The genre that I chose is restaurant reviews. There are many different types of restaurant reviews, spanning the whole world, but for the purpose of this class I narrowed the reviews down to ones of Austin restaurants. I figured that if I would eventually be writing a restaurant review, it would be from a restaurant in Austin, so my mentor texts should all be reviews of restaurants in Austin. I chose reviews of Uchiko, Magnolia Café, Clark’s Oyster Bar, and Hyde Park Bar & Grill.
The first interesting thing I noticed is that several of the texts I found opened with words in quotes. There are different reasons for this, such as a quote from the bible or a phrase from a menu. I thought it was very interesting that many reviews began with words other than the author’s own. Each review has an introduction, in which the author primarily explains their purpose or background for coming to review this particular restaurant. Some authors included their expectations of the restaurant before eating there. Many introductions include information on the history of the restaurant itself, whether that be through quotes from the chef, historical facts, or through discussion of the cultural context surrounding the restaurant.
The reviews then move from the introduction to the main body, in which the author describes their eating experience at the restaurant with a tremendous amount of detail. This genre forces authors to include as much detail as possible, because readers want a sense of what the food is like and whether or not they should spend their money at that restaurant.
The reviews close with a concluding function; some a paragraph, some more of a statement. However, each one ends in a very defining note, clearly indicating the author’s overall opinion of the restaurant. This is important because it is the lasting impression that the reader has of the restaurant. They are unlikely to remember all 13 of the dishes that the author ate, but they will likely remember the last few remarks.
The texts that I chose have a very important place in the world, in that they serve to inform the public about restaurants around them. If someone travels to Austin and wants to know the best places to eat, they can read reviews like these to determine where to spend their hard-earned money.