Referring to our bouillabaisse as tasting like dishwater is simply insulting and without foundation. It is furthermore unprofessional and emotional. Also it is not an infused tomato broth, nor is it a "soupe de poisson." Its base is a homemade fish stock made from roasted lobster shells, crab shells, scorpion fish, vegetables, olive oil, pastis (which is not Pernod), white wine, etc. Does Ms. Brody know what a bouillabaisse is?
The tomato tart does not come with a basil purée, it is basil oil. Someone who does not recognize the difference should perhaps be in a different line of work. If she would prefer basil leaves that is fine; I thought she was a critic. Does she want to be a chef or design my menu?
To universally refer to our cuisine as bitter is again emotional. Bitter might be a more accurate description of Ms. Brody. The article reeks of someone with a vendetta or grudge intent on trashing my restaurant with bellicose statements.
As for our lamb, it is fresh Colorado lamb; it is the best quality you can find. If it is cooked, as stated in the article, medium rare, in a wood-fired oven, please explain to me how it can be dry? Or did it just "seem" dry, according to her parents? Did she even try it herself? Who is the critic, Ms. Brody or her mother and father? Or John!!!
As I mentioned while at your office I invite you to come to my restaurant with Ms. Brody and taste all of the dishes that she has criticized. I would like her to taste them personally, not John, or mother or father. She can taste them personally and tell me exactly what she thinks, and if she is convinced of the validity of the statements that she has made to the Bay Area.
Thank you for your time today and for inviting me to share my feelings in this e-mail. I ask that you please excuse my emotional behavior at your office today, but it is the way that I felt. I have never endured such an attack on the passion that drives my life and in such an unfounded way.
Jocelyn Bulow
Co-owner, La Suite
SOMA
Editor's note:In our review of La Suite, a Camembert cheese was misidentified as "American." The review also mistakenly referred to Pernod, which should have been pastis, and to basil purée, which should have been basil oil. Finally, the story did not mean to imply that the bouillabaisse was made with an infused tomato broth. We regret the errors.
Mr. Bulow's other complaints seem to be matters of opinion, and opinion is, after all, what we hire our critics to provide.
Meredith Brody,SF Weekly's staff food critic, is a double diplomate of the Cordon Bleu Cooking School, Paris. She's been a James Beard Foundation restaurant judge since 1998. Her food and travel articles have appeared in theNew York Times, theLos Angeles Times, theHollywood Reporter,Bon Appétit,Connoisseur, andSavvy, among many publications.
