Dept. Of Who The F Cares: Middle-Aged White Men Trip Over Each Other To Pull Laban Out From Shadows
Back in June, we reported on the dickhurt-war between Alex Plotkin of Chops restuarant and Inky food critic Craig LaBan. It’s a tale of bruised ego and braised shortribs, and if you liked the movie, read the book: Today, PhillyMag posted Steve Volk‘s big story on how Plotkin is using the legal system to unmask LaBan, which we assume Plotkin thinks would be the equivalent of making Samson go to The Chop Shop, if you will pardon the pun. And when we say “big story,” we mean looooooong, and with a heaping helping of Larry Platt handwringing to boot:
I LIKE THE INQUIRER’S CRAIG LABAN, and I respect his work. That’s why I approached him about a year ago to see if he’d ever be interested in reviewing restaurants for us. [...] As a result, I’ve decided to show what LaBan looks like.
I do this because, as Zack Stalberg, former editor of the Daily News, points out in Volk’s story, anonymity for LaBan has become something of a gimmick. He shows up in disguise to public book readings, making those of us who have extended the courtesy of anonymity to him complicit in his publicity stunts. Moreover, most everyone in the restaurant community knows what he looks like anyway.
That’s right, in the middle of this magnum opus, there’s a little cameraphone pic of Laban hisself (pictured at right). Which brings up a couple of points:
1. We wonder if Platt would have made the same decision about running LaBan’s photo if he said “Yes” to Platt’s job offer a year ago.
2. Gimmick or not, PhillyMag making such a big show of LaBan’s reveal seems desperate and craven. We’re only running it as well to perchance save you, the reader, the trip. Please remember you are at work right now.
3. And lastly, a note to all of you out there in Print Land: Just because it makes a good blog post doesn’t mean anyone wants to read nine pages about it.
PhillyMag: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Plotkin/Laban Ego Wars But Fell Asleep Before You Could Ask
Previously: The Cliff’s Notes
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 am
is that james murphy?
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:29 am
PhillyMag is desperate. And Platt is a bitter hack. If this is the best example of hard-hitting expose journalism from this publication, perhaps they should stick to reviewing dog spas and fellating the Main Line.
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:32 am
I like LaBan’s writing and I respect his judgments on food, more than any other mainstream Philly reviewer. The fact that he’s been here a long time gives his readers a good sense of how their tastes compare with LaBan’s. Platt crossed the line to sell a few more plastic-surgery-advertorial-laden magazines to the bridge and tunnel crowd. It’s going to wind up forcing LaBan out of the restaurant reviewing business, and that, my friends, is a loss for us city-dwelling food lovers.
August 22nd, 2007 at 11:33 am
On a side note, if I were Steve Volk and no one knew what I looked like, I would totally make sure the published photo was one of ME, captioned “Craig LaBan.”