I've mentioned this before, but I don't like posting a review of a place that someone else has just written up. I may have visited a place three times in the last two weeks and be in the midst of my writing, when suddenly the Statesman or the Weekly publish a piece on it. Maybe it's silly, maybe not, but it just sucks away my enthusiasm for it. I don't want to come across like "I saw someone else's review, it made me want to try the place, and now here's MY review." In these rare cases (there are few enough people writing about restaurants in the Valley that it doesn't happen that often), I usually just wait a couple of months before posting my write-up. Still, I suppose it was only a matter of time before the luxury of that choice was taken away from me. You see, the Weekly's piece on Royal Bakery ended with the information that the proprietor is considering closing down in a couple of months to focus on catering and studies so if I wait a couple of months I may very well be posting an "in memoriam" review. I want them to be tempted to keep their doors open, and if I can lend to that by drawing some attention (and hopefully business) to them, then that's what I've gotta do.
