Astral Plane Millenial Tension
A few months ago, GHo area restaurant Astral Plane was shut down by its longtime owner, the flamboyant Reed Apaghian. After 34 years in the business, it was time to move on.
But the Astral Plane was purchased by new owners: Namely ChriStevens Catering owner Christine Fischer and partner Clara Gomez. They reopened the restaurant as the Astral Plane Millenium. Then Craig LaBan stopped by to cover it for the Inquirer. He didn't like it. We mean he really, really didn't like it:
After a couple of dreary and overpriced meals, I really wish this kitchen would focus more on the food. What was that viscous greenish ooze slicked across the raw scallop carpaccio? It's just parsley and oil, it turns out. But it accentuated the fishiness of the raw shellfish, which should typically be sweet. A steaming pile of sauteed scallops in the middle of the raw ones made it even worse. The cooked seafood wasn't much better. A $25 entree of red snapper and shellfish served in a wax-paper bag was so overdone (in fact, the ingredients were pre-cooked before being baked together in the bag) it was like sawing through a bad banquet chicken breast. The dish was kindly removed from our bill in a proper gesture of contrition, since it was nearly inedible. But it was only the tip of Astral Plane Millenium's cooking troubles. The menu designed by Fischer and executed by chef Gildardo Zavala is all over the place, from an Italianesque section of carpaccios and homemade pastas to Greek salad, curry and numerous Latin flavors. The Mexican-born Zavala, who worked several years in the Italian kitchens of Girasole, has the background to pull it off. But Astral Plane fails so consistently I have to wonder if the owners are paying close enough attention. There were a few highlights. The raw beef carpaccio was classically good, the rose-colored rounds of filet mignon laid on the plate like a paper flower beneath a tuft of arugula. The tuna carpaccio was also tasty and fresh, with piquant capers, olives, and sweet sun-dried tomato bits lighting it up.
It goes on like that. Mostly on the negative.
Astral Plane Millenium [Inquirer]
Astral Plane Millenium [Official Site]
Comments
An Open Letter to Craig LaBan
Mr. LaBan,
As a journalist, former food industry worker and native Philadelphian, I am writing you to take issue with your recent review of Astral Plane Millenium (2/24/2008).
In the interest of full disclosure, let me also say that I am a dear friend of Christine Fischer and have watched her struggle for the past five years to build a business from scratch. In my opinion, and that of her clients, she has been successful in this endeavor.
To call your review “scathing” would be an understatement; I’ve read a lot of reviews in my time – including critiques of food, music, art, books, and more – and frankly I have never seen any that constituted such a directed attack on its subject as your review of Astral Plane.
Having worked in some of the city’s most renowned (at least at that time) eating establishments – including La Veranda, Fredericks, and The Prime Rib – I know that any kitchen can have a bad night (or even two or three) and still offer a wonderful eating experience. Perhaps your snapper was overcooked (I have eaten it, and mine was flaky and tender). But this kind of thing happens at long-established restaurants. I know: I’ve seen it more times than you can imagine. I’m not saying it should happen, but it does, and it can be easily rectified. But to focus so obsessively on such drawbacks, you make it that much harder to rectify.
Why no mention of the service? The ambiance? Deserts? The cleanliness? Whether you care to admit it or not, these are variables that patrons find extremely important in their eating experience, and yet you felt content to completely discount them. Perhaps there was nothing there to denigrate?
Rather, you seem to have focused exclusively on that which you did not like, which in my view failed to offer a complete picture of the restaurant.
At the risk of digressing into an analysis of the value of restaurant reviewing as a journalistic form, I do feel the need to mention that the finest critics are able to present their opinions with a sense of impartiality that is clearly lacking in your work here. Having read your reviews for years, this is unlike you, which only raises questions about your motivations.
Criticism at its finest should be constructive, not destructive. The job of a restaurant reviewer, I think, is to help make a restaurant become better, not put it out of business.
We live in a vibrant restaurant city; we are also in the midst of severe economic times, which are particularly trying for small businesses. Bluntly, I find your complete disregard for the future of this Philadelphia business, and the two women who own it, reprehensible.
I am not suggesting that critics sugar coat their reviews, however, since unlike most other journalistic forms you are dealing in opinion rather than fact, in the interest of fairness and objectivity I think a reviewer should temper their comments with the understanding that their work is some 80 percent subjective. To give you an example, you didn’t like the dish called “drunken chicken,” yet this same dish was noted as a favorite in a recent review in the City Paper.
In the end, it seems obvious that you failed to keep this possibility in mind when writing your review of Astral Plane Millenium.
The fact that you were not even able to get Ms. Fischer’s name right only underscores the carelessness with which you undertook this assignment.
Yours Truly,
Christopher Moraff
Posted by: christopher moraff | March 6, 2008 07:55 PM