Reichl’s legacy is her struggle to democratize this most snobbish of worlds. Her reviews helped ease the acceptance of new Asian and Latin cuisines. To restaurants that seemed to exist to serve only models and billionaires, she insisted that in America everyone spending $100 on dinner should be treated equally–a principle she established in a famous review of the too-chic-for-you Le Cirque, which treated her like a nobody when she arrived as one, and then all but pelted her with truffles once she was recognized. In her new job she wants to broaden Gourmet’s appeal beyond the country-club set with better writing and articles that will tell people ““what’s on the shelves in a Malaysian grocery store.’’ And if she ends up lunching at her desk–well, she won’t have to worry about being recognized.
