Note that this is, of course, my 2011 April Fools post.
The Oregonian has started a new quarterly feature today, which will list the the top three restaurants in Portland. Their decision is based on “how many readers click on various stories on their website, which will truly reflect the popularity of those restaurants”. In other words, if they write an article on Genoa, and lots of people go to Oregon Live and read it, Genoa quickly becomes one of the “top three”. The whole idea sounds stupid to me, and further reflects the decline and fall of print media across the nation.
The best restaurant choices this quarter? Brace yourself:
- Tad’s Chicken and Dumplings in Troutdale
- Hot Lips Pizza
- McMenamins – (only the Edgefield location)
You can read an article all about it here.
I knew you would come through! :-)
Very funny!
I have strong ties to the Oregonian. (I read it at lunch every day) … and I’m telling!
No, the O’s top 3 [for real, actually]:
1- Taco Time
2- Old Spaghetti factory
3- Shari’s
You’re quite right about the “decline and fall of the print media.” What does the future hold for professional print journalists I wonder? Thanks to the Internet, everybody is a writer/restaurant critic today. I’m thankful that I’m out of the restaurant business; it was tough enough having to read the pompous rantings of some half-baked “restaurant critic,” without having every nut job with computer access, spouting off about their dining experience. I used to serve a pheasant and hare terrine, with truffles and quail eggs, in one of my establishments; our local critic wrote; “It wasn’t bad for a chicken and ham pate!” Now you say we’re reduced to critique by click. Yikes! Love your blog.
Alastair: it an April Fool’s Joke!
Very amusing. Thanks. The way the world is shaping up these days who would know.
The best practical jokes are the ones that you read and wonder for a moment if they are true or not. For what it’s worth, I agree with what you said.
Sometimes even if the critic writes about a Restaurant in December, it still sounds like an all fools day joke. I totally agree with Alastair.
LOL lots!!!
It actually sounds like this is something they would do – really!
I don’t get it. So if the “O” writes a negative article about restaurant X and everyone clicks onto the article to read about the train wreck, then restaurant X suddenly becomes the most popular in town?
if a chicken and a half layed an egg and a half in a day and a half, how long would it take a centiepde with a wooden leg to knock all the seeds out of a dill pickle
It’s called April Fools.
Beautiful, FD! I actually bought it at first.
April “Fools”.
I can’t get the hook, line, and sinker out of my mouth.
Way to go FD. The sad part is that it was not beyond consideration.
I shared this story with a couple of friends. I said, ” It could be food dudes April Fools joke; but I’m not sure. couldn’t the Oregonian sue him for this or something?”
The sad thing is, it had such a ring of truth to it that I thought it just might be true! Yikes!
Anyone may sue anyone for anything at anytime.
Could they prevail? Of course not. Satire of a public figure (the O) is a protected exercise of the right to free speech.
And that’s why it’s so funny: because it is so close to the reality!
they forgot to list Popeye’s