From My Mother's Kitchen by Mimi Sheraton

And nobody knew what I looked like! I went each of the places twice. I didn’t let the Times in Paris know where I was going. I made no reservations through the New York Times office. How would they have known? I used my married name. Bocuse said… ‘she must have a terrible sex life’. And I liked most of things at his restaurant. Alain Chapel said, “She could not have eaten here. The older people in France still remember.

The first thing he said was, “Oh! The Masked Lady on the television! You really taught us a lesson!” That was how many decades ago? And I’ve been gone from the (New York) Times for 32 years now. About three years ago I was at a big weekend event by Star Chefs. It was the first year that caused the furor. The first year I did 9 restaurants and the second I did 9 more. (I admit I gasped at this!) And, (she went on) every newspaper in France, every newspaper in Germany had the story about the American woman who came over and said not all of the 3 Stars were good. I gave him a push and he fell over a light box on the floor. At the end of this program which went on for about 3-3 1/2 hours and were were all getting up from the table he came over and tried to pull off my mask. I said about Bocuse that I had been to his restaurant many times and that he has never been there and that like Buckingham Palace they should fly a flag over the restaurant when he was in like they do when the Queen is in residence over there. We began arguing on the subject of restaurant criticism and restaurant critics. They translated because my French isn’t good enough to deal with a situation like that or anything in fact other than a menu. They got an eye mask with a little lace ruffle on the back that looked like it was made from a whore’s nightgown and thus disguised I went on the television in France wired up and down all over simultaneously. They made for me a ridiculous blonde wig with bangs that looked like it was made of broom straw. So was one of the Troisgros brothers, Andre Daguin, a woman chef from Lyon… and they asked me to be on…I said I would not be on the program unless I could be masked because they didn’t know what I looked like and that I would probably be back some day.

They took a different subject and they had a table full of experts supposedly having dinner when my story came out. There was a TV program in Paris at that time called, “Dossier de L’Ecran’. My review of the 3 star restaurants … many of which I didn’t like created such a furor in France.

From My Mother's Kitchen by Mimi Sheraton