Home > The M.O. > Archives > 2010 > February > 15 > Entry
Restaurant critic kicked out of a restaurant for being critical
Some of my friends give me hell for being picky about my food. It’s true that I’ve sent back limp French fries or an under- or over-cooked piece of meat. I don’t make a habit of it by any means, and I think my friends are exaggerating and just like to give me hell regardless the situation.
But, when I do send something back, I always do it politely and without causing a scene. And I’ve always been treated with respect equal to the respect I show the restaurant’s staff.
Good thing I don’t live in Houston or dine at Jonathan’s The Rub.
Alison Cook, the restaurant critic at the Houston Chronicle was recently kicked out of the aforementioned restaurant for sending back an overcooked steak. And, here’s the rub (pun intended), she was kicked out not by an under-trained server or a lippy food runner, but by the owner himself.
The entire incident began when Cook informed her server that her $34 steak au poivre was not cooked medium-rare. The server informed chef-owner Jonathan Levine who responded indignantly. He then hostilely offered to re-cook the steak. Cook was reluctant, as would I have been, to let a resentful person take her food back to the privacy of the kitchen. Then, it was on.
After some back and forth with Levine, at which point she admittedly became steamed, Cook was asked to leave the restaurant. To his (very, very) slight credit, Levine offered to comp the entire meal, but Cook and her guest would not accept the “courtesy.”
The incident led to some back and forth on the Houston radio airwaves and much commenting on Cook’s blog, on which she was rather modest and borderline contrite, which seems completely unnecessary in this case. Levine, in part, attributed his response to being a New Yorker.
Well, Jonathan, chalk this one up to “when keeping it real goes wrong.”
Check out her entire account of the event on her blog, Cook’s Tour.
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By Noonie McWhorter
February 15, 2010 2:02 PM | Link to this
I’m no food critic, but I would never send food back to the kitchen and expect the return of an unadulterated, edible version of the dish I sent back. Why poke a bear?