Since I published my list of favorite ethnic spots last week, I’ve received two phone calls–one very kind, pointing out that I should try Lotus, and another pretty crazy one, saying I should try Lotus and that other places on my list are “Mafia-owned”–and then a letter to the editor this morning saying Lotus should’ve been on the list.

Well, I’ve been to Lotus two or three times and I don’t get it. The food was good enough, but nothing special. What should I be ordering? Tell me what’s best and I’ll give it another try. I love to head toward Summer instead of Poplar for a quick dinner, so I’m going to be happy if something good comes from this…

OK everyone, it’s almost time for the year-end restaurant wrap-up, and this year we want to include your favorite spots. Post ‘em here…

Tell me what you think about this: How would you like to see more healthful foods featured in dining reviews? Don’t panic! I’m not talking about going all spelt and sprouts on ya, just talking about consciously choosing at least one healthier options when I review and then telling you about it.

This comes after a week of being in and out of the cardiologist’s office. I’m fine, but let me tell you, nothing can inspire you (at least temporarily) to adopt better habits than seeing people walking around with oxygen, or folks so pitifully obese that they’re breathing hard just walking. At home I try to follow the 75 percent rule: Good nutritious food 75 percent of the time, and eat 75 percent of what’s on your plate. Yes, I said try. I’m bad about having good intentions and falling off the wagon after a whiff of good cheese.

But when I’m dining out, it’s harder. I eat appetizers. I order desserts–all this I do for you! What do you say I opt for the healthier choices sometimes? It’ll be better for me, it’ll let you know if you can trust the grilled fish, and maybe it will even make chefs take a good look at their menus and give us tasty healthy options.

If you know of places serving up yummy and healthy food, don’t keep it a secret.

And don’t get the idea I’m giving up creme brulee or anything foolish like that. Just going to moderate a little…

Everything about the two-month-old restaurant Circa by John Bragg (119 S. Main) — design and decor; wine list; menu — indicates that it’s an ambitious establishment clearly shooting for three-star status or better. But the review I wrote for this morning’s Memphis Playbook gave the restaurant two stars (”Very Good”). The review mentioned many good points about the restaurant but dwelt on what seemed to be anomalous and even bizarre occurrences and food preparations that should never happen in a restaurant of this caliber and aspiration.

Restaurant reviewers aren’t in the business of having fun writing negative comments about their subjects; there’s no gratification there. Nor is there gratification in seeing any restaurant of whatever aspiration slip and stumble. Chef and owner John Bragg is immensely talented, and as I mentioned in the review this morning his experiences at La Montagne and as opening chef and partner at River Oaks should have served as the necessary background for launching his new restaurant. Bragg’s departure from River Oaks after four months is shrouded in secrecy and controversy, but whatever issues were involved in that situation have nothing to do with Circa or with this morning’s review.

I posted a “First Bite” mention of Circa on this blog on July 23rd, after having lunch. I had dinner on August 9 and August 16, both Thursday. Between those dinners, I stopped in for another lunch. (The Commercial Appeal paid for the dinners; I paid for lunches.) In other words, I gave Circa every opportunity to impress me. I made it clear to my fellow-reviewer Jennifer Biggs and our editor that both dinner experiences, as described in the review, were strange and disturbing. While I was writing the review, the three of us talked about it and about what star rating fairly reflected the overall impression the restaurant imparted. We settled on two stars as an indication that, while some factors about the restaurant worked, Circa’s admirable ambitions were not being fulfilled.

On Wednesday, after the review had been turned in, I learned that Bragg was not in the kitchen either Thursday night that I visited Circa. Would that knowledge have changed my approach to the review or my evaluation of the restaurant? Not at all. A restaurant is supposed to be as good on chef’s night off as it is when he is there proudly piloting the stove. On those Thursday nights when Bragg was off, the young woman at the reception desk didn’t say, “Welcome to Circa, you might want to think about going to Encore or Stella because the chef is off tonight and the kitchen doesn’t function well without him.” No, it was just “Welcome to Circa, do you have a reservation?”

What those two dinners proved is that, indeed,the kitchen does not function well when Bragg is off. In fact, it barely seems to function at all. If a chef cannot trust the kitchen crew — I also learned that there is no sous chef — to carry on in his absense, then there is, as my review implied, a void at the center of the enterprise. And let’s face it, the public that comes in the door doesn’t know if the chef is in the kitchen or not, and nobody tells them.

I have always naively hoped, even after reviewing restaurants for almost 20 years, that a critical review will spur restaurant chefs and owners to make changes that will improve food or service or whatever was lacking. That’s why I tend to be specific about mentioning not only details of food and presentation but of the complete dining experience, from entering the restaurant to leaving. And that’s why I hope that John Bragg and general manager Randy Caparoso and everybody at Circa will square their shoulders, roll up their sleeves, and make Circa into the kind of restaurant it ought to be.

This morning’s Memphis Playbook featured my one-star review of Kaloum Restaurant, an African-West Indian place on Millbranch. I thought it was a solid one-star restaurant: Simple but tasty food but a limited menu and a serious problem with actually having available the dishes that are listed. But I thought people should know about it, and even said that I’ll be going back. Still, I got this email from someone whose name I’ll withhold:

Jennifer -

I am not a restaurant owner nor have I ever even heard of the restaurant Kaloum, but my heart sank thinking of the owners reading the article this morning and seeing only 1 star. Put yourself in their shoes.

I wrote the person back and explained that one star means GOOD and that our policy is we don’t do bad reviews, but I feel–once again–that this is something that is misunderstood. It’s frustrating.