Dear ELV,

My husband and I love Turkish food. So we were highly disappointed to go to IBO Turkish and Mediterranean Restaurant and Bar for Valentine’s Day and find out that they have eliminated almost all of the Turkish item from their menu to focus on steak and seafood.

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ELV invited commenter Reality Check to let ‘er rip with his 13+ reasons to hate food critics.

Here is his (partial and to-be-augmented) response for your delectation, rumination, and edification:

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In response to our earlier review of Terra Rosa, entitled “Anatomy of a Check,” Big Vinnie writes:

Dear ELV,

There ain’t a Tally in Vegas who can cook Tally food. (more…)

A good general rule (of wine tasting) is to state that the bouquet is better than the taste, and vice versa.

Stephen Potter – One-upsmanship (1952)

Dear ELV,

After tasting the 1996 Oddero Barolo at Carnevino, I decided I needed more. For fun, I read a review of one release, and came across this gem:

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In response to a comment by “InTheCards”, “has a clue” writes:

i dont give full criticism on ELV;s site, i do post alot on yelp, with honest food criticism. i just dont much like ELV, anyone who reads his stuff who has common sense can see that he is very biased and politically/pay for play driven. but either way we have nothing else in this town to read about food, so it is entertaining i guess.

i have to pay some respect, ELV does seem to have some food knowledge (although i catch many mistake in what he states) its just toobad he isnt a truc critic.

ELV does his best to be a truc critic, and generally prefers the Ford F-150 King Ranch SuperCrew over the Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Crew Cab.

If you want to read how a mature, confident, grown-up deals with a bad notice, read on. Props to Mr. Mills, and we at ELV shall return to one of his establishments soon.

Dear Mr. Curtas,

I own the Omelet House and I am a huge fan of yours. That’s why I am devastated to discover that you had an unpleasant experience on your visit with us.

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Dear Readers, We usually don’t post comments as LOTW, but when an esteemed, national food writer weighs in with a comment about being mentioned in one of our posts, we thought it best to highlight (and correct) the record.

Re: Seymour Britchky and your referral to me in: How To Be A Restaurant Critic

To Eating Las Vegas,

Someone asked me if I said this about Seymour and–no! Impossible that I could ever dismiss him. I also treasured my battered copy of his collected reviews, in the old (ie original) New York Magazine typeface, and wrote him a fan letter in college, and had the pleasure of meeting him on numerous occasions, and actually got to edit him (on a jazz piano bar) at my first job. He was certainly singular, and worth both remembering and reading.

Corby Kummer

Atlantic Magazine

Dear Corby,

Je m’excuse! So glad you share the same opinion of SB as I do…..And you got to work with him! I’m broccoli-green with envy.

It was unfair of me to lump all of you in the same basket, but I distinctly remember someone (I think it was RR) completely dissing the poor attendee who wanted to discuss Britchky’s prose/approach to the craft of restaurant writing. At the time, I remember thinking some kind of professional jealousy is at work here, but it’s probably a New York thing that we in the hinterlands can’t penetrate.

Regardless, he was left out of the conversation that day and I thought it was a disservice to The Great One, and to the audience.

But no words of dismissal or derision came from you, and we shall post a correction forthwith.

Sincerely,

ELV

Dear Readers,

Do you take yourself a tad seriously? Lose your temper at the drop of a hat? Have zero sense of humor about where you live or what hometown you hail from? Do you lay awake at night waiting to be offended? ELV thinks no matter how bad you are, you’ve got nuthin’ on this gal…

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Click here to hear our review of the Peppermill last week, and then read on for a listener’s disagreement with same (sent to the restaurant and copied to Nevada Public Radio by the author).

All we can say is: ELV regrets his lack of appreciation for the resplendent decor:

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Dear Readers: Mary S. is a good friend, avid foodie, world traveler, and uber-wine gal. She and her husband Tony obviously had a different experience at Pips than we did, but in the spirit of encouraging open and reasoned discourse (and disagreement) for which he is known, ELV brings you her dissent from our generally positive review of Pip’s that ran on KNPR this week.

Dear ELV,

Four of us dined at Pip’s in February. We all like wine, but our collective breaths were taken away by the 400+ % mark-up: $8.00 wine at Costco’s selling for $40. Of the four salads ordered, two were excellent, two were so-so.

Of the four entrees ordered, only one could be called excellent (the fish of the day). The other three were pasta dishes and the three diners said they were mediocre and luke warm to boot.

The waiter’s attempt at opening the $40 bottle of wine we ordered showed that he had no training on how to open a bottle at a table. We won’t go back.

Signed,

Mad at Meretriciousness and Mediocrity Mary S.