Tyler Cowen is my kind of food critic: He’s fearless in where he dines; he loves ethnic food (but does not play the class card and avoid fine-dining spots), and he’s opinionated as hell in this straight-forward, no-nonsense, it’s good/it sucks sort of way. Okay, it doesn’t hurt that we agree on most of the ethnic joints in the area, from Meaza Ethiopian Cuisine and Café to Hong Kong Palace to  Teddy’s Roti Shop.

Still, I was happy to see that Cowen, the economist-cum-restaurant-critic, has updated his low-frills, lo-tech Ethnic Dining Guide. It’s one of the most valuable tools for exploring the amazing array of ethnic eats we have in the D.C. area (though I’d advise using Cowen’s searchable format so you can save yourself tons of scrolling time).

The only head-scratcher I found in my quick scan of the site was this small warning from Cowen:

Remember, if you don’t like these, you probably didn’t follow my advice for what to order.  Or you are to blame in some other manner, I don’t know which one, there are many possibilities.  The most likely are that you simply don’t have very good taste, or perhaps you are not very bright.  Too bad.

Is Cowen joking here? Or being tongue in cheek? Thoughts?

Photo by Darrow Montgomery