Jeff Weinstein

Weinstein was recruited by Kathleen Woodward to write restaurant reviews for the Reader. He won a writing contest in 1976, writing about Mission Beach. In 1989, he was interviewed by Judith Moore, and he was encouraged to write other stories for the Reader in the 1990s. Weinstein later became restaurant critic for New York's Village Voice.

Articles by Jeff Weinstein

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The Cheese Never Stands Completely Alone

Village Voice food critic revisits his gustatory past in San Diego

There's an unbroken line from highchair to dining chair that follows my profile faithfully.

Last suppers

Thinking about that final order

My friend James recently left an astounding list on my desk: "Final Meals Requested by Inmates Executed in Texas." Two pages, 34 names (all men), 28 meals. He picked it up from a Mr. Brown, ...

San Diego Overview

NO ONE IN SAN DIEGO CAN, WITH WHOLE HEART AND WHOLE HEAD, SAY WHY SHE LIVES HERE. don’t take any of the chamber of torture reasons: the sun the sea the year-round fruit none of it applies.

I Didn't Chew My Rice Enough

Prophet Vegetarian restaurant, East San Diego

I asked for a dinner of stuffed mushrooms, and was served a visually beautiful dish of dark circlets sitting in white glistening sauce, out of which bean sprouts grew like hair.

Painless Gas

Review of L'Auberge on Carmel Valley Road

In a previous column I suggested that one kind of restaurant which deserves to be the object of review is the "pretentious-enough-to-warrant-some-kind-of-critical-response" establishment, because "the public should not be ripped-off." Calling attention to shortcomings is ...

What to say about a Tijuana restaurant

Chiki-Jai at 7th and Revolucion

The menu changes every day. Every day! That went out years ago in most places. They do real cooking, so you can always say "the cook got drunk and the cat fell in the stew" or something.

The Poop Deck in Oceanside

Where was the cook?

Should a reviewer “pan” a struggling restaurant, if it is sincerely bad? Should the reviewer bother to talk about a place which “everyone knows" is good and will prosper whether or not the review is written.

In Defense of Criticism

The salad was soggy (left too long somewhere), the rice had small bits of raw grains (or jujubees?) hiding maliciously, the baked potato must have sat plump in the oven since the restaurant opened (they can be overcooked) and had skin like an old wetsuit.

The Reader dines out at the Shanghai in La Jolla

Some waiters are more adept than others in understanding that you don’t want MSG in your food (all Chinese restaurants I’ve eaten in use too much MSG unless you request otherwise).

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