The Shots Heard 'Round the World

[courtesy of gawker] sietsemaThe news came sometime late last Friday morning. Robert Sietsema, who had been with the Village Voice for two decades, was fired from his post as food critic.

Three days later, Tejal Rao, the yin to Seitsema's yang at the Voice, and recipient of a James Beard Award for restaurant criticism this month, has resigned.

Nightlife columnist Michael Gusto and theatre critic Michael Feingold, a Pulitzer finalist for criticism in 2009, have also been ______ (fill in adverb of your choosing) let go, and staff writer Nick Pinto has recently given notice that he's out after his next feature.

Layoffs and resignations ensued after Christine Brennan, executive editor of Voice Media Group, told Voice editors Will Bourne and Jessica Lustig to fire 25% of their twenty-person staff. The company's press release reads in part, "This restructuring will allow the Voice to continue offering superior content and products to its New York audience." But Sietsema, Rao, Pinto, Gusto, and Feingold have left behind colossal pairs of shoes – the filling of which is nigh impossible.

Ruth Bourdain Might Be Friends with Thomas Pynchon

from new york magazine via eaterRuth Bourdain is a Twitter sensation, the amalgam of Ruth Reichl and Anthony Bourdain. Comfort Me With Offal was published last week to Ruth Bourdain's name and now a caption in New York magazine hints that Ruth Bourdain is Village Voice restaurant critic Robert Sietsema.  It's an accusation Sietsema outright denies.  Diner's Journal got in touch with Sietsema to settle the score: “This has been going on for a year now, and the more I deny it, the more people don’t believe me. I would use reverse psychology and say that yes, I am – but the only problem is that I’m not.”

The accusations started in October of last year at a gathering of food journalists in South Carolina.  While Sietsema denies being Ruth Bourdain, a post on Village Voice's blog Fork in the Road from October of last year suggests he knows who Ruth Bourdain is.  He wrote, "I know I'm not Ruth Bourdain because I'm looking at him right now."