Eddie Huang and Anthony Bourdain filming an episode of No Reservations at the original Baohaus in 2011. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage via Getty Images.)
Okay, maybe the great tradition of the restaurateur raging at critics really is back. A couple of weeks ago, Roman and Williams’ Stephen Alesch took to the Instagram comments section (and his own grid) to protest a New York Magazine pan of Marcel. His retorts lacked the artfulness of giants of the form like Keith McNally, though his most recent comment is funnier: Earlier this week, Alesch posted a photo, presumably of an art auction, captioned, “OMG - so tragic - everything is for sale.” Anyway, for better barbs, we have Eddie Huang.
On Wednesday, the chef, author, podcaster, and filmmaker took to his Substack, Canal Street Dreams, to lob bombs at the New York Times’ Ryan Sutton over a capsule review of his Baohaus redux. After a short history lesson on Huang’s multi-hyphenate career, Sutton arrives to the present day. “Could surf clams deliciously fill up steamed bao? Sure, if the mollusk weren’t fried to the texture of a zip tie,” he writes. “New York loves to root for Huang—he’s a singular downtown personality—but he’s gotta hit more of his shots.” (This isn’t Huang’s first rodeo: In 2010, former Times critic Sam Sifton gave his short-lived Xiao Ye a bit of a bruising.)
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