What were some of the funniest experiences that you’ve had on the job?

Adam Platt: Oh, oh like [Keith] McNally and all those people that get mad at me? Well, people do get mad at me. If you’re a restaurant critic, first of all, you would expect… like that movie Chef, there’s that great scene where, my brother played a restaurant critic and he’s berated by this outraged chef who calls him a bunch of horrible names to his face. That hasn’t happened to me in that personal way, but I’m surprised that I don’t get attacked more by restaurateurs and chefs. Because, the fact is that, they put their, you know, it really is like the theater critic and Broadway. It’s that same dynamic. These actors and entertainers and the chefs they put their heart and soul into it and this big fat dilettante comes in and he sits there for a couple nights and he has a few meals and then he passes judgement on them. Of course they’re going to go bat-shit if he says something bad, of course they are. It’s like, why wouldn’t they? I would too, if I was in the same situation. So, I’ve been attacked by chefs and restaurateurs and I’m actually surprised that it doesn’t happen more. My response is always, you know, people got mad at me a long time ago and wrote letters, and my response is always, you know, I have the utmost respect for everything you do, but please understand this is just my opinion. What about some of the better reactions you’ve had to negative reviews? Have you had any chefs or restaurateurs come up to you and thank you? Okay, well I’ll tell you one story, I tell this in the long form, too; my kids go to school downtown, and there are a lot of restaurant people for some reason whose kids go to that school. One of them is Danny Meyer, they’re a Union Square family. When I first was on the job, the first few years, I reviewed Danny’s restaurant Blue Smoke. Blue Smoke is a barbeque restaurant. And I gave it a less than good review, like… whatever, it was not that good. And Danny, a couple weeks later I see Danny coming up to me in the hall at the school while we were waiting for our kids he comes up and I was like ‘Oh no, here comes Dan, oh no, oh Jesus, here he comes’. So, Danny Meyer being Danny Meyer, he’s got on his nice tweed jacket, he’s got a tie, he’s got that Danny Meyer smile on his face and he put out his hand, and he goes “You know, Adam, I just want you to realize that review was very helpful to us. Every restaurant is a work in progress, we’re doing the best we can, It’s really been of great value to us, and thank you and I just want you to know, we’ll do better next time… or, we’re doing better already, I just want you to know that” and he shook my hand, and I go… ‘Damn’. And it was like ten years before I gave Danny another bad review, and he knows, it was a very smart tactic. But, usually they say nothing. Usually they say nothing. It’s usually the restaurateurs who will reach out to you whether in anger or not. The chefs say nothing, they’ll quietly steam, and they go plot, I’m sure they call me all kinds of names. Again, you’re not doing your job as a critic- I don’t care what you're writing about, you could be writing about speedboats or movies, no matter what it is. If people don’t get mad at you, you’re not doing your job.

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