The Critical Tables Get Turned on Brett Anderson

Have you ever wondered what chefs and restaurateurs really think of kindly, erudite food critic Brett Anderson? Do they all secretly despise his reign of critical tyranny? Have they been plotting a coup for years to try and oust Anderson from his critical throne and install a puppet critic who will write glowing reviews like, "Everything was awesome! Four beans for everyone!"? Thanks to a table-turning series from The Daily Meal in which restaurateurs review food critics, we now have an answer. Sort of.

Anderson, much to the Gambit's surprise, placed only at No. 12 out of the top 20 critics, though his assessment was mostly positive:

He's well-respected in the industry and was even a heavy favorite for The New York Times' restaurant critic position before Pete Wells was appointed. So it's a little surprising that The Times-Picayune's on-again-off-again restaurant critic Brett Anderson only rated 12th place in the survey. Still, chefs did have positive things to say."Smart, friendly, forward and genuine," one chef noted. "Has done some really great writing. He's famous, almost qualified for the food critic position at The New York Times."

That's about as mild-mannered a review as one can give, though the phrase "almost qualified" definitely betrays a snicker of true criticism, since saying that someone is "almost qualified" for a job is like saying a restaurant is "almost qualified" to serve food. C'mon, chefs! B-Andz deserves a little more love.

· Switchup: Chefs review America's food critics [Gambit]
· Top Chefs Rate America's Food Critics [The Daily Meal]
[Photo via @BrettAndersonTP]