One week after we asked about the St. Pete Times taking three months to fill the role of restaurant reviewer, the Times announced a replacement for Chris Sherman. Food critic Laura Reiley was filling in on a freelance basis, and introduced herself as the full-timer today. In addition, (as if she read the comments in our original post!), she also explains how a professional review is conducted:
Once you have determined a restaurant’s goals, your next objective is to assess how well it achieves them, and how consistently. From the taco stand to the fancy French place, maintaining standards is an ongoing battle, one rendered more difficult with the intricacies of staffing, sourcing and the changing tastes of the dining public.
And silly me, I just thought it had to be yummy. She even disagrees with uptown kevin on the state of independent restaurants:
… a first look at the Tampa Bay area’s culinary scene assures me that it’s an exciting time to enter into a local dialogue about dining out. The number of forward-thinking independent restaurants is on the rise, and chain restaurants seem poised to reinvent themselves with a greater focus on health and nutrition.
“Health and nutrition?” I just thought it had to be yummy.
At any rate, along with Brian Ries and Matt, we can now look forward to a consistent reviewer from the Times, too.
Still no editorial cartoonist, though.
