Monday, August 22, 2005

Benzion replies to Walsh on steakhouse review

In the August 11 issue of the Houston Press, food critic Robb Walsh went on a weirdly partisan tirade against the Taste of Texas. Here's a little sample:
Taste of Texas long ago slipped into the second tier. And I say this regardless of my political opinions. Edd Hendee, the restaurant's owner, vents his hatred for Muslims, liberals and immigrants five days a week on his talk-radio show. "They must have failed Bomb Making 101 down at the mosque," he recently quipped about the London terrorists whose bomb didn't go off. Hendee took over the show when the previous self-righteous far-rightist, Jon Matthews, was arrested for exposing his genitals to an 11-year-old child.
Yeah, that's classy. David Benzion sat and steamed for a while, but posted a biting response on blogHOUSTON today. You might say he doesn't pull any punches:
Robb Walsh is an elitist bigot, and his review of the Taste of Texas is was one of the most embarrassing examples of limousine liberalism I have ever witnessed. I'm no fan of viewing everything through the lens of critical theory identity politics, but is it not painfully obvious how much class-prejudice and thinly veiled misogyny are evident in Walsh and his (male) dinner companion dismissing a condiment they were offered as something that "even" suburban housewives would consider passé? Que horror, ziz iz not ayven feet for a seyboobin housewhiff!
Perhaps most intriguing is Walsh's assertion that despite the Taste of Texas having been "showered with awards" over the course of nearly three decades in business it has somehow "long ago slipped into the second tier." Clearly Walsh doesn't think very highly of the readers of his very own paper, who have seen fit to name the Taste of Texas "Best of Houston" for three of the past six years—1998, 1999, and waaaay back in 2004.
Read the whole thing. Note to self: Never piss Benzion off.

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