Bourdain, Good Food and Pittsburgh - Is Anybody Listening?

Anthony Bourdain is lecturing up at CMU as we post this. We didn't have tickets but we're pretty sure it's worth the ticket. He spoke in Upper St. Clair last December to favorable response.  Sellouts both times. 

Which means that Bourdain has spoken in front of about 3,500 Pittsburghers in the past four months, talking about what is good food and what is not.

But is anyone listening.  And if so, how come they're not sharing their thoughts? 

We know there are a ton of good dining experiences in town not related to the tired things mass media always brings up (Primantis/Pierogies).  Yet we're constantly astounded that there so few Pittsburghers commenting on our local dining scene on the top online food forums like the Pennsylvania forum on Chowhound.  It's about 90% Philadelphia content.  There's virtually noone from Pitsburgh is on eGullet.  That's 99% Philly.  But Pittsburghers show up in droves on silly sites like Urbanspoon that reward Lord-knows-what instead of quality and where you can vote anonymously (or vote for your own business/vote against a competitor if you're so inclined).

Let's get it together Pittsburgh.  Food lovers here need to unite to get our 'Burgh some respect in culinary circles.  Let's start talking about the good stuff, OK?

UPDATE:  To be fair to Urbanspoon, Ethan (see comments) has been nothing but forthcoming and professional about conversing with us regarding the goals of the site and its current weaknesses, which they hope to overcome.  We've had an interesting and productive email exchange beyond the comments.  We wish them luck and we look forward to seeing them implement some of their ideas regarding ameliorating the abuse by "shills and haters".

Comments

[Phil]

The Vault is number 43.

They have pretty good food.

[Rich W]

Then let's get them into the top 25 ;-)

I've actually never had one of those famed open-faced PBJs. Will have to try one someday.

[Ethan]

Hi, I'm one of the founders of Urbanspoon and I can't help but chime in here. The more people vote, the more accurate those ratings will be. And whatever you think of the voting, Urbanspoon also shows reviews from the Post-Gazette, the Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh Magazine and City Paper. Of course you can leave your own review as well. "Silly"? Ouch!

[Rich W]

Ethan,
Thanks for chiming in. However, I respectfully disagree with that assumption. "More" does not equal "more informed".

The "like/don't like" voting feature is not qualitative and gives no worthwhile information to someone who might be interested in exploring and appreciating the better places in the area.

However, if you somehow added some qualitative info (price/value, food quality, service, etc.) even if a numeric scale like a Zagat's, it would be worth more from an informational standpoint.

I'm not originally from here and I know many long-time residents in the area are traditionalists in food matters and also are proud of "keeping it real, Pittsburgh-style", but a foodie from out of town who ate at the Urbanspoon Top 100 for Pittsburgh would likely walk away thinking this town is a culinary backwater when it isn't.

We're among those who are trying to change that perception.

Hopefully there are improvements you can make that would make the site more valuable to folks who are a bit more discerning. If that's not in your plan, so be it, but right now, it's more like "Hot/Not Hot" than it is a serious foodie site.

[Ethan]

Hi Rich,

Fair criticism. The simple up/down rating system doesn't take into account the individual who is voting, and doesn't offer much nuance. The vote percentage is really a blunt instrument.

We are foodies ourselves, and certainly our intention is to create a site that is useful and informative to the community. I'm not sure that any simple quantitative rating system would suffice here.

I think that's really where the more qualitative reviews come in. Apart from including reviews from the professional critics and food bloggers, we also have a system for sharing opinions among friends. When your friends vote for a restaurant, their vote appears on that place's page. I know I rely on those opinions as much or more than the pros, and certainly more than the simple percentage rating.

That said, we'll see what we can do to make the rating more useful. I appreciate the feedback and we're working to improve the site all the time.

All the best,
Ethan

[Rich]

Ethan,
I'll say that I'm impressed that your team is actively searching for feedback, found this site and took the time for a thoughtful reply. That's worth something in our book regardless of what directions you decide to take your site. Best of luck with it.