Eddie Huang Defends Marcus Samuelsson Against All the Haters

Much as the Saveur publisher came to the defense of Michael Psilakis following The New York Times' no-star review of Fishtag, Huang is stepping up to Eater commenters who disagreed with the Times' two-star assessment of the Red Rooster. Quoth Huang on his blog:

Really though, why wouldn't you celebrate a restaurant that every one can appreciate. Every one loves Samuelsson for the food, but his story makes him special. It's impossible to dislike the guy even if he's dressed like the love child of Bob Marley and Aunt Jemima. There's nothing wrong with that. Ok, maybe there is but I can't pin point it.

The less charitable could, of course, pinpoint the endless stream of product endorsements as a source of the antipathy, but maybe its truer source is Sam "We Are the World" Sifton himself: If there's only one thing that people hate more than a too-successful chef, it's a restaurant critic doing his job.

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