L.A. Times Restaurant Critic Outed by Enraged Restaurateur
When the owner of a Beverly Hills eatery spotted the L.A. Times restaurant critic in his lobby, he refused her service and took her picture, making her identity publicly available for the first time. Kiss anonymity goodbye, S. Irene Virbila.
Noah Ellis, the irascable owner of the restaurant Red Medicine explained his actions on the restaurant's Tumblr:
Our purpose for posting this is so that all restaurants can have a picture of her and make a decision as to whether or not they would like to serve her. We find that some her reviews can be unnecessarily cruel and irrational, and that they have caused hard-working people in this industry to lose their jobs—we don't feel that they should be blind-sided by someone with no understanding of what it takes to run or work in a restaurant.
Yes, this may make it harder for Ms. Virbila to do her job, but welcome to being a critic in the internet age. Anonymity for everyone is as extinct as the dodo bird, Betamax tapes, and those delicious fried apple pies at McDonald's. As for Mr. Ellis, we're very afraid of what he might do to people who give the restaurant a bad Yelp review.