Round One of Counterpunch, a new weekly Calendar feature of commentary and opinion. Leaders in arts and entertainment and related fields will offer their perspectives on vital issues of the day and their responses to columns and reviews. : Restaurateurs Give a Second Opinion and a Third, Fourth

Being asked to answer a bad critic is like being shot point blank by someone who then asks you if you want a surgeon to remove the bullet he just put into your guts.

The damage is done. Certainly quite a few readers who have not tried our place, will never do so after Ruth Reichl’s June 10 review. But out of respect and gratitude for our supportive patrons we accept the “surgery.”

What restaurant can be pretentious enough to think it can satisfy everyone all the time? We are just glad that Reichl is the only one to have had such a negative reaction toward our food since our opening in 1984.

The dozens of reviews we have had in the past six years from the best food critics have all been very favorable, among them Caroline Bates (Gourmet magazine), Bruce David Colen (Los Angeles magazine), Barbara Fairchild (Bon Appetit magazine), Lois Dwan and Rose Dosti (Los Angeles Times). The quality of the food is the same now, prepared by Claude Alrivy, the same chef/co-owner.

Most of all, the judgment of our patrons provides our strongest support. The importance of food critics has been proved. A bad review can hurt a restaurant, a good review helps tremendously--after all, how many bullets can you take?--but the lifeblood of an establishment is its patrons. The clientele is the real and ultimate judge and will make or destroy a restaurant. Most of our patrons have tried all the best restaurants in Los Angeles and many have eaten in the finest restaurants all over the world. They have come back to dine with us and have continued to fill our bistro for more than six years. Don’t they know anything about food?

This year, the Zagat Guide survey of 600 restaurants in the Los Angeles area, conducted among 2,500 restaurantgoers, who dine out an average of 3.5 times per week (more than 425,000 meals in local establishments) voted Le Chardonnay the fifth most popular restaurant in Los Angeles among the top 40 they selected. Are all these sophisticated diners wrong? We have too much respect for our patrons to think so.

To those who do not yet know Le Chardonnay, if you decide that one person’s negative opinion is worth questioning, we hope to convince you that we are a restaurant worth knowing.