Why Critics Review Very Fancy Restaurants

• I don't think that Hanna is a weed smoking taco eater but if she is more power to her. I'm an observer restaurant critic reader only & occasional scandalous article reader. My hh income exceeds 150k, but I don't dine at 5 star restaurants anymore due to the economy. My buying habits have changed and frankly I cannot afford the luxury anymore. I want a 4 star experience for a 2-3 star price.... Hanna keep up the great work. I'll read and enjoy all of it, but I'd rather read about the places like Bolsa, Horne & Dekker, Smoke, The Grape etc that you DO cover. They are small out of the way one-offs that have good food and fair prices, and I don't feel cheated or cheap taking someone there or celebrating an anniversary. I think most of the people reading the observer restaurant critiques would feel the same way as I do whether they make 50k or 150k.

• The Observer does a tidy job catering to the weed smoking taco eaters. That is why they imported the likes of Hannah Rasken instead of employing real talent. The editors have a distinct history of shooing away the real talent in favor of more controllable mindless taco eating weed smokers. The list is lengthy.

• The debate about the proper role of a food critic in the New York Times takes a different shape by virtue of the fact that the New York Times functions as a national newspaper, not just a local daily/weekly. Disproportionate coverage of upscale restaurants is easier to justify, because it's consistent with the target market--national, educated, mobile, relatively affluent. Unlike the NYT, most publications serve strictly local audiences. Their circulation departments have a basic idea of their demographics. Median household income for a D reader is $160,000. Median household (not individual) income for a Dallas Observer reader is $52,900, a little below the national median household income. Any editor with a head on his shoulders can look at that data and realize that, if dining coverage is geared to respond to the economic reality of the publication's readers, the Observer should not be writing about the same restaurants that D covers. Most Observer readers will never eat at the most expensive restaurants in Dallas, because they can't afford to. (Many of them would never dream of spending $20 on an entree.) Of those who will go for the high end, most will do so rarely--an engagement dinner, anniversary, or some other special occasion. Observer coverage may provide some small benefit for those readers, but at the expense of the majority. It's a red herring to say that readers pleading for more coverage of affordable restaurants are asking for reviews of "every no-name diner." It's also misleading to claim that there's "a disheartening amount of mediocrity" at the low end, without acknowledging that there's also a great deal of mediocrity at the upper end. (There isn't a single restaurant in Dallas that would get more than two stars from the NYT.) Rather than wrapping this in lofty terms of journalistic duty for the "arts" (when most of the Observer's readers are just trying to fill their bellies so they can go back to work the next day for D's readers), why not poll Observer readers? Not informally, through the blog, but make it part of the next reader survey: "Would you prefer that the Observer focus its dining coverage on restaurants where the average meal costs under $20, between $20 and $40, or more than $40?"

• Most of the cheaper places that aren't large national chains do end up reviewed anyway, if they're at all worthy. Takes longer because they're less hyped but they still get their time in the sun eventually. But it's maybe more important to get to the more expensive places faster because you're doing readers a bigger service if you let them know they're wasting $500 (on what might be a special occasion) versus wasting $20.

• the food critic wears two hats...art-critic and dinner-suggester. hard to balance. as you said, if you review music, would you not review roger waters because it was 200-300 a ticket? of course not! i think you would be doing dallas a disservice not reviewing the best in town where food transcends sustenance and strives for something more...art for lack of a better term. and then keep us informed on the rest.

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