Omnivore Atlanta

The best restaurants are the imaginary ones. Last week, Besha wrote about a nonexistent Milan restaurant that won a prestigious award from Wine Spectator magazine.

The New York  Times‘ Stanley Fish has written a column about the matter too.  His first paragraph:

Last week the New York Post’s Page Six picked up on a story that had been widely circulated on the blogosphere. The magazine Wine Spectator was the victim of a hoax when it came out that its “award of excellence” had been given to a restaurant that did not exist. Robin Goldstein, a wine critic who said that he wanted to expose the lack of any foundation for many food and wine awards, had submitted an application that included the menu and wine list of a fictitious restaurant he named Osteria L’Intrepido. Goldstein revealed the hoax within a week or so of the announced award and declared that what he had done proved that “the level of scrutiny” that accompanies such awards is “insufficient.”

Perhaps Goldstein was also in charge of vetting Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate.

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I’ve always wondered about Wine Spectator’s awards – they seem to show up at restaurants with all kinds of wine lists. As long as the list is long-ish and has a few really expensive bottles, the overall quality doesn’t seem to matter that much. Now some guy has received the award for a restaurant that doesn’t exist. Read the story here.

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