Eating My Words: 1998-99 Guide to Montreal Restaurants

Bruce Grainger is head of the Public Services Department, Macdonald
Library, McGill University.

Byron Ayanoglu, formerly the Montreal Gazette’s Saturday restaurant
critic, is the author of four cookbooks. This guide to Montreal eateries
features capsule reviews at the front of the book for quick reference
regarding location, telephone number, featured menu items, rating, price
range, and so on, followed by a section where this information is
repeated along with full-length reviews of particular dining
experiences. The book also contains useful alphabetical, geographical,
and style-of-cuisine indexes. The guide should serve as a useful tool
for selecting a restaurant, especially on the basis of geographic area
and type of food. The fairness of the author’s comments with regard to
service and quality of the food is more difficult to judge.

Being a restaurant critic is a risky occupation, and Ayanoglu has had
his share of negative feedback and complaints of unfair reviews. For
instance, one restaurant reviewed by Ayanoglu in October 1997 rated only
one star, while the current Gazette restaurant critic, who reviewed that
same eatery in January 2000, gave it three stars. Given the difficulties
of maintaining consistency in food service, both reviews may have been
fair for the particular meal on the given day. Let the diner beware.