Blogocentric Formulations

The Uninspired Food Critic

Last weekend, my wife and I were looking for a new restaurant to try. We're not really chain restaurant people; we prefer local restaurants that offer unique dishes to mass-market chains that are found in every strip mall from Manhattan to Maui. As it happened, the Orange County Register Newspaper put out their annual list of the "Best of Orange County" recently, and we figured that the paper's veteran food critic of twenty-five years would surely have some real local gems to share in the "Food/Drink" section she was responsible for editing. With categories for different kinds of cuisines, surely there would be some real local treats in there that my wife and I could delight in trying.

Instead, we found a list that almost entirely consisted of (a) the same restaurants that have been on this "Best of Orange County" list for years (some of which haven't been up to par for years), or (b) generic chain restaurants. The food critic picked her Top 3 in each category, with the occasional honorable mention or tie. Some of her picks:

BEST BURGER: In-N-Out (chain), Slater's 50/50, The Counter (chain).
BEST CHINESE: P.F. Chang's (chain), Yen-Ching, TIE - Peking Dragon & Pick Up Stix (chain).
BEST COFFEE: Starbucks (chain), Kean Coffee, Coffee Bean (chain).
BEST PIZZA: ZPizza (chain), Round Table Pizza (chain), BJ's Restaurant (chain).
BEST SANDWICH: Jersey Mike's (chain), Subway (chain), Togo's (chain).

In just those five categories, there are sixteen total selections. A whopping twelve of those picks are chains with dozens of locations with statewide to worldwide locations. Two more of those (Yen-Ching and Peking Dragon) were incredibly disappointing when my wife and I tried them after seeing them on this same list two years ago. Based on Yelp reviews and other customer-oriented review services, it's clear the quality of these places has deteriorated over the years. When we went to Yen-Ching, our food was incredibly greasy and bland, and the restaurant itself smelled like mildew and the industrial cleaner they were using to try to clean it up (there was even a janitorial cart out on the dining floor!). Sadly, it seems like our experience is not unique, and more than one Orange County diner has fallen prey to its recurrence on "Best of" lists despite the fact that the last time any actual customer seemed to think it was good was pre-2009.

That means, in those five categories, of the sixteen total selections, two of them are local businesses with current favorable reviews from customers. For some reason, this list made me incredibly angry. If you've been a food critic in Orange County for more than a quarter of a century and the best pizza you can find is Round Table, and the best sandwich you can find is Subway, that's just disappointing. I would have hoped that someone who's job it is to review food would have spent the last twenty-five years venturing away from the Starbucks on the corner and the In-N-Out across the street in search of a better cup of coffee or better burger.

And I'm not saying that someone can't pick a chain as their "Best of" pick if it's really the best out there. Some people really do think Starbucks makes the best coffee out there. That's fine. If there were only one or two multibillion-dollar chains on the list, that'd be one thing. But almost every selection on this list is one of those choices which makes me either question the veracity of this critic's picks, or truly mourn the lack of quality options in Orange County across all types of cuisine.

Either way, I would have hoped that a "Best of Orange County" list of restaurants would have offered a few more revelations beyond familiar chains, out of date repeat picks, and no-brainers that everyone's already been to.