Attention, food bloggers: the chef-owner of Origin and Colborne Lane, Claudio Aprile, has established some rules about dining at his restaurant on his blog:
A short message to all people that have or plan on coming to Origin with huge zoom lenses and flashes that induce seizures, the food critics and wannabe food critics who end up just being lonely bloggers in front of their Mac at 3 a.m.
1. Do your research before you arrive. Have an open mind.
2. Understand the concept and accept the fact that Origin is not Colborne Lane.
3. If you can do a better job than me and my staff then why aren’t you doing it?
C.
We’d like to add one more: telling the staff that you’re a critic-blogger in hopes of bypassing the lines or getting a free meal. Yes, we’ve seen this happen before and it has to stop.
• Never Met A Kid “Who Wants To Be A Critic When They Grow Up” [Origin blog]
wow… if only bloggers could influence… and I hope they DO have a bigger impact than I know.
I for one, am with D Richards :
Claudio Aprile – like most chefs that pretend to be good – are all what I call ‘PR chefs’, and this is further evidence. If he was really sure of his cookery, he wouldn’t be worried what professional/blogger food writers say about his cuisine.
I have been to one too many PR Chef- restaurants in Toronto
April 20, 2010 at 9:58 pm | by kkthat have been so very disappointing- Im going to actively seek out these blogs so I can better spend my hard earned money on meals that are worth the cost… hell maybe i`ll start a blog of my own…
Let’s be very clear on this kids. Anyone that takes pics of food, talks or texts on a cell phone, plays with their blackberry in a restaurant = inconsiderate child!
There is nouthing worse than some bean counting jag off cutting “the big deal” in a restaurant for all to hear. Total douchebagery!
One more thing – we are blessed to have Claudio and staff in our fine city.If you can’t handle the leap from the road house to Claudio, then go back to the road house.They will let you throw peanut shells on the floor and take pics of the chicken wings.
April 22, 2010 at 8:07 am | by SteveFirst off, Steve is obviously just a troll, or he wouldn’t be comparing taking photos of food to talking or texting.
Secondly, sorry Claudio (and everyone else who takes offense), but blogging – and the internet in general – is here to stay. We live in a world where posting one angry off-the-cuff remark like Aprile did can start a firestorm of bad publicity. And we also live in a world where it’s not just the major papers and magazines sending food critics to restaurants anymore. People are passionate about food, and many of those people blog about their passion.
And while it’s true that there are some food bloggers who – like many diners in this city – can’t tell an emulsion from an infusion, there are many, many more bloggers who are at least as knowledgeable about food as the paid critics (if not more so). They’re culinary students, professional cooks, or serious home chefs, who also happen to write about food. Nobody in their right mind would ever say “leave the album reviewing to the paid professionals”; using the same arguement about food and dining is asinine.
April 22, 2010 at 10:50 am | by NeilHe sounds completely affected.
April 23, 2010 at 6:46 pm | by MayIt is quite funny to read opinions from both sides, I must say to live in Canada (my favourite country in my own opinion of course), everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I love good food, experimental food, wholesome food and sometime fast food, we are blessed in this country there is a freedom of speech and expression, if you don’t like what you read, then kindly move on.
Everyone deserve a start of something that has potential to be great, just like our polite chef here, few legendary chefs had given him a chance in his early years to learn and to make mistakes. The sad thing is, this chef does not welcome other people opinions. May be he is that good, who knows? One thing for sure, he does appeared to be snobby, rude and even fascist, these are not an ingredient for success, even if he can cook up a storm.
I wish him all the best and hope he will survive the Canadian culture, if not, he should learn his lesson. Alternatively, he will do very well in a dictatorship community.
April 24, 2010 at 10:48 am | by YanI’m a food blogger, and a professional journalist. I agree with Claudio – I’ve seen far too many people expect free meals, free drinks, free trips, free everything, just because they have a blog or they write for some crappy little wine magazine they’ve created or whatever.
And NO ONE wants to sit next to a dork with a big camera who thinks he or she’s so cool because they know how to take pictures of food.
Sure, food bloggers are probably here to stay — at least I hope so — but that doesn’t mean we deserve royal treatment, or should act like royalty when we go out. Just like I expect my kids to respect other people’s rules when we go to a friend’s house for dinner, I expect to follow the rules of a restaurant when I go to visit it. If you can’t do that, folks, well, stay home and eat.
Give me Claudio’s food any day over sad leftover takeout pizza at 3 a.m. in front of the computer.
April 25, 2010 at 12:15 am | by S.Of course he’s scared, he’s risked a fortune opening Orgin, with no investors. Its all his own money, I remember reading that he took out a second mortgage on his house to make it all happen so I can somewhat sympathize… That being said, he absolutely should be finding a better(perhaps less public) outlet to combat his obvious insecurities, and just cook. Its great (smart) for a chef to search google to keep on top of what its customers are saying about them. You don’t have to take it to heart; just take it for what it is, criticism. Anyone who comes into Orgin and pays for a meal is completely entitled to their opinion and in the nature of freedom of speech here we are. Claudio, honey, relax, stand behind what you’re doing and remain confident in it otherwise if Orgin doesn’t succeed you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.
April 26, 2010 at 2:58 pm | by J.GCome on people. Leave your cameras/phones out of restaurants,and out of concerts. Can’t you just sit still and enjoy.Just one Chef sticking up for another.
June 9, 2010 at 12:28 pm | by J. ConforziWow I’m an artist on odsp and really needed a list and can’t find a place to eat. do I need a blog? i can’t remembe r hoow to find mine.
January 12, 2011 at 1:04 pm | by barb greene mannbarb
On the front page of today’s Toronto Star (Sept 5th)there’s a related article entitled, ‘There’s no texting on this tasting menu’. Claudio is referenced (and in my opinion offers a very sensible perspective). It prompted me to visit google and this post came up. On June 25th I had dinner at Origin. I have to admit that my expectations were very high after having dined at Colbourne Lane several time. You can find the full review at http://www.foodie4foodie.com under the Black Tie Section.
September 5, 2011 at 11:03 am | by Pete West