Expectations about the Rock City Eatery, Detroit

For my review, I finally chose the Rock City Eatery, a little restaurant in the heart of the Hamtramck neighborhood in Detroit. I mean, choose is a big word. Until 5 minutes before we entered the place, I did not know where I was going. In the car, on our way to eat in a Polish restaurant (that was decided a few minutes previously as well) my companion received a call from a friend who recommended him the Rock City Eatery, allegedly a very unique place. After a change the GPS' directions, we arrived in J. Campau Avenue curious and hungry. The short amount of time that I had before going into the restaurant did not allow me to have a lot of expectations. The name of the place, the Rock City Eatery, foretold the worst. It reminded me some of the sketchier bars of Strasbourg, France. Not to speak about the menu: I was absolutely unable to picture any food in a spot named like that. Expect toilets full of pee, barflies and hard rock music, I could not imagine anything. However, I hoped to be surprised. A restaurant recommended by a friend cannot be that bad, right ? I had good company as well. So I was more than ready to have a good time, even though I did not what kind of good time it would be. 

Regarding the experience of writing a review, I expected to take less notes than I actually did. At some points, this task just prevented me really appreciate the moment: I was so absorbed by taking notes than I was unable to keep a consistent conversation with my companion. Being a food critique is a real job, definitely. I did not expect for example to be overwhelmed by ideas, rushing to write them all at the same time. Naively, I thought that I could calmly speak about the decoration while drinking a cocktail; then, that I could briefly describe the appetizer while waiting for the main course. The reality is completely different: the waitress dropped a plate on a customer while I was already trying to write about everything that was going on over there. And then, the food arrived faster than expected. And also, I interrupted my work to be a nice dining companion and entertain the conversation. That was messy and tedious. I did not realize that being a food critique required a real method of work. You cannot just come and take some notes. It does not work like that. To be fully honest, I did not expect either to be less efficient in my analysis after several drinks. It sounds obvious but I just never thought about it before. The adjectives to describe the dessert in particular were reduce to this one (and the worst is that I've been helped to find it !): moist. You better hold your alcohol if you want to be good at reviewing a restaurant. Finally, the food, since it has to be analyzed, is not as appreciable as when you eat out as a non-professional eater (i.e. almost everybody.) Such a hard task to recommend a place for the pleasure of others when yourself are at work. 

This experience dramatically challenged my perception of the work of a food critique, already altered by Sam Sifton's article about calories. I am glad to know more about reviewing and journalism.