I think it was Joel Wolfe, who ran Restaurant Lisanne Lisanne, probably the best of the restaurants that were part of the early • • •
One of our early restaurant critics had come highly recommended, and his It was enormous, it was packed. We had a long wait for a table.
Everyone was happy — it was a loud, boisterous neighborhood joint. When it was time for dessert, Beverly whipped out the review and showed The waitress, livid, escorted us into the kitchen. “Find the frozen As for the ice cream, while not conceding the “thimble” description, The meal, after all, was not assigned and so was on his dime.
• • •
Restaurant reviews have always been one of our most popular features, The weekend of a review’s appearance in The Paper often finds diners Readers absorb the spirit of a restaurant, its atmosphere and food range. A restaurant critic who cannot discern the difference between frozen and
40th reunion
Last Sunday, I stepped back in time — time before The Brooklyn Paper. The 40th reunion of my elementary school class from the Yeshivah of Flatbush, One classmate said he’d come for “closure.” I went more After Flatbush, most of us went on to public schools and secular universities; Except in a novelist’s fantasy, childhood is not necessarily life’s
on Atlantic Avenue in the late 1970s and ’80s, who said he preferred
a real review. Don’t tell me you’re coming, just come, eat,
pay and write.
Brownstone Renaissance, was critically acclaimed, and it was a sad day
when Joel closed his business. The locals loved it, but this was a long
time before Smith Street’s trendy chefs were able to capture the
attention of the “City” and draw Manhattan hordes to their critical
mass. Wolfe was pretty much alone, although others came, and mostly soon
left, in spurts.
copy sounded informed and balanced. One day, my editor, Beverly Cheuvront,
showed me a review he’d submitted about a restaurant that was not
assigned and was, in fact, outside the geographic area we were covering.
The review was so scathing that when the day’s work was done, much
of the staff piled into The Paper’s van and rode out to this place,
now long gone, on Avenue M in Midwood. We did not believe any restaurant
could be as bad as he described.
The food was probably ok, but certainly secondary to the place.
it to our waitress. The critic said the restaurant served frozen fish;
for dessert, he had ice cream — a “thimble” full of ice
cream.
fish!” she demanded. We didn’t.
she supposed the critic had come for the luncheon special.
with immediate impact.
cribbing their copy to select the recommended — or colorfully mentioned
— dishes.
Enticed, they’ll give it a shot and are their own best judges.
fresh should not attempt to do so. We never published the Avenue M review.
After 25 years of Papers, it’s easy to forget the time before.
which drew classmates from as far as North Carolina and Maine, was an
opportunity to compare notes, and put a few things in perspective.
for an opening, to look at a live page from the past and consider the
paths I’ve taken and where they began.
Midwood High was my next stop.
easiest patch. But we owe those who helped us through it a debt which
it’s not always possible to adequately repay.
