Monday, March 5, 2012

You Say Good-Bye But I Say Hello


Local long-time restaurant reviewer Anne DesBrisay announced last week that she and The Citizen have parted ways.  As she described it in her blog, she “received an email from my publisher explaining his decision to provide Citizen readers with a new voice and perspective on Ottawa’s dining out scene. He felt it was time.”  The Citizen is a business and Postmedia pays its publisher to make these decisions.  But if he fired Ms DesBrisay, a Citizen writer for 20 years, by email then he should be ashamed.

I’m not a regular (or even occasional) reader of The Citizen.   But I did make made a point of reading Anne DesBrisay’s columns, which were entertaining, informative, and free of snobbism.  She’s a graduate of LaVarenne Ecole de Cuisine in Paris and always brought that foundation of skills to her commentary.  Hers is the only food-specific blog that I recommend here.

In fact, she was the only bright light in the food and wine section of The Citizen, with its anti-wine Food editor and the increasingly cranky wine writer.  Whoever takes over the restaurant reviews at The Citizen has big shoes to fill.

But the good news is that Anne DesBrisay intends to keep on reviewing and writing.  Let’s hope that, free of The Citizen’s shackles, she’ll bring us many more years of interesting observations on the restaurant scene in Ottawa.

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3 comments:

  1. Excellent good-bye to Ms DesBrisay from Mr Beckta in todays letters section. I am curious about why you think the Citizen food editor is "anti-wine"? Did I miss a post?

    Liam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exhibit “A” http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2009/02/05/study-finds-wine-judging-inconsistent-at-best-hamburger-rage-silly-friday-video/

      Exhibit “B” http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2009/11/09/actually-im-more-intrigued-with-beer-and-food-pairing/

      It's not so much the points he makes as the condescending way he makes them. Since when do journalists get to look down their noses at dental assistants and real estate agents?

      Delete
  2. Couldn't agree more with you David. I am a regular reader of the Citizen. The restaurant reviews were always the best part of the Food section. Ron Eade and Rod Phillips make a nice pair. I've seen some disturbing comments by Mr. Eade on Twitter and Rod, well, you know my feelings about him especially after he wrote this: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/food/Taking+stock+sommeliers/6160200/story.html

    ReplyDelete