{"id":219,"date":"2024-01-22T10:49:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T10:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/restaurant-ratings-2\/"},"modified":"2024-02-21T14:38:46","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T14:38:46","slug":"food-rating-standards-specialty-informal-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/food-rating-standards-specialty-informal-restaurants\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Rating Standards: Specialty\/Informal Restaurants"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"sqs-html-content\">\n<p>Clearly the standards outlined for formal restaurants with fully equipped kitchens do not apply to mom and pop diners or to specialty restaurants. Regarding the latter, there are a number of restaurants throughout the world whose \u201c<em>raison d\u2019etre<\/em>\u201d is to excel in the preparation of a traditional plate. In Spain,\u00a0this plate may be a \u201c<em>paella<\/em>\u201d, a roasted \u201cbaby lamb or pork\u201d;\u00a0in Italy,\u00a0we may be talking about a \u201c<em>porchetta<\/em>\u00a0stand\u201d;\u00a0in the US,\u00a0we encounter \u201cSouthern barbecue joints\u201d and \u201cburger stands\u201d;\u00a0in the Middle East, we have \u201ckebab houses\u201d and \u201coffal eateries\u201d;\u00a0in Japan, we have a hole in the wall \u201csushi\u201d stores.<\/p>\n<p>How do you compare a\u00a0<em>porchetta<\/em>\u00a0stand in Greve, Chianti with, say, \u00a0the\u00a0<strong>French Laundry<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p>Secondly, there are the so called \u201cinformal\u201d restaurants where sometimes one person labors in the kitchen. Traditional bistros in France, tapas bars in Andalucia and the Basque country, Mexican \u201cfast food\u201d places, some \u201c<em>osteria<\/em>\u201d in Italy fall in this category.<\/p>\n<p>I accept that sometimes the dividing line in blurred between a formal and informal restaurant. For example, some high end bistros in France do have ambitions which supersede the preparation of simple traditional meals. Chefs such as\u00a0<strong>Camdeborde<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Frechon<\/strong>\u00a0(prior to overtaking\u00a0<strong>Bristol<\/strong>) and many others often turn out dishes far superior to ones prepared even in some Michelin 3 stars kitchens. One then needs to make a judgment call when classifying these restaurants for the purposes of evaluation systems. On the other hand, no judgment call is needed if we are talking about an \u201c<em>asador<\/em>\u201d in Ribera del Duero or a traditional countryside bistro in rural France which prepares an \u201c<em>andouillette<\/em>\u201d with no concession to modern trends and fads. One may or may not like the taste (deliciousness is subjective) but one has to give credit to the chef when it is due.<\/p>\n<p>For such specialty\/informal places I offer the following point system of evaluation:<\/p>\n<p><strong>5:\u00a0<\/strong>The best of its category. \u00a0A must go.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0A very good example of its category. \u00a0One of the best.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Good. \u00a0If you are craving for that kind of food, you will not be disappointed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2:<\/strong>\u00a0 Fair.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0\u00a01:<\/strong>\u00a0 Below average.<\/p>\n<p><strong>0:<\/strong>\u00a0 Should be avoided at all cost. Cross the street and run away!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clearly the standards outlined for formal restaurants with fully equipped kitchens do not apply to mom and pop diners or to specialty restaurants. Regarding the latter, there are a number of restaurants throughout the world whose \u201craison d\u2019etre\u201d is to excel in the preparation of a traditional plate. In Spain,\u00a0this plate may be a \u201cpaella\u201d, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"ppma_author":[270],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277,"href":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/219\/revisions\/277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}