Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Mercredi, c'est ravioli.
I did not think I'd live to read this: a full review by Meredith Brody devoted to a Vietnamese restaurant. If you exclude the Slanted Doors, Meredith went to two Vietnamese restaurants in her almost 3 years at the weekly, and each time, they were packed into multiple "ethnic" reviews, getting a fourth and a third of the attention respectively.
So of course, we had to chuckle when she wrote: At dinner, I glanced at the menu and thought, hmmm, Slanted Door... What else is she going to compare it to? She hasn't paid attention to any other Vietnamese place.
She butchers more French, coming up with crème brülee. I mean, crème brûlée is on every menu, it's not even French anymore.
She tries hard: a palate cleanser is described as a fragrant interregnum, which had me question my understanding of the word interregnum. Interregnum does mean regency, and fits there only in a really really strained metaphor. It is like misspelling crème brulée: the use of fancy or foreign words does not impress if it is inadequate, quite the opposite.
Special for Winky: there are a lot of "I"s, but I don't mind an "I" part of "I like". A review is still subjective, so Meredith should state her opinion. The "I"s I don't like are the "I was in a rush to see the Picasso and Monet exhibit at the Legion of Honor" because it means Meredith would rather be elsewhere than do her reviewing job, which I find obnoxious.
But all this is nitpicking, because it's a full review dedicated to a Vietnamese place without the adjective "ethnic" affixed to it, without a word of unrelated introduction. Taking into account the lowered expectations that Meredith set, it is a decent review. If you take away "interregnum", "mingy" and the butchered French, you'd think it was a Robert Lauriston review.
So of course, we had to chuckle when she wrote: At dinner, I glanced at the menu and thought, hmmm, Slanted Door... What else is she going to compare it to? She hasn't paid attention to any other Vietnamese place.
She butchers more French, coming up with crème brülee. I mean, crème brûlée is on every menu, it's not even French anymore.
She tries hard: a palate cleanser is described as a fragrant interregnum, which had me question my understanding of the word interregnum. Interregnum does mean regency, and fits there only in a really really strained metaphor. It is like misspelling crème brulée: the use of fancy or foreign words does not impress if it is inadequate, quite the opposite.
Special for Winky: there are a lot of "I"s, but I don't mind an "I" part of "I like". A review is still subjective, so Meredith should state her opinion. The "I"s I don't like are the "I was in a rush to see the Picasso and Monet exhibit at the Legion of Honor" because it means Meredith would rather be elsewhere than do her reviewing job, which I find obnoxious.
But all this is nitpicking, because it's a full review dedicated to a Vietnamese place without the adjective "ethnic" affixed to it, without a word of unrelated introduction. Taking into account the lowered expectations that Meredith set, it is a decent review. If you take away "interregnum", "mingy" and the butchered French, you'd think it was a Robert Lauriston review.
Labels: meredith brody
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