A Conversation with the Fearless Critic

What would be the obvious career path for someone who went to Harvard for undergrad and Yale for law school? Well, write and publish restaurant guides, of course. Duh.

Houstonist had the opportunity to sit with author/entrepreneur/foodie/publisher/world-traveller Robin Goldstein and his managing editor/foodie/marketer/public-relations-exec/S.O. Alexis Herschkowitsch. Robin has just released his Houston restaurant guide – Fearless Critic, Houston Restaurant Guide (one of the very first complete printed guides in Houston - and no, Zagat doesn't count). Houstonist was a little nervous about talking with Robin. What if our tastes are way different? What if he hates our favorite restaurants? What if he judges us because we love the McRib? It only took five minutes to feel at ease with Robin and Alexis. It also helped that we have very similar taste in food…but more on that later.

Food aside, Houstonist was absolutely fascinated by how Robin morphed into the Fearless Critic. Born in New York City, Robin grew up in Massachusetts and also did a stint in Italy. A lifelong foodie and experienced travel writer (Robin writes for a couple well-known travel guides), Robin decided that law school wasn't working him hard enough so he began his first restaurant guide during his third year of law school. Instead of sending his manuscript out to publishers and leaving his fate in their gritty little hands, he cut out the fiddle in the middle and started his own publishing company. Thus, the Fearless Critic was born. Since then, Robin has published the Fearless Critic guide for New Haven and Austin. Robin moved to Houston late last year to literally eat his way through the city. Ten months and many-a-meals later, the Fearless Critic Houston Restaurant Guide is gracing the shelves of your favorite book stores.

What struck us about Robin and Alexis is their lack of snobbery that is commonly associated with the restaurant reviewer. They speak easily about the food they love in order to share their enthusiasm more than to show how much they know. They put pretenses aside and discuss how even they can get burned out on eating out. In fact, for big events and celebratory occasions, you can find Robin and Alexis cooking together at home. We were inspired by their sheer will to build a career based on the things they love and to accept all the risks and humility that come with living an inspired life.

Now that we're done with our Oprah moment, let's get back to the book.

The restaurant guide is unique in that the panel of reviewers consists of notable chefs in Houston and people who's tastes Robin trusts. All members of the panel remain super secret undercover agents so that they are not recognized in restaurants. We'd suggest wigs and oversized sunglasses, but that might be a little bit of overkill. As we all know, the Houston restaurant scene is massive and ever-expanding. When asked how he narrowed his scope of restaurants Robin told us that he omitted restaurants that were out of the way, not well-known and/or just plain bad. He did include well-known, trendy, famous, and good-but-not-well-known restaurants. Of course, the list is not exhaustive but pretty darn comprehensive.