Gabba, gabba, we accept you, we accept you, one of us, Sam Sifton

Sifton's maiden voyage is promising.* He shapes a course to the Bowery, drops two stars on DBGB, employing two Ramones resets, one gratuitous rap reference, and one quasi Grimesian reference to the dishes "your men with the BlackBerries order."  And he describes the food that has me doing a 180 on wanting to eat there. In 2007, when this was a glint in DB's eye, The Cod opined:

 I recognize that this actually falls under the category of pissing on the last nail in the coffin, but still, ganking the name of a once-cherished punk rock cradle to sell $29 burgers seems, you know,  kind of a bitch move. 

And accompanied it with the illustration to the right. But Sifton makes me want to go to there.

*And cryptic Voidoids-referencing tweets! <3 Sifton so far.

Comments

[Dan]

It's hard to believe there wasn't one thing to criticize in all his visits there, it comes off reading like a 50s sitcom - "gee, golly, wow, this place is super!" Then he goes the other way with a late-night drunken Bourdain imitation on Cowgirl SeaHorse in the Dining Briefs.

Sifton can write better than this and has for years....

[Cookie]

Sure, but have you seen it? Like, glanced up Bowery and seen it?
It's chilling. If they deliver, maybe.

[Dan]

Yes I have. And not that it isn't great, but a critic's job is not just to write a press release, even when he/she likes the place. DBGB has its flaws and inconsistencies, like anywhere else, and it is part of the critic's job to point those out - not to dwell on them or make a big deal about them, but, point them out. I've followed Sifton's writing career for many years since he was writing restaurant reviews for NY Press, and know that neither of these were up to his usual caliber of writing or critical abilities - he's more talented than these. Hopefully it will turn out he was just... being careful for his first review.