H.D. MILLER: Anton Ego and the Critical Sense.

Not everyone agreed with my heartfelt belief that Yelp Must Die. There was a very spirited discussion over at Instapundit, where my friend Ed Driscoll had graciously posted a link. Currently, that discussion is over 250 comments long, several of which express sentiments similar to this one.

The guy sounds like an elitist ass to me. Apparently only certain people that he approves of should be allowed voice there opinions on a restaurant.

Oddly, while I may be an ass, I’m not an elitist ass. Nor do I, as some suggested, look down upon people who eat at Red Lobster. Nor am I, as others suggested, a professional restaurant critic.

What I am is a history professor who likes to eat, enjoys good writing, and is exasperated at Yelp.

As for restaurant criticism, let me remind you of what I said.

Writing good criticism, even restaurant criticism, isn’t something anyone can do. Not many people can write well, and most who do, don’t have the critical sense or sufficient taste to be good at criticism.

As much as I might enjoy having someone else pay for dinner, I have never thought I’d make a very good restaurant critic. While I am a very good writer, I am also an indiscriminate eater. My critical sense about food is deficient. I like to eat food, sometimes even bad food.

As for what IS proper restaurant criticism, I’m a giant fan of the Pixar movie Ratatouille, not because of the story of a sewer rat who becomes a chef, but because of the character of Anton Ego, the greatest critic in cinema history.

Read the whole thing.