interesting...

Hmm...something quite interesting just happened in the tiny Sacramento food critic world.  Greg Lucas at the SNR and Blair Robertson at the Sacbee just reviewed the new incarnation of Plan B within a few days of each other.  One review (Lucas') is glowing, the other is a thorough trashing.  One or two of you may remember that I reviewed Plan B for Midmo a year or so ago and was pretty lukewarm.  One particular line I liked compared my duck confit to gnawing on a mummy's leg.  That particular entree was over 20 bucks, and was served quite carelessly.  Also, although Plan B specializes in mussels, the mussels at the restaurant, Ravenous, that is currently in the old Plan B location put Plan B's to shame.  And, the people I dined with all of these times, who live in the Pocket, stopped frequenting Plan B before it moved because of the attitude of the owner that Roberston mentioned, which is indiscreet to say the least.

God knows I've burned too many bridges here on Heckasac before I caught wise to the fact that almost everyone I write about seems to come around to reading it eventually, so I won't say much more, but I don't think I'm alone in saying that Lucas' review leaves a pretty strong impression that the owner knew who he and his friends were (one of his the dudes in his party was David Berkeley), and probably knew he was being reviewed.  That undermines his credibility in commenting on the service and presentation.  Again, this may not be so, but the implication is there.  Also, bringing wine along for a review is pretty useless for the purposes of the review.  He mentions a Saintsbury Pinot Noir, but it's unclear if he ordered that or if David Berkeley brought it.  I sympathize with having trouble writing about a wine list, since I am hardly ever excited about most Sacramento wine lists, so I often just don't mention them.  I won't quibble with the star rating, because I think star ratings are reductive and useless.