Fearless Critic is a series of restaurant guides to US cities. The series was founded in 2003 and currently has eight restaurant guides—Austin, Texas, Houston, Texas, Dallas, Texas, San Antonio, Texas, Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, Washington, D.C., and New Haven, Connecticut—one wine guide, The Wine Trials 2011, and a beer guide, The Beer Trials. The books are sold largely in bookstores (e.g. Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com) and food stores (e.g. Whole Foods Market).
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The 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.
The series was called "The Menu" until 2005, when it was renamed "The Fearless Critic." Older titles in the Northeast US still bear "The Menu" title.
The Fearless Critic has incited debate on food boards such as Chowhound over its harsh ratings.[1]
The Fearless Critic's first wine book, The Wine Trials, sparked debate over its claim that non-expert wine drinkers preferred cheap bottles to more expensive bottles in scientific blind tastings.[2][3] The new edition, The Wine Trials 2010, was released in late 2009.
On August 15, 2008, Fearless Critic founder Robin Goldstein revealed that he had submitted an application for a Wine Spectator 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.[4]