Read an excerpt from Charlotte Druckman’s 'Women on Food' about Mimi Sheraton (via EaterNY)
In 1962, Craig Claiborne borrowed the model of the French Michelin Guide and “established an ethical and procedural framework for restaurant reviewing.” Now, there would be a single reviewer assessing each restaurant; his byline would be attached to the work; he’d visit the establishment numerous times, with multiple guests, to get at more items on the menu; ideally, he would pay his own way ; and he would do his very best to stay incognito.
She kept her readers’ means and interests in mind, rounding out her coverage so that she didn’t only endorse expensive places, and she made sure she doled out entertainment and useful advice in equal measure. She considers her inclusion of lower-priced venues, which tended to be those specializing in “ethnic” food, her standout innovation. “I would try to balance, if one was gonna be fancy,” Sheraton said. “Or if one was coming up bad, and it was an important enough restaurant to be reviewed . .
I’ve often thought Sheraton’s decision to make restaurant reviewing “very, very straight service” was a direct response to and pushback against the “New Journalism” of Wolfe, Mailer, et al. Sheraton is not a storyteller, and when she was reviewing, you didn’t need to be.believes Sheraton’s commitment to prioritizing the diner’s needs is, in fact, her real legacy.
Sheraton didn’t court controversy, but she didn’t avoid it, either. She seems to have recognized its power early on. What she relished was upending expectations in the name of news. She didn’t care how talented or well-respected someone was or about their track record; if the restaurant was a stinker, she was going to tell you, and if everyone was primed to like it, all the more reason to disabuse them. To be fair, she was equally disposed to ruffle feathers with a positive write-up.
Sheraton had unshakable faith in her convictions — and the stars she bestowed, or didn’t. “Mimi Sheraton is magisterial and brooks no argument; I would love to go through life with her sense of authority,” Ligaya Mishan said, and I agree. What we’re responding to is a kind of swagger that, frustratingly enough, we tend to associate with male writers.
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