As I'm writing my farewell column for next Sunday, I realize I'm not going to have room to answer all the questions that were asked here. No worries. They make good blog posts.
It's hard to imagine I haven't addressed this question from Cleatus in an earlier post, but if I did I don't remember after 3,565 entries.
Did you ever go into someplace you were reviewing and realize you'd been "made" (recognized) by the restaurant staff/owner and knew that the food, service, etc. you were getting was not the usual? ...
I've wondered, but have never been sure until the end of the meal when a few times the manager, host and so on seemed extra-interested in how things went. My guess then is that they did realize, but nothing was said and I didn't notice anything extraordinary about the food or service when this happened -- even if they were hoping I had.
The only time I've been certain was some time after I reviewed, when the owner of the Chameleon Cafe in Lauraville bragged to someone they didn't know was a friend of mine that they had seen from the caller ID that the caller was from the Sun when I made reservations. Obviously I didn't make that stupid mistake again.
Unfortunately because I knew they would recognize me, I could never go back to review the Chameleon again, much as I would have liked to. The moral of the story for restaurateurs is don't let anyone know if you recognize the next reviewer.
I do have a reverse story to tell. Very early in my career, before I imagined I would be returning to restaurants years later, my husband and I reviewed Cacoa Lane in Ellicott City under the first owners. It was just the two of us.
After dinner the husband of the owner/chef came out and sat at our table. (We were the only customers there.) He lounged back and talked at length to my husband, asking him questions about his job and so on, while completely ignoring me. Hey, it was the early '70s. I got more and more irritated at our evening together being interrupted with such rudeness.
Finally the owner's husband asked me in a condescending tone, "And what do you do?" ("Little lady" were the unspoken words.) I just couldn't resist.
"I'm a restaurant critic," I said.
It was amazing how I got his immediate attention. Not that I wanted it at that point.
(Photo of kitchen of Chameleon Cafe by Jed Kirschbaum/Sun photographer)