Photo: Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for NYCWFF
Just over a week ago, the longtime Bizarre Foods host and four-time James Beard award winner Andrew Zimmern opened Lucky Cricket, his first-ever standalone restaurant. The Minneapolis press was quick to call it âone of the Twin Cities' most anticipated restaurants,â and eagerly anticipated Zimmernâs take on contemporary Chinese food.In a recent interview with Fast Company, Zimmern talked a big game about Lucky Cricket, suggesting that this shiny new St. Louis Park location would be the first of 200 locations scattered throughout the meaty center of the United States. Thereâs nothing wrong with that kind of ambition, but he followed that up with some harsh criticism about the establishments that have preceded his own. âIâm saving the souls of all the people from having to dine at these horseshit restaurants masquerading as Chinese food that are in the Midwest,â he said.
But instead of talking about the whole roast duck, the char siu barbecue pork, or the impressive dim sum menu, Zimmern has spent Lucky Cricketâs early days apologizing for disparaging comments he made about other Midwestern Chinese restaurants.
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Zimmernâs remarks were received with near-universal criticism, and he was dragged hardâand dragged appropriatelyâby Asian-Americans on Twitter. âCan someone tell @andrewzimmern that those âhorseshitâ restaurants heâs talking about are run by immigrant families trying to give their kids a better life?â the daughter of two Los Angeles restaurateurs tweeted. âThe menu was intentionally Chinese-American because itâs the kind of Chinese food that paid our bills.â
âThe Midwestâs âhorseshit restaurantsâ are what paved the way for Zimmernâs venture and more broadly, Chinese cuisine in America,â Ruth Tam wrote for the Washington Post. âChinese American food may have originated in the nationâs coastal cities, where immigrants first opened shop, but Iâd argue that this cuisineâs ability to thrive in the Midwest with fewer Asian patrons cemented its lasting role in this country.âAnd thus, Zimmern has spent the last few days apologizing. On Monday, he used 699 words to say âIâm sorryâ in a Facebook post. âLet me start by saying most importantly how awful I feel and how sorry I am for my recent remarks. I am completely responsible for what I said and I want to apologize to anyone who was offended or hurt by those sound bites,â he wrote. âThe upset that is felt in the Chinese American community is reasonable, legitimate and understandable, and I regret that I have been the one to cause it.âOn Tuesday, he sent the same statement to the Star Tribune. On Wednesday, he issued another lengthy mea culpa to the Pioneer Press. âIâm 57, not 27, and I know that words matter and I should have been much more responsible and much more careful,â he said. âAnd I am deeply, deeply wounded personally that people I have spent nearly 20 years supporting and caring for [âŠ] I let those people down and hurt so many people.âNow that heâs gotten those apologies out of the way, maybe Zimmern will scroll through the comments, read his mentions, and listen to some of those responses heâs gotten from Asian-Americans. That seems just as important as saying sorryâif not more.