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Friday, June 27, 2008
Meridith Ford Goldman-Bio
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FAQs of a newspaper dining critic:
Q: Does the restaurant know whom you are when you eat there?
A: The idea is to be anonymous, although that’s getting harder and harder to do in this town. And I’m not one for disguises. How stupid would it look for me to visit a restaurant and have the owner look at me and wonder, “Why is Meridith Ford wearing that ridiculous wig?” I’m not into my fake mustache falling into my martini, either.
Q: Surely the restaurant pays for your meal, right? That’s why they get good reviews?
A: Are you on crack? What’s your explanation for a bad review? The AJC pays for ALL my meals when I’m on the clock, and frankly, I’m pretty much always on the clock.
Q: How many times do you visit a restaurant before it’s written about in a review?
A: For the full review that appears in Friday’s Living Section (and online at www.accessatlanta.com ), I visit the restaurant an average of three times, sometimes four. If something was exceptionally good, I want to make sure it was exceptionally good more than once. Ditto if it was bad — I mean, maybe the chef was having an off night or something.
Q: How did you get your job? It must be the greatest job in the world…
A: I have no idea how I got this job. I consider myself pretty lucky. I do have street cred, though: I was a chef for a long time in another life, and then started styling food for local publications. That prompted writing, and writing led to a lot of gigs with some national magazines. I was the dining critic for the Providence Journal for five years before I came back to Atlanta, my hometown.
It is a really fun job, and a privilege. There are nights when I’d like to hole up in front of the TV with my jammies and a bowl of popcorn, though
Q: Why aren’t you fat?
A: Dude, three words: cross fit training.
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Home Sweet Home for Blais?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BLAIS ON TOP CHEF: Will he stay at Home?
Photo: Bravo
My dining review in today’s Living section is of Home, a new venue for restaurateur Tom Catherall and Top Chef chef Richard Blais.
Catherall is known for the type of popular venues that put a butt in every seat until the next big thing comes along; Blais is known not only as a finalist on Top Chef but as the molecular gastro guru of Atlanta. The concept is farm-to-table (mostly) brought to the table in the form of savvy Southern fare. Seems an odd coupling, and an even odder menu for two culinarians who’ve never adhered to the local/ sustainable movement before….
But Blais is cooking better than ever, and the venue seems to work. At least to me it does. Have you been to Home? What did you think?
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