Learning to Eat

Meat loafas served in a church soup kitchenis the lone recipe here, and a perfect example of Weinstein's unusual perspective. In this collection of his Village Voice restaurant reviews, the antiestablishment epicure does much more than recite and rank menus. He reflects on the relationship between words and food (only similes and metaphors, he concludes, can bridge the gap); faults restaurants for their politics (``The institution of tippingand the economic relations it reflectsis immoral''); takes colleagues to task (``Why don't restaurant reviewers write more about being waited on?''); and braves American Airlines cappuccino. But datedness is a drawback of these pieces, all published between 1979 and 1986, and localism is anothermost concern New York City eateries. Weinstein's words can hamper meaning (as in ``plangent redundancy'') or entertain by intention (``ice cream will flourish anywhere; it's the cockroach of foods''). Regardless, few food writers share his roving intellectual appetite. (Dec.)