Whatever's going on...

I know a few people who might be upset about the iconic Tail 'O the Pup closing in a month or so unless they find another spot to move to...

We heard that Sterling Steakhouse wasn't answering its phone last week, but a commentor says they're still open, so we'll see where that leads...

Last week was the Hindu holiday of Diwali, which is celebrated by consuming large quantities of one of my favorite sweets, burfi. The New York Times had a great article Festival of Lights, Parade of Sweets explaining the tradition. Thanks to Shali, we celebrated with some boxed burfi at the office.

Interesting article in the L.A. Times food section on The real cost of a free meal, about Esquire critic John Mariani. It sounds like he definitely crossed the line, but in fact it can be pretty hard to say exactly where the line is. Even the most reputable publications let their feature writers and editors attend familiarization dinners, which often result in news articles about new places. This seems reasonable, because it's their job to find out about new places. The top critics usually don't attend these dinners and always pay for their own dinners when doing a complete review. But there's plenty of grey areas that seem to be unavoidable in the business. I think the best advice for the reader would be to use round-up articles such as the ones in Esquire as a general source of info on restaurants, and use the reviews in reputable daily papers for a more critical look at a restaurant.