Pay No Attention…

…when you are on a business trip in a strange city, hunting for a memorable dining experience, and you read an advertisement or hear from a self-described expert that an eatery is “award-winning” or “has been voted the best barbecue (steak house, sushi, whatever…) in the city.” Which award? What voters? Even if the award is a respectable one and some people actually did give thumbs-up to the place in question, it does not mean you will wind up well-fed and happy.

Food has joined the ranks of entertainment. Eating and cooking shows play all over television. Chefs and prodigious eaters have achieved as much celebrity status as sports stars. With this explosion of pop-culture gastronomy came rafts of fairly meaningless awards, recommendations and slavering reviews by writers eager to get on the bandwagon of some culinary shooting star. Content-hungry television shows feature all sorts of restaurants, some of them noteworthy for such silly achievements as serving an eight-pound hamburger or the world’s hottest chili. They’re famous - maybe they won a chili cook-off - but do you necessarily want to eat there?

It’s like the movies. Every film, no matter how atrocious, somehow receives glowing words of praise to print in its advertisements. Most of us know not to trust the hype. Instead, we rely on friends whose opinions we have learned to value and critics with a track record of pointing us to movies we like. Restaurants are no different. If your goal is to find a truly great meal - whether or not it is served by a restaurant in the limelight - you are much better off paying attention to one food critic with good taste and a steady voice you trust.

Over time, you will come to know this critic’s likes and dislikes and you will even learn that there are certain areas in which you differ. Your trusted critic may have a greedier sweet tooth or may be enthralled by shellfish in a way that you are not. We’re not saying you have to find someone with whom you always agree - that would not be possible - but rather to find a critic with a particular vision of what’s good and what’s not so that you can have a good sense of whether or not you will like a place based on that critic’s review.

Of course, it’s not always possible to know a critic who evaluates restaurants in a particular city, especially if the city isn’t a major gastronomic destination, or it’s your first time on a business trip in that particular town. If you know you are going someplace and cannot find a reliable reviewer, go through your contact list and come up with names of one or a few people you know who are from that city or have spent significant time there. Even more than a trusted critic, a reliable friend - whose tastes you might not only know, but share - is an invaluable resource for good dining advice. The question to ask is: “I am going to be in such-and-such a place. If you had time for just one meal there, where would it be? What would you order?” That’s a surefire way to get really useful advice, whether or not the restaurant you finally choose has earned blue ribbons or has been featured on a goofy TV food show.