It began Tuesday night. Virbila and several friends had been waiting 45 minutes for a table at Red Medicine, a new Vietnamese food joint where Ellis is a managing partner. Upon learning that Virbila, who had logged her reservation under another name, was indeed Virbila, he marched up to her, snapped a photograph, and asked her entire party to leave. She was banned.
But worse -- since restaurant reviewers rely on anonymity to ensure unbiased service -- by Wednesday afternoon, Virbila's face was all over blogs like Gawker and Eater, which obtained the following comment from Ellis: "We didn't want her reviewing us. ... Our purpose for posting this is so that all restaurants can have a picture of her and make a decision as to whether or not they would like to serve her."
Ellis elaborated in a post on Red Medicine's Tumblr page: "We find that some of her reviews can be unnecessarily cruel and irrational, and that they have caused hard-working people in this industry to lose their jobs — we don't feel that they should be blind-sided by someone with no understanding of what it takes to run or work in a restaurant."
On Thursday, the story landed in the pages of the L.A. Times itself, which framed the incident as such: "And among foodies, the debate over anonymity — is it still possible or even advisable for a restaurant critic? — was on."
"The whole idea of anonymity is almost a moot point these days. … After you've done it for any length of time, a year or more, your image gets out, especially now with camera phones," San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer told the paper.
But Virbila said she felt violated nonetheless.
"She was upset because she has worked extremely hard for more than 15 years to maintain her anonymity in the L.A. restaurant scene," L.A. Times food editor Russ Parsons told one of his own reporters.
Other Times staffers seemed to have Virbila's back as well.
"So what's next? Movie makers banning the Wall Street Journal's Joe Morgenstern from the screening room because he might be too tough?" wrote media columnist James Rainey in a blog post. "Locking the Disney concert hall doors to L.A. Times classical music critic Mark Swed?"
As for Virbila's future as a restaurant critic, the Red Medicine incident is "definitely going to make my job more difficult to do," she told the Times.
But the paper will "continue with its plans to review Red Medicine" anyway, staff writer Rene Lynch reported.
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