Why Aren’t Critics Criticizing?

The Free Dictionary defines criticism as: 1. The act of criticizing, especially adversely. 2. A critical comment or judgment. OK, so why don’t they?  A perfect example was a recent dinner at Le Winch. It’s in the nabe and I have a ritual of never eating dinner out, except, except, the night I’ve cleaned the apt, washed the clothes, done the dishes, etc, and I don’t want Colette finding dust bunnies or specks on our very expensive Turkish rug.  So, Sunday night, I go to the only place (except for Sushi and Turkish and pizza joints) open, and it’s a total disaster. Decrepit people (younger than me, of course, but who have never thought of exercising), talking on cell-phones, oy vay.  OK, I’ve been here 3 or was it 4 times; not bad (Back story: Colette with her 100% reliable sh*t detector, hated it.) But it’s Sunday, it’s in the 18th, and I’m not into schlepping out to the Porte de Versailles, so, this is it.  It was from start to finish – Horrible!  OK.  Q. Why haven’t the big boys, who loved it when it opened, gone back and blasted it out of the water?  A. Lack of guts and money and advertisers’ revenge and the tradition of eating at a place once (because that’s all the citizen gets) rather than a Frank Bruni dozen times.   Addendum: On my blog John Talbott’s Paris, somewhat later, I reviewed a place in Baltimore called La Famiglia, saying while the mains weren’t up par, I surely hoped they’d fix the situation since this was my potential neighborhood haunt in the US. I got immediate feedback from “Josh” that “You’re review seems little too harsh, you might want to reconsider your ideas about food.”  Aside from the author’s difficulty writing English, if I understand him, I shouldn’t be critical at all. Interesting!  One of the reasons I think cuisine in some cities has grown by leaps and bounds (take DC for example) is because of critics like Tom Sietsema; in Baltimore, chefs are simply not held to a high standard. MuseumPass: MuseumPass.com provides independent travelers with low-cost museum and transportation passes to Europe, along with the best city tours and excursions to Paris, Rome, London and more. MuseumPass.com is also a leading official supplier of Paris Monuments, Museums & Metro/Tube Passes to the travel trade. Check it out, and get the deals the insiders love.