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Studiokitchen's Shola Olunloyo responds to Meal Ticket's restaurant music rant (and we respond back)
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Studiokitchen's Shola Olunloyo responds to Meal Ticket's restaurant music rant (and we respond back)
The other day, I excerpted a write-up that Mémé chef/owner David Katz posted on his restaurant's MySpace blog. The subject at hand: patrons who have complained about the music he plays during service.
It amazes me how many people have an idea of what restaurant music should be. Like there is one kind of music played at one certain loudness for every restaurant in the United States! Haven’t these people been in any other style of restaurant? Maybe a gastro-pub, a bistro??? We are NOT a formal slow dining restaurant.
Using Katz's statement as a jump-off, I went on to throw in my own opinion — I think people who complain about this kind of stuff need to rejigger their priorities. Music selection? Volume? Let's concentrate on the food and drink we're paying good money to enjoy. That's my stance.
Earlier today, chef Shola Olunloyo, who runs the blog Studiokitchen (and knows Katz), offered up a retort — not to the music issue, but rather to what he perceived as self-serving pontification that tarnished his colleague's reputation. "I am very concerned that opportunistic journalism is becoming increasingly common in food writing," Olunloyo writes. "Too many writers today will easily sacrifice the subject for the story." An excerpt of his response:
I think this article does the chef a disservice because more than a philosophical discussion on restaurant music selection or volume, it paints an egomaniacal portrait of someone who probably is a much nicer person but just does not have the right filters regarding how he is quoted.
Furthermore the fact that while the City Paper seems to agree that restaurant patrons should have absolutely no say in the volume or selection of the music, the "category" of the posting is filed under "Ill Advised Ranting" thus acknowledging that it probably is a very bad idea to say things like this publicly.
That is what I find increasingly disappointing about food writing.
I do not think that my post portrays Katz in an "egomaniacal" light. If you check out our recent Q&A with him, it's pretty clear that he tends to speak his mind. And in an industry that's fiercely watchdogged by public relations pros, that's kinda refreshing. "Control your image. Do not say a word. Let your publicist speak for you," Olunloyo advises restaurant types at the end of his post. Though hospitality PR is a vital cog in the machine, that is straight-up terrifying to a food writer. If every chef, owner, etc. subscribed to such a credo, readers would be subjected to nothing but prefab quotes and meticulously regulated info. And that wouldn't be good for anyone, restaurants included.
As far as me making Katz appear "inhospitable" by quoting him: There was plenty of preemptive press on Mémé, and much of it touched on the chef's candid nature. Yet the place has been open for going on a month and it looks busy every night. Perhaps these people just dig the food and aren't even concerned with/aware of Katz's public image. (Maybe they like the music, too?)
One notable distinction that Olunloyo does not point out: Katz shared his thoughts in a very public forum. I did not badger him with loaded questions to acquire juicy quotes, then take them out of context to serve my own sadistic journo needs. "If I didn't feel that way or want anybody to know, I wouldn't have posted it on MySpace," the chef confirms via e-mail.
Lastly, the blog category "Ill-Advised Ranting" references ME, not Katz or whoever else may be cited in future rantage. I created it to distinguish thoughts/gripes straight from my craw from some of the more reporterly stuff you'll find here on Meal Ticket.
I have renamed the category "Drew Lazor's Ill-Advised Rant Factory" to prevent future confusion.
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