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When we first embarked upon this Fresnoland Food/Fat City project, I had mixed feelings about utility of doing traditional restaurant reviews. Everyone knows that all restaurants have some good days and some off nights, some good dishes and some underwhelming, and did we really want to risk our credibility by recommending one or trashing another, only for a reader to go there and have a completely different experience?
Having been a film critic for 15-plus years now, I know first-hand that having opinions is a dangerous business. I still have people yelling at me for recommending Chappie or Caught Stealing (this one happened two days ago so it’s still fresh in my mind) or something else I reviewed 12 years ago. Who knows how many more read one take they disagreed with and swore me off forever? I’m sure it’s a not-insignificant number. Who knows how long I’ll spend trying in vain to win them back?
All that being said, I truly do believe that one thing we can bring to the local food writing game is a certain level of authority and ownership. This isn’t to throw shade at anything or anyone that’s already out there, but crowd-sourced content and Yelp/Trip Advisor/Google reviews are basically ubiquitous, along with meticulously “objective” profiles (whose objectivity is little more than an illusion, but that’s a debate for another time). Not to mention pay-to-play, sponsored content-corrupted influencer media. I patronize all of the above from time to time (it’s inescapable), but how much stock you can actually put in it is an open question.
At the end of the day, my guiding principle is “what would I want to read?”
The broadest, most basic answer to that is “something informed and honest.”
In a more specific sense, when a new, buzzy restaurant comes to the Fresno area, the truth is, I do want to read an honest review of it – even accepting all of a review’s built-in shortcomings. Acknowledging that meant that I’d have to write those reviews from time to time, no matter how scary that prospect may seem. “Do what scares you” and “put your name on it” are maxims that I try to live by.
And so, this week, a review of Bulle, which aspires to be “Fresno’s highest-end, most upscale restaurant.”
Your mileage may vary, as they say. But I did my best to provide an honest perspective. If you hate it, hey, we still have plenty of profiles and guides and more service-oriented writing to enjoy. Just because we’re FAT doesn’t mean we don’t get to have opinions.
— Vince Mancini, Contributing Editor, Food
This week’s local food news
Big Fresno Fair names the winners of its 11th annual San Joaquin Valley Olive Oil competition. Did this olive oil-tasting negate any of the choices in our own tasting? Looks like it’s more similar than different. I didn’t taste any “flavored” or “infused” oils, but only because I don’t really believe in those. [The Business Journal]
Did a spring heat wave hurt local pistachios? The summer has been pretty mild, by Fresno standards, but that early heat was bad for pistachios, apparently (and blueberries and boysenberries). The Fresno Department of Ag is asking farmers to complete a survey to asses the damage. [KMPH]
Get your sushi-taco fix at On A Roll downtown. They didn’t use to do fusion, but now they’re a-dabblin’. “The restaurant is debuting three types of sushi tacos as part of a new focus on its happy hour menu.” Sure, why not. [Fresno Bee]
Andiamo in Clovis is part of the DiCicco Empire now. Hooray for, uh… consolidation? I have fond childhood memories of DiCicco’s, though I haven’t been in years. And I’ve never been to Andiamo. [Fresno Bee]
Fresno says it has the key to soil health, Fresno State to test theory. The company is called Eco2Mix, and the secret, basically, is carbonic acid. Hope it goes well! [GVWire]
In any case, the idea: You know how, when you order a bottle of wine at a fancy restaurant, they’ll bring it out, remove the cork in front of you, and then let you have a little sip of the wine to confirm that you want to buy this bottle? (I’ve never sent a bottle back at this stage, but the implication is that one is allowed to). Anyway, my idea: sit-down Mexican places in the valley should have a little station out front where you could sample the beans and rice to help you decide whether you want to eat there. A tiny sample cup of beans, say. (Gelato places do it!)
I say this because I ate at Las Mañanitas for the first time with my son recently, not knowing how good the food would be. The second I had that first bite of refried beans, and realized that they were perfect, even before I touched my entrée (the fish tacos, which were quite good) I knew I was in good hands. I had had the reverse experience at a Mexican restaurant on the Central Coast recently (which shall remain nameless, even if I could remember the name of it), where I took one bite of the beans and knew that they had come from a can, and that by extension the rest of the meal probably wasn’t going to be very good either (which also turned out to be true).
I’m saying you can probably tell a lot about a Mexican restaurant by how good the beans are. What if you good get a little taster? I’d probably be a lot more willing to take a flyer on a new one in that scenario. Anyway, probably unworkable, but… uh… food for thought.
— Vince Mancini, Contributing Editor, Food
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