“Two Stars Review” – Local Food Critics Fortify Small Businesses One Nosh at a Time

The dynamic was established at the very beginning — before the very beginning, really.

“In early 2020, while on vacation in Argentina, we were posting videos of the two of us trying new foods,” declares Susan Rogers, recalling an adventure shared and recorded with Amy McPartlin. “Our friends loved the videos, so when we got home, we tried to replicate them locally.”

Such small-scale influencing might have ended after the establishment of this friends’-response-to-the-latest-video-inspiring-yet-another-video dynamic, but thanks to a serendipitous global health crisis, the dynamic replicated itself … and this replication served as a resuscitation. 

“When the pandemic started, a friend of ours whose husband owns a restaurant spoke about financial worries due to lost sales,” Rogers continues. “We did a video of us going to that restaurant for takeout — how it wasn’t scary to go out and how you could support local businesses by picking up food to go — and we saw that some people who watched our videos then went to that restaurant! We realized we could have a positive impact on small business.”

Producing business-booster videos progressed from a friendly favor to a community pillar to supporting a myriad of local restaurants on various social media platforms. “We’ve continued to do it for a few reasons: we love trying new foods and restaurants and meeting chefs, it’s really our main form of entertainment for ourselves, and we actually have the ability to positively affect small businesses, which feels really good,” McPartlin observes.

Thus, YouMe Food Review was born. “It’s kind of a mouthful and people often mistakenly call us ‘You And Me Food Review,’” Rogers reflects while reviewing the Review’s designation, “but because it’s unusual, we were able to get the username ‘YouMeFoodReview’ on every social platform, which a lot of businesses with more traditional names haven’t been able to do.” 

In other words, the series’ name came about the same way the series itself did: organically. “Amy came up with the name, and originally, she pointed at me and said ‘you’ then at herself and said ‘me’ and then the words ‘food review,’” reports McPartlin. “We think it’s evolved more into ‘you’ being everyone who watches and comments on our videos.”

Such “yous” have plenty to take in. Viewed through a “Blair Witch”-esque camera frame that often captures the creators’ horn-rimmed faces, or parts of their faces, McPartlin and Rogers might be distracted by an off-scene commotion (which might be revealed to the viewer but then again might not), or by the food itself, or the by movement of the air, or by each other, or by a guest; other times, each focuses on their purpose like a pair of army snipers. When they aren’t finishing each other’s sentences, McPartlin and Rogers are bisecting each other’s sentences, thoughts forming invisibly on lips in real time.

In addition to the food, each reviewer is also reviewing the other reviewer. This mild chaos is the core of the series’ appeal, according to feedback received by the two creators. “Maybe people are thrown by our epic Minnesotan accents,” Rogers supposes. “We wish we were cooler than what we portray, but that’s authentically us.” McPartlin elaborates: “Susan really does make those faces when I talk, and I really do tell pointless fast facts. It’s just us.”

The interactions between content-makers and content-takers have bled into the dubious, analog reality outside of the Internet. “By far, the most surprising thing [about making videos] is when people recognize us in public,” McPartlin marvels. “The first time it happened was at the Rosetown American Legion in Roseville. We were absolutely blown away. Every time it happens it surprises us!”

The mild chaos is also reflected in the reviewed food and beverage selections: bacon sour cream hummus, crab boil wings, grilled peaches with goat cheese, hot dish, sweet corn, sweet cookies, state fair strudel, nut bars, tipsy pies, purple lemonade, Mediterranean lemonade and birch beer. 

The charm-inducing quirkiness of the reviewers and the reviewees notwithstanding, the video presentation is a professional one, with references to local locales illustrated via pop-up maps and photos. “Amy does all the editing,” Rogers notes. “We started out just using the free apps that come on an iPhone. We now use an app we paid for, but those free iPhone apps really were a great start.”

YouMe Food Review’s dynamic was established before its beginning, but its actual beginning has just begun. “We actually want to know something from your readers!” both reviewers proclaim. “Where should we eat next? Find us on any of the social media sites, and let us know!”

www.facebook.com/YouMeFoodReview/
www.youtube.com/@youmefoodreview