Sam Sifton Gives Controversial Last Review
By: Anthony Adragna
Published: October 12, 2011

Outgoing New York Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton used his last review to crown "the best restaurant in New York City." His pick was both expected and controversial. Sifton selected Per Se as the best restaurant in the city. 
Whether Per Se has delicious food is hardly controversial. Nearly everyone agrees the restaurant has wonderful food that is worth the trip. If you can afford it. That's the problem. In his review, Sifton freely admits that dinner for two at Per Se often costs over $1,000. Readers called out Sifton for calling the most expensive restaurant, the best (whether or not that's actually true). Here's a couple of tweets about the review (retweeted by Sifton himself).


Readers on the New York Times also echoed these comments. "Perhaps, were I of the 1% of the population who could actually afford to blow a thousand dollars on a single meal, I would have been there by now. A shame," one wrote. 
"Disgusting. $1000 for a dinner while millions are out of work. And it's effusively praised on the front page of a newspaper," another wrote. 
To be fair, many other readers wholeheartedly agreed with Sifton. What do you think? Was selecting Per Se appropriate?

Comments:
Bruce Purmell
October 12, 2011

Now we can't eat a restaurant or give a great review for the sake of political correctness?? Are you people kidding me. If you can afford, or even if you can't it might be a worthy expense if you enjoy fine dining? Since when did that have anything to do with "attainable by everybody"? How foolish. Go live in North Korea or some other dictatorship, I will eat where and when I want.