4. What\u2019s a typical day like for you? How many restaurants do you visit a week?<\/strong><\/p>\nReviews are due noon Friday, so Thursdays and Fridays are roughly the same schedule each week. Thursday I spend all day on the laptop, either on my couch or at a coffee shop. I only go out that night if it\u2019s an emergency (emergency = recent event where chefs served Ramen and Japanese whiskey in the woods). Friday morning I send off the review, then try to do something relaxing.<\/p>\n
Other days are quite varied, depending on my freelance projects. In the past month, I\u2019ve worked on stories about wine forgery, Furries, and gluten-free kitchens. Some days I\u2019m out and about, interviewing people, doing research, going to events. Other days I\u2019m like a weird shut-in (i.e., spying on neighbors and inventing their sinister back stories). I try to change out of my pajamas before the girlfriend gets home at 6.<\/p>\n
I eat out a lot, but restaurant reviews only account for about 3 meals per week.<\/p>\n
![\"Vintage](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2012\/06\/hands.jpg\" "\\"hands\\"")
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5. Do you have to keep your identity anonymous so restaurants don\u2019t give you special treatment? How successful are you in this? <\/strong><\/p>\nYep, I had to take every picture off the Internet when I first got the job. My approach is simple: I dress like a regular schmo, and I switch up my appearance regularly (beard, hats, etc.) I also eat with a random mix of people, some of whom are weird enough to throw people off the scent.<\/p>\n
On my first review in Oakland, my scraggly rocker buddy forgot the lock for his fold-up bike. So he brought it into the restaurant and loudly asked the owner for a place to store it. I cringed, but I\u2019m sure no one would guess this dude was eating with a critic.<\/p>\n
Occasionally I\u2019m forced to lie about who I am. Recently I shook hands with a local bistro owner but he has no idea it was me (shhhh). I try to avoid meeting chefs, and I stay away from industry parties.<\/p>\n
6. What is the best part of your job?<\/strong><\/p>\nI get paid to eat.<\/p>\n
7. What is the worst part of your job?<\/strong><\/p>\nKnowing my words could affect someone\u2019s paycheck. Like if I was an art critic, I might wound some painter\u2019s pride with a bad review. Chefs may be the new rock stars (gag), but at the end of the day they\u2019re trying to earn a living. It feels cruel to mess with that.<\/p>\n
Of course, I\u2019m probably exaggerating my importance. One bad write-up won\u2019t make or break you these days. We long ago entered a crowd-sourced age, where KrazyKitty1962 on Yelp can have the same impact as a trained critic: \u201cThe walls were blue, which I really don\u2019t care for. Also the waiters were too ethnic.\u201d<\/p>\n
8. What is the work\/family\/life balance like for you?<\/strong><\/p>\nI live with my girlfriend Sarah, and our immensely talented cats Bean and Grayskull. I\u2019m home all day with the cats, but I have to consciously set aside time for Sarah.<\/p>\n
I learned quickly that a restaurant review doesn\u2019t count as a dinner date. When I\u2019m reviewing a place, I get very focused, scrutinizing every detail and taking notes on my smartphone. It\u2019s work \u2013 not very romantic. I know some critics whose partners refuse to join them on reviews.<\/p>\n
So I try to schedule non-food excursions to mix things up. On a recent Sunday we took a bike tour of backyard chicken coops (yes, this city is precious). The weekend before that we went to a pinball museum.<\/p>\n
9. What is the biggest misconception people have about your job? <\/strong><\/p>\nThat it\u2019s easy.<\/p>\n
10. Any other advice, tips, commentary or anecdotes you’d like to share? <\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s just food, people! This country (and San Francisco in particular) is fanatically obsessed with everything we eat. I love being part of the food world, but I grow weary of the constant fetishizing. Not every meal is art, or important.<\/p>\n
Man, I already sound like a jaded old crank. At some point I\u2019ll need to shift my focus or I will totally burn out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Once again we return to our So You Want My Job series, in which we interview men who are employed in desirable jobs and ask them about the reality of their work and for advice on how men can live their dream. Getting paid to eat, what more do I need to say? Such is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[424,42279],"tags":[42294],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-25091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-money-wealth","tag-so-you-want-my-job"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2013\/12\/profile1-500x280.jpg","aom":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2013\/12\/profile1-372x230.jpg","reactor-320":"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/2013\/12\/profile1-320x240.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25091"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135391,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25091\/revisions\/135391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25091"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/app-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=25091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Jesse](\"https:\/\/content.artofmanliness.com\/uploads\/\/2012\/06\/profile1.jpg\" "\\"profile\\"")
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