Buzz: What is it, after all? An archival* essay.

My Bonjour Paris colleague, Margaret Kemp, refers to her column and herself as Buzz.  Indeed, one encounters many columns in the print media labeled Buzz.  If you search that fine scientific resource Wikipedia you find two definitions for the term: the first, most common is slang for hype, the second, a marketing term – i.e., word of mouth promotion.  Well, I want to talk about the word in terms of its use in Paris for restaurants. 

Buzz here is created about or around a new restaurant in several ways.  First, it is usually the result of PR efforts, the prime example of which was Helene Darroze’s arrival and greeting in town.  Most respected critics hated her food and the website and blog reports were highly ambivalent, to be charitable.

 

The second meaning of buzz relates to Wikipedia’s first meaning – hype.  Places are quickly hyped beyond their true worth.  An example of this is the Cantine de Quentin where everyone gave it the benefit of the doubt because it was started by two nice, earnest, well-meaning ex-Guy Savoy guys who invaded Boboland with what they themselves termed an “epicerie fine, caviste, restaurant” as well as touting a “chef a domicile, diners prives, cocktails, petits dejeuners, cadeaux d’entreprise” that is, a deli, wine store and restaurant as well as establishment providing a chef to go to your home, private dinners, cocktails, breakfasts and business gifts (I swear it’s all on their card). 

 

The third meaning that I’ve just divined or made up, is related to the process of fluffing up sauces to make dishes look bigger and fancier than they are; in this case to cause folk to think something new is going on.

However, let’s go back to its origin; after all, what is a buzz?  It’s a noise, usually an annoying (machine) or menacing (biting bugs type) noise, right? 

 

As opposed to the US where buzz can develop for a book – e.g., The DaVinci Code or a film – e.g., “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” despite rotten reviews, French buzz is generated by PR firms who “boost” a resto or chef beyond his or her stature.  And here we come back to Darroze whose talent was blown out of proportion by a clever marketing scheme that had her do everything from cooking for photographers to posing in pastel colored negligees.

 

You know buzz, like you know pornography or art, by what you see; it comes at the end of the meal when you leave and say to yourself or others- “what was all the fuss about?” or just “what was that?” 

 

Let me pick Darroze and Quentin’s opposite – Spring*, whose modest chef did not seek out a single reviewer or publication – but miraculously, they found their way there – How?  I have it on good authority; by the horses mouth.  By neighbors dropping in, by flanneurs walking by, by people who ate there saying to their contacts in the media – this guy’s got “it.”  Now just exactly what “it” is, is the subject for another essay.  But again, you know “it” when you eat “it.”

 

I’m a prime example.  I (no real food critic) heard about this American guy cooking nearby.  So I took a real food writer and another person who’s written about food and restaurants for web-based pubs.  And they took people; as did I, inching up the food critic ladder.  Now, make no mistake, I’m not claiming any credit for Daniel Rose’s success, indeed, I’m claiming the opposite, that like Kevin Costner in ”Field of Dreams” you should simply – Build it, and they will come.

 

You don’t need to buy nor create buzz; just do it.

 

Unfortunately, there are several serious and real dangers to buzz.  You may begin to believe it.  That’s good when the buzz is positive, but as Bernard Loiseau and Marc Meneau learned, it’s painful if not deadly when the buzz turns downward.  And eventually the Emperor will be shown to have no clothes; Helene Darroze and Cantine’s time will come.  And that’s sad; if people knew their worth and stuck to their level of competence, all would be well. 

 

My favorite among the above is:

Spring*

28, rue de la Tour d’Auvergne, 9^th, (Metro: St Georges or Pigalle)

T: 01.45.96.05.72

Open for dinner everyday but Saturday and Sunday (now and about to open for lunch Thursday and Friday)

Menu du jour 36 €

 

*Originally published in February 2007

 

**NB, Spring is in hibernation awaiting renovation downtown, but the 28 rue de la Tour d’Auvergne location is doing a brisk business in rotisseried chicken, etc.