The only time I met Orange County Register reporter Jeff Overley, one of the people with the fine–if sporadic–Food Frenzy blog, was a couple of years back, when we were both judges at a dog show at the Back Bay Bistro. He struck me as a good, earnest person, which is the attitude he's carried into food blogging, always trying new places and urging people to come along in a polite, civil manner (unlike yours truly).
Which means, of course, he's anathema to the Register's core audience of lunatics.
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The most telling example happened this Friday, when Jeff wrote a blog post titled “Please, foodies, don't be scared of Santa Ana.” SanTana, of course, to most Reg readers is the ninth level of Hell, mostly because Mexicans live there and even despite the city's continuing gentrification efforts. “Start talking about taquerias, panaderias and the like, and you can cue
the outright terror,” Overley wrote. “There seems to be this fantasy that gang members
will descend on visitors like knife-wielding mosquitos the second they
enter 'SanTana.'”
He continued with a review of Puerto Madero, the great Argentine market near Santa Ana College, painting vivid pictures of their empanadas, their sandwiches, their everything. Of course, that wasn't enough for the Register audience, who immediately ridiculed Jeff's earnest attempt to make a rational point. Some good readers did defend Jeff, but too often the conversation swayed to the insanity of our own Navel Gazing skinhead audience.
But the best comment, by far, was by one Eric, who ranted, “This column is now heavily influenced by OC Weekly, which is extolling
the virtues of eating in TJ as another 'safe' place to eat. No thanks, I'll spend the extra bucks and eat someplace where I won't risk getting my throat slit.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Eric referred to Dave's excellent post about dining in Tijuana. Hey, pendejo: the more the Reg becomes like the Weekly, the better your culinary life will be. May you be blessed with half-Mexican grandkids…and sorry, Jeff, for what you must deal with on a daily basis.
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