Good-bye to Mimi Sheraton, an innovative restaurant critic

Mimi Sheraton was the New York Times' first woman food critic, appointed in 1976, and a ground-breaking and influential one at that. She died on April 6 in New York City at 97, after an amazing life, writing not just criticism, but also food books.

Nineteen years ago, I met Mimi Sheraton in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at a food writer's conference. She was saucy and inspiring and I wrote a column about her. I'm sharing it again because her words matter, still.

It's also worth noting that she sent me a lovely email after my column ran. She thanked me for sharing her story. I was impressed by her thoughtfulness.

The column was titled "We're not pursuing perfection - we're looking out for you" and it ran on Nov. 3, 2004.

RIP Mimi.

Last month, I spent a few days with my colleagues at the annual Association of Food Journalists conference. It was a great chance to talk about food and writing, and how and why we do what we do.

One of the best couple of hours was spent listening to Mimi Sheraton, one of the giants among restaurant critics. She held the post at The New York Times for eight years — that's like 56 in restaurant-critic years — giving it up in 1983.

Now you might assume that her family, native New Yorkers, would be mighty proud of a daughter who held such a high-profile job. But you'd be wrong.

"My father was afraid I'd be killed," Sheraton said.

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As for her mother, well, she had another reaction to her daughter's critical reviews.

"Today, you're a maven of dreck," Mom would tell Sheraton.

Imagine a happy family running a restaurant, she would say. "Until one day, in walks Big Mouth.

"What is it your business?" she would inquire of Sheraton. "So what if it's too salty. If you don't like it, go somewhere else."

We all had a good laugh at Sheraton's story. And she continued to regale us with other fun tales. But I couldn't get rid of one thought: If Sheraton couldn't explain the why of her work to parents who loved her, how can any of us hope to make the public understand the mission we take so seriously?

Too often, I fear, newspaper reporters take for granted that readers know the why for what we do. How can they, if we never tell them?

Sheraton explained that one of the reasons she left the restaurant-critic post at The Times was because she felt it was becoming too difficult to remain anonymous. She wore wigs and glasses to mask her look, but some restaurants actually had her picture. She told about the time she was reviewing a place and had a table by the kitchen. Every time the door opened, she saw her picture, big as life, there on the wall.

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Many readers don't know how important anonymity is to fairly reviewing a restaurant. We at The Journal make reservations under other names and disguise our appearances. We do it because if I, for example, walk into a restaurant and announce I'm there to rate the food and service, I promise you it will all be perfect. As Sheraton said, "They can do almost everything differently when they know you."

Does that mean when you walk in you'll find it to be the same? Maybe yes, maybe no. But if I walk in as every other diner does, then I have a better chance of telling you what to expect.

Why do we want to tell you? Why do we take it in with a critical eye? Because it might help you make an informed decision on how to spend your hard-earned money.

Just as Sheraton and her predecessor, Craig Claiborne, revolutionized restaurant criticism by daring to print the negative review, the business almost took a new direction at The New York Times recently. According to Sheraton, when looking for a new restaurant critic, the job was offered first to two authors rather than a journalist.

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Jay McInerney, author of the novel Bright Lights, Big City, and Julian Barnes, whose work includes The Pedant in the Kitchen, a paperback collection of essays about cooking published by Atlantic Books earlier this year, both turned down the job, Sheraton said. Ultimately it went to Frank Bruni, the former Rome bureau chief at The Times.

Sheraton speculated that the newspaper was looking to expand the circle of restaurant-review readers beyond the hard-core foodies who are a captive audience. Novelists, one could speculate, would wax poetic in their restaurant reviews to make them must-reads. But now we'll never know whether such a choice would better serve the reader.

One thing is for sure, and shouldn't be taken for granted: Providing information to serve the reader is always the goal here.

If you want to hear more from and about Mimi Sheraton, check out her memoir, "Eating My Words, An Appetite for Life" (William Morrow, 2004) or "1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die," (Workman Publishing, 2015).