Psst is clever, self-righteous, funny, and sometimes angry. She is repetitively annoyed at professional food writers for not being critical enough — unless they criticize Miyake, in which case that annoys her too. She casually insults particular Portland writers as “vapid,” “stupid,” and “vegan” and occasionally unleashes cruel fat-jokes of the kind one finds in junior high schools. But Psst very rarely offers her own assessments of Portland’s restaurants. When she does it can go wrong — like when she trashed Bresca, the best new restaurant in Portland last year, during its first week of business. Readers seemed annoyed not so much by the nasty tone as by the sheer wrongheadedness of her assessment.
Bulgarians have coined the term “teenagerski” for a certain kind of behavior that veers wildly from charming to off-putting, and Psst personifies it. But teenagers invented the blog, after all, and Psst is a good teenager in that she seems to respond well to her readers’ parental scolding. With Fotiades nearby to play the role of good father, the family of Portland food sites can deal with a little dysfunction.
On the Web
Portland Food Map: PortlandFoodMap.com
Type A Diversions: blog.typeadiversions.com
From Way Away: www.fromwayaway.com
The Breakfast Club: www.myspace.com/portlandbreakfastclub
Accidental Vegetables: www.accidentalveg.com
Portland Psst: portlandpsst.blogspot.com
Brian Duff can be reached at bduff@une.edu
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Topics:
Features
, John Golden
