Tuesday, July 31, 2012

question

What do you guys think about a reviewer noting that all the people in an "ethnic" restaurant appear to be of that ethnicity, or are speaking the language or whatever?  For instance, just ate in a Japanese place where the clientele appeared to be 90%  Japanese.  Can I mention it?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah you can mention it but it's kinda clichE for food reviews.

Anonymous said...

I think it's fine to mention it, but I'd ask how sure you are that the people were Japanese? Did you ask around?

Also, just because there's a lot of Japanese people at a Japanese restaurant doesn't automatically mean the joint is good or authentic or what not. I mean, Denny's is full of Americans, but it's not what you'd call a great American restaurant.

-biz

Anonymous said...

I would vote it only matters if they're actually speaking the language or if they have an accent that suggests they know what the authentic shit tastes like.

Meg

beckler said...

I would be sure to hedge by saying that they appeared to be Japanese American or some such. I often comment on the typical clientele, so this doesn't seem different to me than saying it's tatted up bros or whatever. But I may just skip it. There are probably a lot of Japanese in Davis and there aren't that many Japanese restaurants, anyway, although way more at this place than Mikuni, I can tell you that.

I was just struck yesterday because it was like a 90% ratio, assuming they were all Japanese.

DJ Rick said...

It's truly remarkable to find any place in Sacto with a 9-to-1 Japanese-people-to-other-people ratio, so surely it's worth mentioning. I've often said that when it comes to any kinda food, I like to "eat where they eat". Even when people fully understand and agree with that reasoning, they can have an adverse reaction to the use of a relative pronoun to describe an entire race or ethnicity. Taking it a step further....You might recall that when Ross Perot addressed the NAACP in 1992, he got a big reaction when he said "you people". So, just stay clear of using pronouns, and I think you'll be in safe territory.

Anonymous said...

Will you note if 9 out of 10 people eating at La Trattoria Bohemia are white?

Anonymous said...

If that place isn't 10-outta-10, it's probably noteworthy.

Anonymous said...

See AP Stylebook, page pg 32.

beckler said...

If I could tell that 9 out of 10 people in Trattoria were Czech, then absolutely I would mention it. Let's not pretend that you can't tell what race people are sometimes. That's silly.

sharifofthedelta said...

flip a coin/ i always thought an exercise companion was japanese american - first name allan until today i heard him speaking cantonese to a friend. i recognize japanese as i have failed to learn it reapeately.