"critters & me in azusa, ca" > wrote in message
...
On Dec 30, 10:49 am, Terry Pulliam Burd > wrote:
> As a number of you know, the LA Times food critic was "outed" by a new
> Beverly Hills restaurant by taking her photograph and posting it on
> the internet, among other things. Pretty damned short sighted for a
> restaurant that wants to get anywhere in a city like LA, but there you
> are. I find it hard to believe, however, that the Times' food critic
> has been able to preserve her anonymity for 15 years in a city like
> LA. Regardless of making reservations under various names, using
> others' credit cards, etc., I can't imagine her walking into a
> restaurant and not having the maitre'd, et al, recognize her and
> scramble to alert the chef and serving crew.
>
> Original article:
>
> http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...,2330320.story
>
> The follow-up article:
>
> http://www.latimes.com/features/food...-restaurants-2...
>
> I also can't feature a new restaurant in as competitive a market as
> Beverly Hills, where it is filthy expensive to even *open* a new
> restaurant, nevermind maintain one, would do such a thing unless the
> owners' sole purpose was the publicity, which it got in spades. Even
> if it was only after the buzz the "outing" created, the ill will it
> also created might trump whatever initial buzz was generated and last
> a sight longer.
>
> Oh, and does "outed" have one "t" or two? <g>
>
> Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd

I see a trend here. A new sport, as it were. Out(t)ing restaurant critics
and secret shoppers. Maybe post a bounty on them so that people who don't
like them turn them in. Being a paid informant has never been looked upon
by society as a honorable profession.

It's an idea.

Steve