Sunday night’s RAMMY Awards, the District’s annual celebration of local restaurants, was filled with impolitic humor and famous faces, but Jeff Black created the night’s biggest buzz when he smacked food bloggers in his acceptance speech.
“It’s great to see respect being given to people that work in the business that do the long hard hours, not the bloggers,” the chef and restaurateur said. He added: “It’s not about the bloggers. It’s not about anything else. It’s about us, all of us.”
This displeased plenty of food bloggers, many of whom took to Twitter to smack back at Black. (“I am selling Jeff Black Hates My Blog t-shirts to any food bloggers who wants them,” wrote food writer Nevin Martell.)
Black — who took home awards for Restauranteur of the Year, Upscale Casual Restaurant (BlackSalt Fish Market & Restaurant) and Hottest Bar Scene (Black Jack) — clarified to Yeas & Nays that he wasn’t trying to vilify all food bloggers.
“It was mostly meant to address the hard work people do in the restaurant industry,” Black said. “It’s hard on your health, it’s hard on your relationships, it’s hard on every aspect of your life. … Then you read, ‘This waiter was aloof. This air conditioner unit wasn’t working. There was a napkin on the bathroom floor.”
“It’s hard,” he said. “You bust your butt, and then someone comes along with a BlackBerry and says Jeff Black can’t cook.”
