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Philly's anonymous restaurant-industry tweeters
Philly's restaurant community clearly is Twitter-obsessed. Naturally this had led to a number of anonymous accounts blasting out short/sweet updates from deep within the bowels of the biz.
Philly's anonymous restaurant-industry tweeters
Philly's restaurant community clearly is Twitter-obsessed — just check out a few of the chefs all up on it. Naturally this had led to a number of anonymous accounts — Twitter really is the best medium for such a thing — blasting out short/sweet updates from deep within the bowels of the biz. (Follow @mealticket for a nice little gateway into it.) The skinny on three such users after the jump.
- First off: The "Grubby Gossip" account (@140_Char_Critic) has been tweeting out tidbits on the Philly food scene since early February, tackling topics like Evan and Marcie Turney's rumored involvement with the next season of Top Chef and (of course) everyone's favorite le restaurant maudit, Speck. Though he/she/they did not respond to an interview request, we've definitely got our suspicions about who's behind it.
- More forthcoming is the individual (we're guessing it's a guy) behind the "Philly Waiter" (@phillywaiter) account. The local server, who lives and works in South Philly, tells us via email he started the nameless account to "vent about the service industry ... the people who cook in it, serve in it and, of course, the guests who patronize it." He didn't feel comfortable pushing out brief gripes about his restaurant under his own name ("How much bread can one person eat? Seriously. Stop eating bread."), so he decided to go the anonymous route. "I don't want my restaurant to lose face if I say something negative about it or about one of our fine guests," adds the mystery tweeter, who's worked in the industry for nearly a decade.
Though he aims to use the account to forge "open dialogue" with his restaurant-worker brethren, he also hopes it'll provide an insider POV to those being served. "I think a lot of people don't 'get' what it's like working in a restaurant," he says. "It's not their fault they don't share my experience. Maybe 'civilians' to the industry will end up following and gain some insight."
- And now for something completely different: "Fake Marc Grika" (@Fake_Marc_Grika) serves as a sporadically updated compendium of quotes from Grika, GM at Jose Garces' Chifa (707 Chestnut St.). Unlike the aforementioned accounts, Grika knows precisely who's behind this one — his employees. The manager, who's got a reputation for irreverence, says he "laughed pretty hysterically" the first time he came across the page. "Basically, [Chifa workers] take notes and quotes from me," says Grika, adding that there is definitely a good amount of extrapolation ("People are telling me that Christmas has something to do with a baby in a manger. BRING ME THIS BABY MANAGER, I WANT HIM ON MY STAFF").
As for the otter avatar, and near-constant otter mentions? Grika says a Chifa server ("Maybe he was a little buzzed?") showed up to work one day with a 12-month otter calendar. Grika, naturally, tore all the otter photos out and decorated a back hall in the restaurant with them — "like an art museum." The adorable quasi-aquatic mammal has served as his spirit animal ever since.
The anonymity of @phillywaiter makes my head spin. I am going to start doing this. Marc Grika is such good people, everyone should follow the faux him.— laurelro
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