OK, so it’s not quite up there with who shot J.R. or (closer to recent memory) Mr. Burns, but I need to say a few words about our decision to reveal the identity of our restaurant reviewer. Today’s relish has the scoop.
When we started down the Dinner Belle path two+ years ago, we had some pretty simple and sensible reasons for Laura to have a nom de spoon. She was covering higher education, and we thought that it would be awkward for her to negotiate that public beat of objective journalism while wading into the subjective world of risotto and ribeyes. We did some juggling a month or so back and moved Laura to features, and now the world of food will take up a large chunk of her time. And because one of her areas of coverage will be culture/food/restaurants, it seemed silly to have her be a reporter for some bylines and the anonymous dinner belle for others.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Laura is a great writer about food, and as a reviewer she is painstakingly honest. It gives her no delight to be disappointed by the food at a restaurant.
A quick word about anonymity. Most restaurant reviewers go to great lengths to avoid publicity. In big cities, some have worn wigs, or used fake names to make reservations, etc. The idea being that if the folks at the snooty restaurant recognize the reviewer, he or she will get better service and an extra shrimp (the one that should have been in your appetizer ...). Winston-Salem isn’t at that place yet in its food culture. My guess is that Laura can wander in and out of restaurants with impunity. Still, she is preserving a shred of her anonymity, which makes sense. Our cover doesn’t show her face.
So what does Laura look like? As a special OTTERBLOG treat, I have attached my own artist’s conception/cartoon/courtroom sketch of the dinner belle, hard at work. And yes, I am going to stick to my day job. Now, let’s eat.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from 
I’ve met Laura on a couple of occasions and I agree that you need to keep your day job. I suspected she was the Dinner Belle although she never mentioned it. I thought today’s review was a good indication of how even-handed she is.
She mentioned in her self-revealing article that there’s to be a food blog soon. Any idea when that will launch?
Ouch. We are still working out the details of that, so not tomorrow. But sooner than later. How’s that for vague?
Dear Mr. Otterblog:
1)"Vague"? Perhaps I may suggest something specific? The food blog the Winston-Salem Journal already has? FYI, It’s called “Veggin’ Out”, and it’s written by Julie Harris and Cassandra Sherrill.
2) I’m not sure Journal readers were exactly on the edge of their seats to learn the “true identity” of the Dinner Belle. I think basically everyone who has lived in this town for more than, say, a couple years? has already recognized the Dinner Belly for what she is: a club-footed, pretentious, patronizing, pompous, self-indulgent, wearisome snob, who writes with great disdain and general condescension for this town, as well as most of its most beloved restaurants. “The Dinner Belle” seems to me a brazen, arrogant, and smug posturing fool, who happens to know a few arcane, showy words, spread throughout her write-ups like a thick, heavy over-priced jam from Dean & Deluca. So some girl knows what a truffle is. Who cares?
Anyway, Jon Lowder already “unmasked” Laura in one of his blog posts… which also revealed her on-the-side catering business. and the food blog she already has, avocadogreenoven.com. So...fast forward, and: viola! The Winston-Salem Journal, which has recently gone through some pretty painful lay-offs and cut-backs (as in, cut off it’s own nose, feet, and probably a few other vital organs), now suddenly has two food writers. Hmm.
P.S. Does “revealing her identity” = using photoshop to hide her face, and pulling a Reuters re: hair?
I’m going to have to disagree with you. Being a local restaurant critic is a tough job. Unlike the folks who review CDs for us, you are only reviewing business enterprises that are based in the community in which you live. I’m not a huge restaurant person, and I haven’t always agreed with Laura’s reviews, but I can tell you that 1) she wants what we all want: Good restaurants where quality and value aren’t strangers to each other; 2)she approaches her job with seriousness and an open mind; and 3) she can write.
Some readers have taken offense at my post of 2/4, where I seemed to suggest that being a restaurant reviewer was harder than reviewing CDs. It’s not. But there’s some apples and oranges in audience and cause and effect. My point was that an unfavorable review can (and sometimes has) contributed to a restaurant’s demise. For the local bands that we review, a poor review could have similar implications. But our top-notch CD reviewers—Ed Bumgardner and Michael Hewlett—cast a wider net when looking for music to write about. They do review local acts, but not at the same proportion as our restaurant reviewer. It’s true that a bad review of a national ac might hurt sales in this area, but it’s a small piece of the whole.
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