Recently, the LA Times critic S. Irene Virbil was outed by Red Medicine in Beverly Hills.  You can read about it here.

While my identity isn’t exactly public, it isn’t a secret either.  At this point my identity doesn’t much matter.  But what do you think about the anonymity of critics?  Does it matter?

Ms. Virbil and her cohorts make a good argument.  If the restaurant knows they are serving a critic they are likely to treat them differently (read: better).  But in this era of Zagat.com, blogs, Yelp, and the plethora of other review sites, is the food critic’s review in the local paper still important?