A Restaurant Strikes Back

Menu chopped, may sue

Restaurant critics for U.S. newspapers tend to be sycophantic or ingenuous or both. Not Mimi Sheraton, the gustatory Boadicea of the New York Times. Her knowledge of food is almost as encyclopedic as the Larousse Gastronomique's, her judgments as potent as the Guide Michelin's. When La Sheraton damns a bistro, its owners have been known to look around for a safe job in, say, the bond market.

One of Sheraton's severest verdicts in her nearly four years on the job was passed last month on an opulent new Chinese restaurant in midtown Manhattan called Dish of Salt. Not a single star did it rate, out of a potential maximum of four; instead, it got a boldface Poor. Sheraton rapped the place for every sin from pretentious decor to "lackadaisical and inept" service. The fish and lobster were "hopelessly overcooked." The egg roll "oozed grease." The spareribs were "dreadful," the dim sum were "stale," the sesame beef roll "stiff and cold." As for the chrysanthemum tea, it "could easily have been matched with water in which artichokes had been cooked." Ow! as they might say in Canton.

As they also might say in Canton, and elsewhere, Honor Is All. Kwong and Mary Ann Lum, the Canton-born owners of Dish of Salt, came back with chopsticks flying. For $1,200 they placed an ad adjacent to Sheraton's "Restaurants" column in the Times last week, claiming that they had been subjected to "a most malicious attack." Terming her critique "wise-guy," "sadistic," "prejudiced" and "misleading," the owners threatened: "We intend to hold you accountable for your cruelty, your malevolence and your viciousness." The Lums also claimed that Sheraton had only visited their restaurant once, not several times, as she had reported, and called her verdict "venal." Both assertions were ordered deleted by the Times's "continuity director"--i.e., advertising censor--and the Lums complied. As for holding the paper and its critic accountable, the Lums talked of filing a $2 million libel suit.

Sheraton replied that she has checks to prove that she had indeed visited Dish of Salt three times (once with Times Managing Editor Seymour Topping). As for its claim to be "an authentic and elegant Cantonese restaurant," she added: "It was just plain dreadful and very expensive. If you found that kind of Chinese food in a Las Vegas nightclub, you'd say, 'Well, for a Las Vegas nightclub, this is what I would expect.' I have had better chow mein at the Copacabana in the '40s." Mimi was also "very seriously thinking" of talking to her lawyers.

A tempest in a chrysanthemum teacup? Not entirely. Critics of Critic Sheraton object that on occasion she is unnecessarily vitriolic. Says one noted food writer: "She writes laundry lists, not reviews. Mimi is far more concerned with whether a restaurant serves the third or fourth best kidneys in town than whether it is a pleasant place to visit where the reservations are honored, the hot food served hot and the cold food cold, and the people know how to smile." Be that as it may, the brouhaha may be worth more than three stars for Dish of Salt. After a dropoff of more than 30% in business as a result of Sheraton's review, the restaurant has been logging dozens of calls from people who are sympathetic to the place or merely curious about its cuisine.

The Peking Duck at $38 may be precooked and tough-skinned, but--thanks to Mimi Sheraton--it makes for lively Mimi at work conversation. -

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.