Oh yeah. I should have been more clear. I don’t think Blewgo was trying to justify what Leff has done. My disdain was directed at Leff, not Blewgo.

Blewgo and I have corresponded via e-mail regarding his theory and think I feel the same as Maura in terms of that. Mind you, if I may speak for Blewgo, he also intimated in one of the e-mails to me that he doesn’t think that justifies Leff’s actions so much as explains them.

None the less, my best guess is the following. I mean this in all seriousness, not because of some grudge I have against him. I do, in all honesty, think Jim has a bone to pick with me and is rather spiteful by nature. He’s not bashful about his opinion of himself as I believe he’s referred to or refers to himself as the Alfa-dog.

So, he’s got his way, he’s quite confident his way is the best way, and doesn’t really have much patience for anyone who feels otherwise. Case in point: How long did he defend the old format for Chowhound claiming it was far superior to the more standard format used by other forums?

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that at the same time somebody came long to pay him for it, the format was changed. I can assure you that the guys scratching that check were not going to tolerate the archaic set up he used before.

At any rate, I had gone around with him on numerous occasions. While I didn’t try to hide my identity or defend my restaurant, I often did defend the industry as a whole from what I felt were unfair attacks. This didn’t set well with him at all and he warned that he was not going to let his website turn into a “hype machine for the industry” going on to say that Chowhound was one of precious few places where consumers of any kind had a voice. Well, obviously both of these were BS. The kind of “hype” I was perpetuating was to challenge one persons claims that we should hold line cooks to the same standards we hold airplane pilots and surgeons and that I took issue to someone’s remark that a $5 breakfast at a local Mexican place was “delicious and satisfying, but at $5 a bit steep.”

As for it being one of precious few platforms for consumers to express themselves… Well, let’s just say he must not go on-line much. You name a product, and one can find many sites devoted to people sharing their opinions on it.

In his words, he would defend the right of the consumer to be wrong. I challenged that he was crossing the line when he not only defended that right but even sheltered them from rebuttal to the point of censorship. Obviously he bristled at the notion of censorship because that implied agenda. Of course, when you intentionally not only allow baseless comments to stand but also delete any post that challenges them, I think that agenda is rather obvious.

Sorry, I’m going on and on. Long story wrapped up, like others, I was usually quick to call Jim on his crap. With that in mind, I don’t think it ever sat too well that, on the whole, the local Chowhounds were quite supportive of Jujube. I mean, here’s a guy who’s constantly proving to be a thorn in this guy’s ass, all the while, the very forum he’s created is actually an asset to the guy poking sticks. So, the one thing he could do is not allow his website to continue acting as way for anyone to spread goodwill about my place.

To his credit, at least he’s deleting all posts about Jujube and not just the good ones. However, that they continue to say their investigating wrong doings and obviously are not unfairly implies a degree of guilt on my part. This much, quite frankly, doesn’t paint him in a very honorable light. One, I’m afraid, may be all to accurate.

I don’t think that’s a legitimate reason to ban comments about a particular restaurant. If Jim Leff actually knows anything about food (and I can’t say if he does or doesn’t), then he should also know that what someone likes is decidedly subjective.

My husband and I ate at Jujube for the first time last night. They have a great beer selection, the appetizers we had were terrific, the creme brulee was perfect and I can’t say enough about how good the service was. But we were a little disappointed with our entrees. That doesn’t mean that we think there’s some conspiracy among Charlie Deal’s friends and employees to make this restaurant seem greater than it might be. I would definitely go back. I’ve had some awful first meals in other restaurants and given them another chance.

What really bugs me about the situation is CH’s unwillingness to discuss its decision with anyone, including Deal. I know it’s Leff’s right not to discuss it, but doing so would have gone a long way to instilling some good will within its membership.

“Whenever someone posted that they had a bad meal there this same group attempted to prod them to change their view.”

That’s definitely a problem, but it’s not specific to CH. It happens anywhere you can post your opinion about something. I’m endlessly surprised that food, which is supposed to bring people together, can be the reason for so much fighting.

Another possibility is that the food on the menu isn’t every one’s cup of tea and people ate there after all the buildup and were disappointed in what they were served. They may have reported what they found directly to Chowhound. Maybe Jim Leff read all the positive posts and decided to try Jujube when he was in town and the food on the menu didn’t suit his taste and he imposed the posting ban.

Yet another possibility is Charlie himself. I think he is one of the most thoughtful, intelligent people posting on the Internet, but I’m sure some people are put off by restaurant owners posting. I personally think he should change his name and start his own blog.

Don’t say they should have tried the special dinners because the regular menu should reflect what a restaurant is about.

Those are my thoughts on what could have happened.

On the plus side, googling “Jujube” and “Chowhound” led me to a couple of good local food blogs. So there’s that. Funny, as I was typing this I got a reply from CH, answering my “Why did you delete my post” question. They said …

“We received your email, but, for site security reasons, we can’t go into any further detail. We hope that you understand.”

Whatever.

Some long on-going investigation, huh? I nosed around and found this, which I intrepret to mean that someone at Chowhound has convicted Jujube of phony posting and they will forever ban any mention of the restaurant.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/367605
Restaurateurs (or their friends, employees, PR firms, relatives, etc) who post phony testimonials or recruit others to post for them will be uncovered. Any subsequent discussion of the restaurant — from any poster — may be removed. We fight hard to preserve the site’s reputation for integrity and to ensure the trustworthiness of our resource.

Some reputation for integrity, huh?

The service was attentive, prompt, and professional, with just the right amount of relaxed friendliness to enhance the experience.

My martinis from the bar were well crafted.

Mr. Deal dropped by to ask us how we were doing, and I took the opportunity to explain to him that I’m the guy who once dropped into his restaurant for lunch and left without eating, stunned at the prices and subsequently posting on CH (which got deleted, but not before he could post a nice reply back). He was, as usual, gracious.

Mea culpa.

Not only was the food excellent (and we had enough left for a lunch after) but the relative price point to experience obtained was superior.

So I was wrong (not *that* unusual), and gosh am I glad I was wrong in such a spectacular fashion. I hope to enjoy many more meals there in the future.

It was always a love-hate relationship with Chowhound because they’d pissed me off a bunch of times (basically always because of their censorship policy). None the less, the sheer volume of traffic made it among the more relevant food message boards out there. Hell, look at e-gullet, a site who was ahead of them in terms of website format (remember the old chowhound? Christ that was some backwards-assed formatting (and one that Jim Leff defended until the bitter end BTW as far more user-friendly than the format that pretty much every sane person alive has agreed on works better)). You can log onto the southeast board on e-gullet 5 days apart and see nothing new added to the board. All the progressive and well run policies in the world don’t make up for the fact that nobody is saying anything.

At any rate, once they pulled the crap they pulled against me and failed to show any degree of professionalism, I had to say enough is enough. And yes, I do think the number of regular posters who made the South board almost 50% about the triangle who got pissed and left as well really affected the board. At least in the short term. I think that, more than some natural evolution has caused the lack of interesting triangle discussion that Fuzzy references.

By chance I happened to log onto Chowhound the other day and happened to catch the comment before it was deleted. Obviously I was upset to see that somebody didn’t enjoy their meal. Of course, for once I was happy that Chowhound was consistent in their banishment of discussion of Jujube

Charlie survived CH, CH will survive Charlie. Life goes on.

They have since been deleted.

My impression of CH in the past several months is that there are significantly fewer informed contributors in our area. I myself have cut back severely on my posting in the SOUTH boards, and I haven’t started a thread there in quite some time.

I am very pleased to have varmint show us the coldmud link.

There are a couple of other minor policies, but that’s about it.