Liz Feltham finally blows her deep cover

Restaurant reviewers like to be anonymous. It’s their thing. But
even for a reviewer, Liz Feltham guarded her anonymity to legendary
lengths. When Liz started writing for The Coast in 2001, little did I
guess it would be eight years before I’d meet her face-to-face.

I hired her as an untested reviewer based exclusively on writing
samples and ideas we exchanged by email, a common enough way for The
Coast to discover new freelancers. After she’d been reviewing regularly
for a while, I invited her to lunch so I could thank her in person. She
demurred with an appeal to my ego.

“That’s just too much pressure for me,” she wrote back. “I would be
so nervous I wouldn’t be able to eat or think of any good ideas.” If
the brush-off appears obvious in retrospect, such is her skill as a
critic that I never minded.

Five other editors worked with Liz during her tenure at The Coast,
and none were as keen to meet her as Lynne Patterson. On one occasion
when a cookbook publisher sent Liz a review copy to the office, Lynne
seized her opportunity: She would drop it off to Liz in person instead
of mailing it. She returned from the errand disappointed. Liz’s husband
accepted the book at the door and did not invite her in. “I bet she was
in the living room when I rang the doorbell,” Lynne joked.

This incident came up again Monday night at the Best of Food party.
Bear Restaurant was packed with a couple hundred local bar and
restaurant people ready to receive their awards, and Liz Feltham was
the special guest. It was both coming-out and retirement party for her,
a chance to take a bow before her unwitting collaborators. I called her
to the front to accept a bottled token of thanks from The Coast, and
the room burst into applause. She leaves centre stage having made an
indelible mark on Halifax’s restaurant culture, a legacy as simple and
profound as her response to the cookbook delivery: Yes, I was there.

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Liz Feltham retires as The Coast’s restaurant critic

Last Bites: After writing for eight years about food, Liz Feltham has decided to hand in her knife and fork as The Coast’s prima reviewer.

This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2009.