Fearless Critic Media is a US publishing house best known for its books ''The Wine Trials'', ''The Beer Trials'', and the Fearless Critic series of restaurant guidebooks to US cities. The publishing house was founded in 2004, merged with Workman in 2008, and currently has eight restaurant guides in print—

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

. In 2014, Fearless Critic launched a new nonfiction imprint whose first title will be the March 2015 hardcover ''Blind Taste: A Defense of Fast Food & Cheap Beer'', by

Robin Goldstein Robin Goldstein is an American author, food and wine critic, and economics pundit. He is known for his books and articles questioning conventional wisdom and pricing in the food and wine industries, particularly a widely publicized exposé of Win ...

, author of ''The Wine Trials''. Fearless Critic books are distributed by IPG.

Rating system

The Fearless Critic restaurant guide series uses a 10-point rating scale (1.0 to 10.0). In 2007, with the Houston guide, the series experimented with a letter grading system (from A+ to D-), but has since moved back to the original 10-point scale.

Series name change

The Fearless Critic restaurant guide series was called "The Menu" until 2005. Older titles in the Northeast US still bear "The Menu" title.

Controversy over ratings

Fearless Critic has incited debate on food boards such as

Chowhound Chowhound (or chowhound.com) was a food website owned by Red Ventures. It ceased operations on March 28, 2022. History Chowhound was a popular online food community founded by jazz trombonist and food writer Jim Leff and Bob Okumura in 1997, kn ...

over its harsh ratings.

''The Wine Trials''

Fearless Critic's nonfiction polemic book ''The Wine Trials'', by

, sparked debate over its claim that non-expert wine drinkers preferred cheap bottles to more expensive bottles in scientific blind tastings. It went on to sell more than 100,000 copies in three editions, becoming the world's bestselling guide to cheap wine.

''Wine Spectator'' Award of Excellence controversy

On August 15, 2008, ''Wine Trials'' author

revealed that he had submitted an application for a ''

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertain ...

'' Award of Excellence for an imaginary restaurant in Milan, which he named "Osteria L'Intrepido" ("Fearless Restaurant"), and that the non-existent restaurant had won the award. The expose was reported widely across the media and blogosphere.

References

External links

Fearless Critic web siteHoustonist article''Yale Daily News'' article
{{Authority control Books about wine Book publishing companies based in California Restaurant guides Travel guide books