As a restaurateur, all of your guests are equally important. But a food critic is the one guest who can make or break you. And when you've been in the restaurant industry for as long as I have-in addition having grown up in a family of restaurateurs-you can't help but befriend a few critics.

Over the years I've gotten to know one food critic quite well (we'll call him "FC"). Once FC and I became friends, he of course stopped covering my restaurants. But I got something even better in return: a renowned food critic's honest opinion. And I don't have to see it in print first.

Michael Psilakis and I recently opened Kefi on Manhattan's Upper West Side, so Sunday I invited FC and his wife to join me for dinner. Though they'd had Michael's modern Greek cuisine before, Kefi is a much more casual and moderately priced dining experience than they're used to from Michael and me.

We started with a selection of spreads for the table, made up of yogurt, caviar, eggplant, and yellow peas ($9.95 for two). CF and his wife shared the grilled octopus and bean salad ($8.95), the open spinach pie ($4.50), a Greek salad ($5.95), and the lamb souvlaki with tzatziki and pita bread ($14.95). I had the veal and rice meatball soup ($4.50) and the baked shrimp and scallops with orzo, tomato and feta ($13.95).

CF and his wife left full and happy, and gave Kefi a glowing review. It certainly eases my mind to know that CF had a great dining experience. Hopefully the other critics will agree and I'll see rave reviews in print, as well.