Death Of The Critic, Moderator Joshua Errett with L-R Presenters Kevin Lee,Ben Rayner Norm Wilner and Jacquilynne Schlesier,NXNE INTERACTIVE © Linda Dawn Hammond / IndyFoto.com 2010 June 16, 2010, Hyatt Regency, Toronto Canada Music, wine, food, movies – the Internet has democratized everything. Online, everyone has an equal voice and with a little web research, anyone can become an expert. So what do we need critics for? The age of Ebert, Christgau and Parker is over. What’s next? Panelists Kevin Lee is the East Coast Marketing Director for Yelp where he manages a team of local Community Managers, overseeing them in a wide range of marketing efforts across nine cities in the US and Canada. Based in New York, Kevin leads the charge on grassroots marketing efforts to foster and support passionate and vibrant local communities of consumers and business owners throughout the eastern seaboard. Prior to joining Yelp, Kevin worked for Booz Allen Hamilton where he provided CRM technology consulting to federal and state-and-local agencies. Former client projects include an implementation of Oracle BI integrated with a Siebel enterprise case management system, and a customer segmentation strategy for a major NYC utility. Before entering management consulting, Kevin was a business intelligence program manager for AOL’s Access division’s business planning and reporting unit. Kevin holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University. Jacquilynne Schlesier is the Community Manager for the Chowhound forums at CHOW.com. On Chowhound, part of the CBS Interactive network of sites, food-lovers from around the world gather to discuss and review local restaurants. A passionate diner and a not half-bad home cook, Jacquilynne was a regular poster on Chowhound, and then a volunteer moderator, long before her interest in the site became professional. She’s a member of four dining clubs and a virtually uncountable number of online communities, twin obsessions that made the job managing Chowhound a perfect fit. Based in Toronto, she manages the Chowhound Team, a group of dedicated volunteers from around the globe who ensure that the site remains friendly, honest and on-topic. Ben Rayner has worked as one of the Toronto Star’s music critics since 1998. He’s passionate about Joy Division, The Simpsons, and the writings of Martin Amis. On the rare night he’s actually at home, you’re likely to find him hunched over his turntables mixing techno records for hours on end. A lifelong Torontonian, Norman Wilner became the senior film writer for NOW Magazine in early 2008. Previously, he had reviewed films for Metro newspapers across Canada, and covered every video format imaginable (yes, even Beta) for the Toronto Star column from 1988 to 2006. His byline has appeared in Cinema Scope, Montage, Marquee and even The Hollywood Reporter that one time. In 2008, he was elected secretary and vice-president of the Toronto Film Critics Association; in 2009, he was a member of the features jury for Canada’s Top Ten. A member of the international film critics’ organization FIPRESCI, he’s sat on festival juries in Toronto, Montreal, London, Vienna and Palm Springs. He lives in Kensington Market, just a short walk from any of fourteen coffee shops. Moderator Joshua Errett currently edits NOW Magazine online (nowtoronto.com), one of Toronto’s most trafficked sites, and before that co-founded and edited the city’s first group blog, Torontoist (torontoist.com). He writes a weekly column in NOW magazine about online on-goings, and has spoken about the Internet on CBC, CP24, in the Globe & Mail, National Post and on a variety of panels. He likes romantic comedies from the 1980s and keeping people on their toes.

Overall impression: With a modern and sleek dining room, high banquet leather seating lining both sides of the narrow dining room fit for 30, and a well lit front bar area, Kaiseki-Sakura fits both the criteria of a 21st century fine dining establishment, yet welcoming enough allow diners to visit its Village central locale. Friendly, efficient and patient staff guide your experience with thorough explanations of dish significance, ingredient sources and preparations, while the kitchen fulfilled their job to wow the audience. We did applaud Chef Daisuke Izutsu's creativity in each successive course, and agreed if one were to eat with their eyes alone, that we would have been well satisfied. Unfortunately, our group was not wowed by the cooked fish preparations (a pity as cooked foods are a main stay in this type of cuisine), the overuse of miso and/or MSG, the moulted appearance of seared foie (was this a forced appearance of the delicacy to justify the escalated pricing of our meal? JC was quick to note that she had the 8 course omakase a month ago for $80 vs. our increased $100), and dishes that were a little too busy, and modernized (read fusion-eque) to be classified as an authentic kaiseki experience. However, the kitchen does win favours for fulfilling the motto of being kaiseki, by following the ingredients of the season, changing its menu quite literally as the leaves change colour on a tree. I am also impressed by the kitchen's ability to adapt quickly to food sensitivities and would be curious to see what might be served a few months down the line. I have confidence that Chef Izutsu and staff will have their kinks (i.e. hire a chef who can cook fish – Can I repeat my love for Charles' amazing sears at Mistral?) worked out by that time. At least I've satisfied my curiosity and now know that is nothing like the real deal found in Japan. Now if only I can find a generous benefactor to support my noble cause…