are very good) if we thought of ourselves first of all, as a city combined of old AND new residents, and second, as a city with some style and imagination. We could be that city. Tallahassee has low self-esteem.

By: Karlos Waterman

Karlos Waterman — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:23:48 +0000

I make no apologies for Ashby Stiff’s reviews, but suggest a little perspective on the quality of Tallahassee restaurants. Being the capital of Florida is not much to brag about when you consider what the good citizens of the state spend to educate our children. Haute cuisine is not to be expected in a state capital where lobbyists fund much of the food business.