Welcome back to the Eater Complaints Dept. where Eater readers are invited to vent, vent, vent, and never get kicked off the boards. Got a gripe or a praise? We're waiting at the window.
From: KT
Date: Wednesday, May 23
To: eater complaints dept.
Subject: To the LA Times Food Section Editor
___________________________________________
Betty Hallock used 75% of this weeks’ Restaurant Journal to quote former (fired?) employees and publicists of a business that has apparently experienced some major obstacles in opening. The journal, however, was akin to reading Page Six, where gossip, innuendo, and half-truths are spread by those who seem to be out to get someone else or destroy their reputation. The publicist stated that it was “American vs. Japanese management difficulties,” when, in fact, the management was ALL Japanese!! And yet, she was actually quoted. Incredible! Why not quote the busboy? He was actually there!
Most diners could care less about the inner management workings of a restaurant. We want to be told who is cooking great food and where we will have a fantastic night out on the town. This type of gossip mongering is petty and it is beneath the LA Times Food Section. Not to mention the fact that you have likely doomed a business that has spent a record amount of time and money investing in this project. Your gossip mongering may well soon become the larger story here: “EXTRA, EXTRA: LA Times can’t compete with the blogs anymore!”
Sincerely,
KT
See here and here for more on Gonpachi, and right this way for more Eater Complaints Dept.
