'The Unknown Eater was Yelp before it existed. So just who was that restaurant critic whose face we never saw but voice we all knew? From 1986 to 2001, he went to all the hot spots and hole-in-the-wall restaurants around town incognito. He was a photographer so he would go back with his camera to shoot the restaurants he dined at. We\'re not sure why they didn\'t recognize his voice but he got away with it from 1986-2001. He is: Jim Blankinship! https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/throwback/the-unknown-eater-reviewed-san-diego-restaurants-for-years-in-secret-revealed/509-48f180fe-ec67-4505-b0a2-7b7ff7b47045 Here\'s what Jim had to say about his years as The Unknown Eater: Back in 1986 there was a new reporter on News 8 - a restaurant critic who shared his opinion on great eats, but who never showed his face. And I am that former food critic. I’m The Unknown Eater. For 15 years, I did stories on over a thousand restaurants in San Diego - from fast food to gourmet cuisine. Always opinionated and always unknown. The Unknown idea came from legendary News 8 news director Jim Holtzman. He decided that I’d never show my face so that I could dine at a restaurant without a camera crew, and without warning so that I could get the same food and service any other customer would get. Later, the story would be shot and edited but the opinions always came from my unknown visit. Probably my favorite review was at Fio’s Italian in the Gaslamp Quarter. After eating there, they refused to let us film inside their restaurant so I got the food to go, placed it on a newsstand across the street from the restaurant, and had news anchor Lorraine Kimel try out the food - and Lorraine loved the food as much as I did. In the end, Fio\'s had a change of heart. I got to experience cuisine from the finest chefs in town from Deborah Scott at Indigo Grill to Joe Busalacchi and his incredible seafood pasta dish. Both so good they ended up being the best restaurant of the year. But to her honest with you, my favorite restaurants were not the expensive gourmet elaborate meals. I just love a good hole-in-the-wall. Leah\'s Filipino food was amazing. And Se Se chang owner of the Dragon Wok made kung pao chicken that was the best in the known universe. The Unknown Eater went international with a review of the street food of Bangkok Thailand. I tried the meals served on a 100-year-old boat on the Amazon river. Sampled the local cuisine served on a sailboat in the Caribbean. And sampled halibut fish and chips in Sitka, Alaska. It was a fascinating calorie-filled dining extravaganza that lasted 15 years and it always ended with the same sign off: \"for News 8, I\'m the Unknown Eater.\"'
Tags: review , san diego , RESTAURANT , news 8 , cbs 8 , unknown eater , Jim Blankinship , fio's , indigo grill , busalacchi
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