How to Choose a Good Restaurant When You’re in a Place Where There Are Few or No Reviews and You Don’t Know Anyone to Ask

Aiming to Make Every Meal Count

Some years ago we ate at this restaurant, La Maruzzella, outside the city of Gallipoli in Puglia in southern Italy, whose appearance gave no sign that the specialty was impeccable fish impeccably cooked. Kimberly Behr

IT’S NOT EASY TO RECOMMEND a restaurant successfully, so that people go and are happy. People sometimes ask me for restaurant recommendations and then don’t make any effort to follow them. Once, someone went to a place they were told to avoid and without apology reported back. I don’t give individual advice often, but when I do give advice, I think about the person and the kind of place. If I’m not up to date or don’t know the city or area, I’ve sometimes imposed on a friend whose knowledge and palate I trust. A name by itself doesn’t convey anything, so I include the briefest comments. When someone knowledgeable gives me advice, I’m grateful and I act on it, so I was surprised at first and confused when someone didn’t follow my advice. This spring I gave a list of restaurants to friends who were headed to a part of the world I happened to know. They didn’t go to any of my places, but they followed the recommendation of some people they met and ate in a place that turned out to have a long menu (the classic red flag, because so many things can’t all be prepared fresh or well), and they were highly disappointed (they texted my wife and me mid-meal). That got me pondering, What are people really looking for? And can I explain what I do in choosing restaurants, in a way that other people would find useful?