How did you start Foodbitch?<\/p>\n
I joke that I just wanted to keep people from going to Chili\u2019s. Really, the truth is that I wanted to highlight small businesses and places that put the real thought and real effort and real creativity into what people are eating. Instead of spending $12 on a hamburger, you could spend the same $12 and get something that someone made with care. It came full circle during the pandemic when we really were in danger of losing a lot of those smaller businesses, and our favorite restaurants were struggling. I made a really big effort during the pandemic to try to get people to take out from restaurants around town. A lot of people were doing that, but for me, it was one of the more self-actualizing times in my career, if you can call it that. I got to actually use my power for good.<\/p>\n
Have you always had the foodie taste palate?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if I always have had it. I have an aunt who used to take me out in New York City. She lived in New Jersey, and we would drive into the city. We\u2019d go to a show, and we would go to the fancy restaurants, but for lunch. Because that was the hack. You didn\u2019t have to spend as much money. You could still get the really high-end restaurant treatment. I hadn\u2019t had that fine dining experience growing up. It was really nice to see that and experience people who were career servers and how much skill and choreography there is in fine dining and presentation and the artistry and the decor. At the restaurant Bouley, you knew what to expect every time. Everything was delicious, even something you didn\u2019t like. I don\u2019t like peas, right? Fine, lots of people don\u2019t like peas because they\u2019re good for you. But the way that they made peas with a puree and chicken stock, it was just beautiful, and they can make you like anything. You kind of learn that it\u2019s all preparation. There\u2019s really nothing you don\u2019t like. You can find a way to like it, unless you\u2019re allergic, or it\u2019s not kosher. I don\u2019t eat pork. I don\u2019t eat shellfish. That\u2019s been a little bit of a challenge, too. We are kosher at home. I\u2019m not kosher out, so that\u2019s also something fun to juggle. But you know, it\u2019s all doable. Everyone has their things. I don\u2019t like it when people are like, \u201cWell, I just don\u2019t like peanut butter.\u201d Like, you\u2019re not allergic. OK, fine, but like, try it. Or just try it again. Try it a different way. Maybe make it yourself or have someone that really likes cooking make it for you. <\/p>\n
How did you come up with the name Foodbitch?<\/p>\n
When I was back writing for that blog, we were also anonymous. My username was \u201cBreadwinner\u201d because my husband was out of work. It was just like a little nod to that. That\u2019s when I decided I just really liked the anonymity of writing and being cheeky on the internet. It was kind of around the time Cake Boss was a thing. I just sort of came up with it, and it was just like, \u201cYeah, Foodbitch, that one makes sense.\u201d It\u2019s a little antithetical to my real personality because people are like, \u201cOh, you\u2019re so nice.\u201d At the same time, it kind of allows me to be more direct. It being different than my real personality helps me with the anonymity.<\/p>\n
And despite your name, you\u2019re pretty positive about restaurants.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true. It\u2019s funny because my husband says that he\u2019s a bigger critic. He likes fewer things, and I\u2019ll be like, \u201cOh, you know, maybe they\u2019re having an off day.\u201d But at the same time, I try to be really honest. There are people who know that if I remark a lot about how a place looks and not as much about the food, then usually, it means the food is probably not the thing to go for. It doesn\u2019t really go to my personality to be like, \u201cWell, this sucks.\u201d I usually take that kind of feedback and give it directly to the restaurants and public relations teams first and then sometimes in the DMs. If someone asks me, \u201cWhat should I get?\u201d I\u2019ll be like, \u201cActually, just go for cocktails. Trust me.\u201d What I started this for was to help people go to more small businesses. I\u2019m not here to put anybody on blast. I\u2019ve done that before, and it has been fun. Back in the day, there was that unicorn dessert bar in Deep Ellum. It was when unicorn cupcakes were a really big thing. It was almost like AI-generated versions. Then when you got there and you waited in line, you got this thing that you spent way too much money on. When it was something like that, that was so blatant \u2014 like they were buying cupcakes from Costco and putting other shit on it \u2014 that was actually really fun to go after and be like, \u201cThis is ridiculous.\u201d People were coming from across town and across state lines to come wait in line and get a piece of shit. I couldn\u2019t let that stand. Then the real bitch came out.<\/p>\n
Would you say that it\u2019s still important for people to go to local restaurants?<\/p>\n
For sure. I started a series that was kind of asking for people to tell me what their favorite place is. \u201cIf this was gone tomorrow, what would you absolutely cry over?\u201d Those are the type of places that do sometimes get forgotten, or they\u2019re under the radar. We forget to visit them because of all the newness. It\u2019s like, \u201cGot to go to this hot new place.\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cWell, do you?\u201d Let\u2019s make sure we give business to our favorite mainstays. It\u2019s absolutely just as necessary now. We\u2019re seeing closures all the time, and it sucks.<\/p>\n
Tell us about your 12-year-old twin girls.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been fun to have them involved in the brand because they like to help me do photo shoots. Sometimes a company will send me a product, and I\u2019ll need to shoot it in our house. They\u2019ll be like, \u201cOoh, can I help?\u201d We\u2019ll design the lighting, and we\u2019ll set it up. I just sort of let them see what it\u2019s like to do something creative as a job. They\u2019re both really into art and theater, so it\u2019s very helpful to have their creativity on board. I also have to sort of temper their expectations for what their life will be like when not everything is given to them. Like, \u201cOh, Mom, are we going to order off the menu today, or are they just going to bring us everything?\u201d And it\u2019s like, \u201cOK, slow your roll. We need to recenter. We need to talk about reality and privilege.\u201d But they\u2019re really fun. I was a little worried when they learned to read that they would see a bad word on mommy\u2019s Instagram page because they are very anti-bad words. They\u2019re always correcting us if we say anything bad, but they\u2019ve learned to be fine with it.<\/p>\n
So they come with you to restaurants sometimes?<\/p>\n
For sure. Most of the time it\u2019s like a plus-one situation. My husband stays home with them and the dogs, and I bring a friend. Last night, we were able to go out, the four of us, and have a nice meal that we normally wouldn\u2019t spend that kind of money on. That\u2019s always nice, too. We have to teach them, first of all, this is what you wear when you go out to a nice place. This is how you behave. It teaches them to be nice to servers and say \u201cplease and thank you\u201d and order for themselves. We\u2019ve sort of progressed. They\u2019re definitely children of a foodie. <\/p>\n
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How did you start Foodbitch? I joke that I just wanted to keep people from going to Chili\u2019s.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[139709,139710,19991,102,104,103,139711,139712,8980,959,139713,22863],"class_list":["post-398005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-2008-great-recession","tag-bouley","tag-chilis","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-foodbitch","tag-lakewood-hills","tag-preston-hollow","tag-richardson","tag-ruth-reichl","tag-twitter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}