A Statement of Position(s)

"I wish you would crush a restaurant and write a really nasty review." - half of you.

"I like that Blackened Out only focuses on the positive, yall don't write about crappy restaurants." -the other half of you.

As you can see, much like the nerdy brunette in a college anthropology class, you are sending mixed signals. While occasionally, Peter or I have veered into restaurant criticism that borders on the mean, in general we like to write about what we like (and think you will like) rather than what would just be a waste of your money. This is not to say we only look through rose colored lenses, but in general if we like a restaurant, dish, cocktail, etc... we want to tell you about it.

Complicating this is Twitter. A tool which has boosted our readership to about 5 people a day. This number does not include those entrapped in penal colonies; we are a big hit with those in solitary confinement. The problem with Twitter is that when a restaurant isn't up to snuff, it is incredibly tempting to broadcast it out into that great auditorium where no one is listening.

After a particularly slow, disjointed, and sloppy lunch at Capdeville yesterday, the Twitter finger was itching. But what is the point? Half of you probably aren't on Twitter and the other half were downloading some song by a band I've never heard of. It also isn't very fair to a restaurant to offer immediate criticism to the world, before informing the server or manager of one's displeasure. This website is a much more adequate forum to discuss objective criticism of a restaurant than Twitter.  Expanding on the general rule: we will Tweet about the places we like.

Also, you may have noticed I no longer include photos with restaurant pieces. This is on purpose for two reasons. First, as you are well aware my photos are evocative of the cinematography in a low grade smut movie one would find in the back reaches of the adult room at Major Video. Secondly, I hate taking photos in a restaurant as it feels like I am watching one of those movies. I didn't start this blog to take photos of food; I wanted to write about food. You will just have to use your imagination. Unless you can convince Lindsay to do all the heavy lifting.

Editor's note: We aren't getting rid of photos. Peter will still take pictures, and Rene will try to take photos of food he cooks at home, just Rene isn't going to endeavor to take photos of food in restaurants.