I know, I know, I missed a great show last night, but the New Yorker ain't gonna read itself.
If you like to read about food or like food or like eating food and you have never read Jeffrey Steingarten's book "The Man Who Ate Everything" then you are missing out. I used it as a reference last night for some information about uni and it threw me into a funk because his writing is everything I wish mine could be and never will be. Oh well, the man wrote at the fucking Harvard Lampoon, so he combines a posh and cultured background with a great sense of humor and how can I compete with that? I grew up in Lincoln, for fucks sake. You should read it, Beers probably has a used copy.
The new Midtown Monthly is out, with a great picture of Jer Per on the cover. I haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet. I can't wait to see what Dani wrote about Joshua Ploeg. I finally got around to reading last weeks News and Review, and I have to say the quality is a bit...spotty. The Bites column is mad as a hatter (if a column can be said to be mad). I couldn't read that poorly written Rancho Murieta cover story, mostly because the lady that wrote it said yeah, I voted for President Bush, are you going to stop reading now. Yep, I am.
I know I'm like a broken record on this, but can we talk about the yelps of Pho Bac? The latest one I read was Dane H's, which prompted yet another visit from me so that I could see what the hell he was talking about. No, the lobby with the bathrooms in it did not stink, it smelled vaguely like food (wafting out of the restaurant) and some kind of cleaner. Inside, the restaurant smelled great. As usual, we got the perfunctory and efficient service I expect, as usual the pho with rare steak was delicious as was the chicken bunh. Don't order the Chinese food, the place has "pho bac" in the name, order the pho! I would be so bummed if yelp actually had an effect and Pho Bac Hoa Viet closed down because it would create yet another type of ethnic food that we have to leave the grid for (Korean, Middle Eastern, etc.). I don't count Andy Nguyen, it's its own thing. Here's another winning quote from Dane H. "but I have the feeing that they are not practicing good food rotation in the kitchen--it's just a matter of time before I get sick, and I've already had food poisoning once this year, and it was not fun". You "have a feeling" and you are basing a review on that? Food poisoning is a serious accusation to level against a restaurant, so unless you really really think a restaurant gave it to you, how about you keep it to yourself? How about the guy who said the food is great but gave it ONE STAR cuz of bad service? I'm interested in Kim S. claim that "they" tried to pummel her friend when he complained. This really drives me nuts, but I know that writing about it will offend someone or multiple someones.
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17 comments:
I know yelp is just people airing their opinions, and I don't think Dane H. is an idiot or a jerk or a cunt or anything like that (I just saw the episode of Curb where Larry blurts out that that guy at the poker game is a cunt and ruins it for everyone-so funny). I am just bummed that everyone seems to have it in for Pho Bac. I told you that Steingarten threw me into a funk!
Spotty, perhaps ... but not unlike any other pub in town.
There were some good stories this week: local caviar, Foreman's play, Kate at McCormick/Schmittz, Lily Allen, some good food tips, etc.
Here's that Chron article about out of control Yelpers that I was telling you about. I think it pretty fairly highlights both sides of the debate... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/25/MNGV9ORDSH1.DTL&hw=Yelp&sn=001&sc=1000
Brew
I had no idea that this Josh Ploeg fellow was in Behead The Prophet No Lord Shall Live...I think I wore the band shirt they made (silkscreened on a white collared button-up shirt, not a T-shirt) until it finally fell apart. More ammunition for the "loft punks will one day rule Sacramento" theory...
I missed the show last night too. I was sitting on my shower floor crying and trying to break my way out of a plumber's tape strait jacket with a crescent wrench.
Pho Bac is cheap and delicious.
gbomb
Hating on Pho Bac is just boring. I know I shouldn't say it, but I feel like perhaps the next sentence in these reviews is apt to be, "its no TGIfridays, I will tell you that their steak ranchero nachotastical potato skins were great. And their bathroom didn't smell like cleaner at all.
and bad service? they have the fastest meal in town.
-Natalie.
Just as many people hate Zelda's on yelp. I think a lot of people who like to post on yelp.com just like to complain a lot...(yes, I post on yelp too).
I've learned not to get mad when the same person hates everything I like, and likes everything I hate. I just know to follow the opposite of their reviews...if that makes any sense.
yeah, but mostly people just complain that zelda's isn't chicago style, they don't accuse it constantly of potentially giving them food poisoning or of the staff beating them up! and they don't go there and order the salad and compain about that, even though it's clearly a pizza place
Bites is mad as a hatter, but rabies is not the affliction. I have it on good authority that Bites suffers from syphillis contracted at a male brothel in Istanbul.
I proudly stand by my 5 star review of the hoa viet. Even after going to many vietnamese places in the south area, my opinion of hoa viet remains the same. Good, consistent pho. And i wouldnt worry about it closing down to a few bad yelp reviews, when gazing across the dining room, i'd be very surprised if anyone in there had heard of yelp.
yeah, I know, it seems to do really well, but it has just about the worst reviews on there. Arby's has more stars, for god's sake! I think Ricks Dessert Diner is the only business that is consistently slammed in that way, but they deserve it and everybody knows it and that settles it
I like Pho Bac Hoa Viet, but I prefer Pho King 3 on Stockton Boulevard, south of Fruitridge and just up from the cemeteries. The flavors in the broth are more complex, and it's consistently good.
Some of you whippersnappers here are too young to remember when the building that houses Pho Bac was the city's premier punk-rock venue, China Wagon. It was before Bo (later Audrey St. Violet) and Carol (later, a Sac city cop) moved to Club Can't Tell, in what's now the Esquire Grill on K. later, China Wagon became On Broadway, which tried to go for the Del Paxton crowd and couldn't cut it in a Kenny G town.
Or something like that.
As for Bites, I wish he'd stop pulling his punches and tell us what he really thinks.
--jbg, aka elron gigbag
I want to do a midtown monthly column on vietnamese, maybe for the july issue. the june issue is the food and wine issue so i might have to get all fancy.
criticizing a restaurant for an imaginary case of food poisining you feel like you might get if you ever were to eat there again is bad form. so is criticizing an article as being badly written then admitting you didn't even read it because the writer didn't vote like you. zing!
How much of an article do you need to read before you decide that it is poorly written? I made it through 211 excruciating words. At this point in Bush's presidency can we really say it's as simple as "the writer didn't vote like you"? That wasn't an election, it was a matter of life and death for many. That's not like voting for Arnie. If you voted for Bush last time you are a fucking deluded idiot, not just someone with differing political opinions.
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Pho Bac is great. I've been going there for years and I've never gotten sick, it's delicious.
Zelda's looks and tastes like warm, wet, quiche, aka, puke-in-a-pan I seriously hate on Zelda's. I don't think it'll make anyone sick though, no matter what it looks like.
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