Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

Plus you know, the growing obsession with pics of food lends itself to fast food being posted about, it's not that edifying or classy for a high end restaurant to bombard you with images of their latest creation to prompt replies of "ooh salsify porn" or whatever.

I Like MO'L; she can actually do the style that lots of food writers are shooting for – descriptive, engaged, casual; and she has a likeable persona – not too foodie, not too cynical. I do think she's been a bit over-stretched over the last while – her tics show through more, there's an autopilot that just chugs along without anything interesting happening – but she's better than most in that world.

I usually find TN a bit flat – worse than that here – but he's definitely a reliable professional. Not-London is part of his appeal for editors I think.

Agree about Marina. She has a wide range too. Worth noting she herself did a lot to build up all the current burger temples. That Metro job is a hugely influential one.

And also that fine dining and grander establishments don't use Twitter.

My sister tweeted Le Manoir to say my mum was visiting for her birthday and they gave her a book signed by Le Chef when she arrived.

Also useful if you find you're stuck in traffic and will be late to arrive for a reservation.

i really, genuinely do not comprehend the thought process that would lead a person to tweet the restaurant rather than call them

Ever tried getting through to a really busy restaurant during service? I'd do both just to cover my arse, since the time I was late to interview Elvis Costello because of traffic, phoned the restaurant to tell them I was stuck in a taxi but on my way, and although the waitress assured me she'd pass on the message, she did not. Arrived to find EC cross and on point of leaving - to be fair to him, he instantly became lovely when sheepish waitress admitted she'd forgotten. Afterwards I discovered that this charming man was supposed to be Lou Reed-level nasty to interview, just not to me.

...

i really doubt they're paying more attention to their tweetstream than they are to their phone, though -- the restaurants that use twitter i've seen tend to respond (and of course retweet) to a day's worth of messages all at once.

certainly if i saw someone on @-ing a restaurant to say they'd be late for their reservation i would think they were an impossible solipsist.

almost every time i've even mentioned a restaurant on twitter (not even via @) i've had some sort of response, they're pretty on-it these days, and the foodier types i follow on twitter seem to use that a lot

yh i still don't really get @ing restaurants to be like "just ate here!!!", i mean i've tried it but then when they RT'd it because it was praise i felt kinda cheap.

We really need a thread of appreciating dreadful corporate Twitter accounts.

the one for the new 'craft beer' pub-in-a-box in Paddington is a masterpiece of mediocrity

FYI I would NEVER tweet a pic of my restaurant meal. Home cooking efforts, though, definitely.

Today I have also used Twit to gee up an interview subject, so yeah I suppose I do employ it to feel I've done *something* when a victim of beyond-my-control lateness.

i always get the urge to Facebook my Just Eat orders but there's a convenient little button right there on the page

yh i still don't really get @ing restaurants to be like "just ate here!!!", i mean i've tried it but then when they RT'd it because it was praise i felt kinda cheap.

Finding out about restaurants and bars is one of the main things I use Twitter for, and so I sort of like tweeting @ somewhere just to spread the word, I know at least some of my friends would also be mildly interested in where I'd been, and vice versa.

Fuck tho, would never tweet a pic of my meal, can't get into that at all. I feel like a twat for even taking a photo on my iPhone in public.

would like to see a Readers' Kebabs thread on ILX

"French dip jus is not 'gravy', it's un-thickened stock sieved from the pan scrapings ie. 'pre-gravy'. Sorry to be such a sticking pedant about this."

To be more of a pedant, UK gravy can often be exactly this, unthickened pan juices, scrapped off with the help of hot water. Flour to thicken is often used too, but not always.

i'll tweet about somewhere i've eaten if it was particularly good (or particularly bad and i was grumpy). i like seeing restaurant recommendations from the people i follow, it's one of the most useful aspects of twitter. any time i've asked for recommendations in a particular area it's always been v fruitful. i don't usually care whether the restaurant itself sees the tweet although if they're new it's nice if they feel encouraged.

considers changing display name to "Jus did 9/11"

As a boy, I enjoyed kicking a can down a road.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/03/us-europe-can-kickers-leaders

Different times.

this was good though

aw god lex i love you but this was rubbish, worst thing in the mag that weekend.

More pedantary for anyone interested: saying a slider is a mini-burger is like saying that an omelette is just a fried egg. The difference is the preparation - a slider is a meat pattie which has been steamed on a bed of fried onions. By the way, I'm a North American hipster who enjoys most of the food mentioned and is probably disliked by this writer.

Don't think that exclusive preparation technique has made it over the ocean - think it just means "mini-burger" over here. I have a feeling I've had things in the US called sliders which were not steamed either, but wouldn't swear to it.

The real, original slider:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mayeanrvHv1qhfyymo1_500.jpg

god, white castle... one element of american culture that truly doesn't live up to the hype. vile things.

not grilled, not fried, they're... STEAMED!

Steamed Hams all round!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/8bafd9d4c68b4ea390fd26b34a3079af/tumblr_mesd4h4BWG1qzcrdxo1_500.jpg

I am fairly sure slider is being used in they broader sense in the US too, based on reading Serious Eats, though maybe I'm wrong.

In that broader sense

See, we had this term 'mini-burgers' to describe small non-slider, non-White Castle hamburgers before some hipster arsehole in America decided All Must Be Sliders. I will eat White Castle as whimfood (my mom will drive to one, buy $10/$20 worth, and then we all go through them like a cartoon swarm of termites on a log) but they must be the cheeseburger version.

god, white castle... one element of american culture that truly doesn't live up to the hype. vile things.

YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW

THEY GAVE ME THE HECTIC SHITS DAN P, I REFUSE TO TAKE THAT BACK!

then you have truly experienced the gamut of White Castle

go in peace, my son

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/brain-flapping/2013/jan/08/alcohol-friend-foe-consequences-health

posted here to solemnly note that a passing mention of the drug crack in the article is hyperlinked to the wikipedia entry for crack

Is that an SEO thing*? The articles often seem to hyperlink individual words for no obvious reason.

*i have no idea how SEO works.

cyalis angel dust angel haze facebook mediafire hagel guess papers

No, not an SEO thing. Just an overenthusiastic/inexperienced sub.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/13/julie-burchill-suzanne-moore-transsexuals

I nevertheless felt indignant that a woman of such style and substance should be driven from her chosen mode of time-wasting by a bunch of dicks in chicks' clothing.

um, wow. (jaw too agape to have read beyond that point so far, i admit.)

Given how much has already been written about this incident, and how much anger and division it's generated, I can't see any possible value in publishing this column. In internet shitstorm terms this is what Burchill is doing:

http://relapsereviews.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/butch_cassidy_and_the_sundance_kid.jpg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/13/julie-burchill-suzanne-moore-transsexuals

I nevertheless felt indignant that a woman of such style and substance should be driven from her chosen mode of time-wasting by a bunch of dicks in chicks' clothing.

um, wow. (jaw too agape to have read beyond that point so far, i admit.)

― Bill Goldberg Variations (Merdeyeux), Sunday, 13 January 2013 01:27 (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

comments will be switched on later today

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-sFohRgxOBI/SyTPKMvZnLI/AAAAAAAAJAw/HrXYaBiQh2g/s320/slim.pickens+%26+bomb.jpg

Julie Burchill thoughtfully ponders transphobia (above)

leftist brit twitter is alight already, quality trolling jules, quality.

It is literally hatespeech. Fuck the Guardian.

(btw this is what Moore did http://storify.com/stavvers/suzanne-moore-s-transphobic-meltdown ...and the commentariat enthusiastically defended her)

It makes me so fucking annoyed that they keep hiring her back. It's barely different to the Mail running Jan Moir pieces for clicks.

The reaction of the trans lobby reminded me very much of those wretched inner-city kids who shoot another inner-city kid dead in a fast-food shop for not showing them enough "respect".

Wretched.

Inner city kids love their fast food shops

It makes me so fucking annoyed that they keep hiring her back

I know there's a shared website, but she's not been hired back by the Guardian – she writes for the Observer. Completely separate editors.