Tales from the food biz
Spencer Van Dyk | Fulcrum Staff
Kent Van Dyk, part-time restaurant reviewer for the CBC’s In Town and Out, also happens to be my uncle. He’s been in the food industry for decades: he owned his own restaurant, Willie’s Café, in London, Ont., for nine years, and has worked at some of the top restaurants in Europe and North America, including The French Laundry in Napa Valley, The Fat Duck in England, and Casa Bella in Kingston. I sat down with Van Dyk, who’s currently going on his third year as a culinary arts instructor, to talk about what it means to be a restaurant reviewer.
The Fulcrum: How did you get into restaurant reviewing?
Kent Van Dyk: I started by doing an interview on CBC’s In Town and Out about my school program, and the host thought I would make a good restaurant reviewer based on my culinary background, owning a restaurant, working in a lot of restaurants. I’m now a teacher, so I’m sort of impartial: I’m no longer actively in the restaurant business, but I know a lot about it, so I can have a critical eye about people who are still in the business. I can see it from all angles.
How do you go about choosing a restaurant to review?
It depends reviewer to reviewer, and it depends whether you are talking radio, print, or blogging. Our methodology is rather informal in the sense that I have done specialized themes like brunches for Mother’s Day or where to go for late-night food on New Year ’s Eve, so I’ve gone for esoteric themes. Mostly, though, I try to go for restaurants that have been opened recently. They should have some sort of buzz to them, because we need to be covering that kind of information for people, and we try to cover all of Ottawa. We try to find places that are new, and new in different places.
What are the most important things you look for while critiquing a restaurant?
First and foremost is obviously food, but in that, the first thing I see when I open a menu is whether it is well thought out. When it comes to food, I break it down in terms of cooking technique, seasoning and flavouring, and plate composition. Plate composition is whether they’ve put the right things together for what they’re trying to make, or whether it’s just a mish-mash and they just put too many things on the plate. There doesn’t necessarily have to be a theme, but at least an overriding philosophy in terms of what they’ve put on the menu.
Then, of course, service. How informed is the service? Are they well trained by the owner/manager to speak to the food, the philosophy, the alcohol pairings? Can they talk about that with intelligence?
Do atmosphere and setting come into play?
Yes, but atmosphere is rather subjective. The atmosphere should fit the place. If the menu is a southern-style barbecue joint, is the decor white linen or does it have the industrial feel? It doesn’t have to be entirely thematic, but the styling of the restaurant should be interesting and different, and it should be consistent. They need to look at the small things and the finishing touches. An experience doesn’t have to be formal, it just has to be informed.
Any restaurant recommendations for students?
Pho bo ga la on Somerset is somewhere I would recommend to students on a budget if they’re interested in trying ethnic cuisine.
