A farewell to Ruth Reichl's Reluctant Gourmet, the dining world's everyman

The Reluctant Gourmet, known to readers through restaurant criticism, was a diner who might leave before dessert if a meal ran too long, felt too formal, or seemed overly trendy. He was introduced in 1984 when a reservation staff member complained about a required jacket, and he initially groaned at the dress code. Despite reluctance, he enjoyed a blackened steak and lemon souffle, and the review noted his satisfaction. After that debut, he appeared in more than 30 reviews, serving as an everyman who challenged pretension in restaurants that offered “frilly” or “chichi” food.

"When you went out to eat with the Reluctant Gourmet, as journalist Michael Singer was known to readers of restaurant critic Ruth Reichl 's reviews when she worked at this paper, you were never sure if he would still be at the table by the time dessert arrived. If a meal was too long, too stuffy, too trendy, or if he just wanted to get home to catch the end of a football game, he was out."

"Reichl, who was reviewing a restaurant called Oscar's at the Premiere in Universal City, introduced him with a dress code complaint: "'A jacket!' groaned the Reluctant Gourmet, the last man on Earth least thrilled by the prospect of another wonderful meal, when the person taking the reservations gently suggested that he would not be welcome without one.""

"Fortunately for the restaurant, Singer ended up enjoying his blackened steak and even the lemon souffle: "The Reluctant Gourmet looked positively pleased," Reichl wrote at the end of her review of her husband. "You could almost see the cigar he pictured himself waving in the air. 'It was worth putting on a jacket.'""

"After that, "the RG," as she frequently called him, appeared in more than 30 reviews, the everyman of the dining world who could puncture the pretension out of restaurants that served what he called " frilly food " or "chichi"

Read at Los Angeles Times