More than 30 years ago, I was having coffee with Babe Bisignano at his restaurant in downtown Des Moines. I was working for The Des Moines Register at the time, and Babe wanted to tell me what he thought about the restaurant reviews that were running in the newspaper’s Datebook section (a now-defunct publication that was a competitor to CITYVIEW at the time).
Babe was an incredible man. A boxer. A wrestler. A bootlegger. A restauranteur. He was respected by many, including me. When he spoke, I listened.
“Those reviews are (expletive),” he would tell me. “They are just not fair. I can take the criticism. My business can take the criticism. But for the person who is just starting out, they are murder. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves for running them.”
His words stuck with me, even three decades later.
“Kid, you don’t know what that restaurant went through that night it was reviewed. Chefs get sick. Servers don’t show up. Food trucks can be late.”
Then he would set his coffee cup down with one hand and point his cigar-sized finger from his other in my face with a stern message to come.
“It’s not an easy business, you know that? But it sure is easy for writers to spout off their opinions when they don’t know what the hell they are talking about.”
The 77-year-old man would then rub his forehead while apologizing for yelling at me. I would pour him another cup of coffee, and we would scribble a pizza ad together.
I have shared this story many times with our longtime CITYVIEW food critic, Jim Duncan, who understands the challenges in running a restaurant. Jim tells me he visits a place he reviews multiple times before writing about it, and he makes efforts to point out several positives before expressing a negative of any sort. I respect Jim as well, and when he speaks, I also listen.
My views on restaurant reviews spill over to my views on restaurant inspections. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like food poisoning any more than you, but I have seen inspectors come into a crowded restaurant at noon with their white gloves and clipboards and rattle the staff. Undoubtedly, a few orders were messed up that day — and understandably so.
We used to publish the restaurant inspection findings. Some other media organizations still do. Most of the problems discovered are minor, but that’s not how some readers, listeners or viewers may see it. And, in the meantime, a restauranteur’s dream — and life savings — can be immediately crushed. Few other industries receive such scrutiny, and that’s not fair.
So, the next time you go out to eat, I ask that you remember the many challenges of those in the restaurant industry — and the words of Babe.
Have a great week, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305 | 
