PhilaFoodie Interviewed by WHYY's Marty Moss-Coane on Radio Times

I was invited to participate in a radio segment today regarding the power of restaurant reviews on WHYY’s Radio Times hosted by Marty Moss-Coane. Recently, restaurants have been making news by fighting the critics who gave them unflattering reviews: the spat between Kobe Club owner Jeffrey Chodorow and New York Times reviewer Frank Bruni, an Ireland court’s verdict against a restaurant critic for libel (apparently one of the first of its kind), and of course the t-bone of contention between Chops Restaurant and Philly’s own Craig LaBan. Marty thought it would be fun to explore with me some of the general legal issues regarding libel as they pertain to restaurant reviews, so that’s what we did.

For those interested in listening to the podcast, here are the links: MP3 and Real Player.

The first caller was a little BENT-up about a review that HAMMERED his restaurant several years ago. Marty eventually PRIED out of him the POINT the critic had made in the review that ended up being too much for his restaurant to HANDLE: believe me, it’s a NAIL-biter.

In retrospect, I think this was a prank caller. While nobody likes to be the target of such a prank, you've got to give the guy props for executing it without being caught in the act, which, presumably, is the goal. Well done, sir.

Many thanks to Marty and her wonderful and talented staff for inviting me onto the show and for being so welcoming and gracious while I was there.