Chefs these days are gaining ever more acclaim and notoriety, and a select few have become superstars. Emeril Lagasse and Anthony Bourdain certainly have achieved that kind of status. Locally, Cheri Walker (42nd Street Cafe), Lynne Pelletier (The Shoalwater restaurant) and Peter Roscoe (Fulio’s Pastaria), among others, are culinary celebs.

Restaurant reviewers share no such renown. Mostly, we toil in self-imposed anonymity, the better to remain unrecognized when we’re on the job.

Yet we critics do get to partake in a plethora of feedback provided by readers, including the ones who own the restaurants we write about. Whether the letters, e-mails, phone calls and comments are laudatory or critical, correspondence from restaurant owners and chefs always is welcome, at least to this reviewer. Following are samples of comments I’ve received from owners and chefs after I’ve reviewed their restaurants.

Potato salad sarcasm

Cassandra Shoecraft, owner with her husband Fred of Brooks Bar-B-Que House in Long Beach, Wash., peppered me with praise and good-humored sarcasm following my review of her establishment (Coast Weekend, Sept. 1). “My compliments on the great article you wrote. I never thought I’d say that to someone who criticized my potato salad (smile). The article was so well written some people thought it was an ad we put in the paper,” Shoecraft said in an e-mail. Then she took a couple of lighthearted digs. “I have to say the things you ‘sorta’ said you didn’t like (e.g. hot links and potato salad) we sold more of than prior to the article. Imagine that.”

Get it right with the stromboli

I’ve enjoyed numerous pizzas and plates of pasta at Nina’s Italian Restaurant & Lounge, so I was interested to see if the restaurant remained true to form following a move from Wheeler a couple miles north to its present location between Nehalem and Manzanita. My report (Coast Weekend, June 16) suggested Nina’s was still finding its way in the new digs.

Owner Dennis Lancaster took note in an e-mail. “You have said some kind things about my restaurant and you have also opened my eyes to problems I may be having here at this new location.” Lancaster went on to say that he has contracted with a consulting firm to help him serve high-quality food, and he has revamped Nina’s wine list (which I criticized). “I have closely scrutinized our menu, both food and wine,” Lancaster said, and “I am constantly working on methods to improve service to the customer.”

Lancaster also offered some helpful criticism of his own. “At the risk of appearing ungrateful, I wanted to share the ingredients of our ‘stromboli’ you often mention. We use a fettuccini pasta, not linguine. We use sliced mushrooms, sliced sausage and fresh garlic. It is however, all held together by our freshly made meat sauce, not our marinara sauce. But, as you say, both sauces are sumptuous.”

An opinionated foodie

Lynne “Red” Pelletier, the chef at The Shoalwater restaurant in Seaview, Wash., is a frequent e-mail pal, and her electronic missives often reflect her extroverted personality. Below, she comments about my review of Mulan (Coast Weekend, April 21), a restaurant she recommended I try. I did (three times), though my experiences weren’t as exceptional as hers.

“I’m glad you went to Mulan,” Pelletier e-mailed. “They’re nice people trying hard but maybe missing a little polish in the service department. My excitement (about the restaurant) was based on the fact that I got real duck and not a pressed patty which most other places offer. Some of their food is excellent.” Pelletier signed off as “Your opinionated foodie, Red.”

A menuful of ideas

Restaurant owners often send story ideas. “What about an article on catering companies?” asked Rebecca Fontana, owner of the Canoe Room in Ilwaco, Wash. “It would take a different approach with different criteria, but might be fun for you,” she said in an e-mail. Fontana next asked: “How do you come up with all your different ideas?”

Many ideas for “Mouth” stories are provided by readers such as Fontana (although I haven’t, as yet, written a catering column).

Otherwise, I keep my ear to the ground so that I’m sure to hear about new restaurants soon after they open, and occasionally even before they begin doing business. When I started writing the “Mouth” column years ago, more than a few people expressed concern that I’d “run out of restaurants to write about.” Fortunately, that hasn’t happened yet.

“I have an idea for a weekly column or article that will discuss Louisiana culture and foods with a Cajun/Creole recipe,” wrote John Sowa, the chef and owner of Seaside’s Lil’ Bayou restaurant. “I think it’s important to keep people in our area aware of the culture that is at stake in the South at this time. I’m trying to come up with an idea that would prompt them to contribute to an ongoing hurricane relief effort, but I haven’t finalized that part yet. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. As a follow-up, our relief jar in the restaurant collected over $2,300 in one week … ain’t that great!”

Another worthwhile story idea arrived some time ago in the form of an invitation from Rebecca O’Day, owner of Gypsy Fire Spirit Arts in Wheeler. O’Day previously operated this region’s vegetarian restaurant, in Tolovana Park where the Warren House Pub now is located.

“I would like to extend an invitation to you to come down to one of my art gallery openings. We have a different gig every full moon with a different art ‘flavor,’ and therefore I prepare a different edible offering for guests.” Some past feasts, O’Day said in her e-mail, included a caramelized onion and fontina cheese polenta “pizza” with a white wine sangria and buffalo hot wings, celery and freshly made bleu cheese dip. “You gotta admit,” O’Day said, “this is a pretty novel approach to a gallery art opening.” O’Day also operates a catering company that specializes in vegan food with an ethnic bent and provides organic soups to Manzanita News & Espresso, a hip New Age-style hangout that sells everything from newspapers, books and coffee drinks to local art, ceramic pet dishes and thinking-kids’ toys.

I’m sorry to report that I haven’t been able to attend any Gypsy Fire openings. Not yet, anyway.

Contact the Mouth at The Daily Astorian, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 or phone (503) 325-3211 or e-mail mouth@dailyastorian.com