Just past the four-month anniversary of my start as the Post-Gazette dining critic, I wanted to take time out from the regular column to answer some questions that I often receive, talk a little more about the new rating system, and introduce a new semi-regular feature that will be appearing in the dining column starting in late February or early March.

"Do you call the restaurants before you go?" "Do you wear a disguise?" "Do you order whatever you want?" "How do you pick the restaurants?"

Being a dining critic is one of those jobs that inspire interest, surprise, a little jealousy and a whole lot of questions.

Though the job has its perks, it also comes with a set of rules and regulations that must be followed to ensure that restaurant reviews are as fair and accurate as possible.

I never notify restaurants before visiting. I make reservations under different names -- sometimes pseudonyms, sometimes the names of my guests. If a restaurant doesn't accept reservations, I have to wait for a table, just like anyone else.

I pay with cash or a credit card that doesn't have my name on it. When I go to a restaurant with more than one person, as I do fairly often, my guests address me by a different name. I haven't yet had to don a wig, but the time is approaching when I may have to consider more substantial disguises.

So far, I've only been recognized once (as far as I can tell), and it was at a restaurant that I wasn't reviewing at the time, though I had reviewed it in the past.

I visit restaurants for reviews at least twice. Restaurants that are in contention for higher numbers of stars are visited more often, because the higher the number of stars, the more important consistency becomes.

My food preferences or moods don't have a conscious effect on my ordering. Everyone at the table must order different items, and generally I let others make their selections, then fill in to balance out the order. It's important to make sure that I sample a variety of different proteins, different cooking techniques, specialties of the house and options for vegetarians.

I taste everything that is ordered, which is sometimes the trickiest part of the meal, as bread plates and extra forks are called into service. I almost always order at least one dish twice, to check on consistency of preparation and presentation. I try to sit in different areas of the restaurant, and I tend to go at least once on a weekday and once on a weekend, to get a sense of the changing ambiance, and how the restaurant performs at different levels of fullness.

One of the most frequent questions I receive is how I pick the restaurants to review. The best answer to that question is that the restaurants tend to pick themselves. Part of my job is finding out about new restaurants, and every new restaurant of a certain level of quality and interest is going to be reviewed eventually.

Restaurants are re-reviewed if a significant change occurs -- a new executive chef, a major remodel, change of ownership or a major shift in the theme of the restaurant would all merit at least a brief re-review. Of course, it's also important to check in with long-term restaurants, so some restaurants that haven't been reviewed for about four years will be re-examined as well.

As a new critic, I had the opportunity to make significant changes to the rating system that would have been impossible for an existing critic to make. We at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette felt that Pittsburgh restaurants could be held to a higher standard. The purpose of the new ratings is to distinguish more clearly among levels of quality and complexity, and restaurants and readers have had to adjust their expectations. Some reactions have been extremely positive, others have been negative.

Readers' and restaurants' complaints tend to take a similar tack: They take me to task for inserting so much of my "opinion" into the review.

I'm not sure it should shock my readers to learn that the practice of reviewing restaurants, in fact the practice of reviewing anything is, in fact, just someone's opinion. That opinion may be based upon knowledge and experience, but that certainly doesn't elevate review columns to the level of fact.

Not only does my specific experience at a restaurant determine what I write about it, but also my personal food preferences may well have an effect on my experience. I love all kinds of food, but certain aesthetics and certain types of cuisine appeal to me more than others; while I try to balance those preferences, they still exist.

Of course you might feel differently about a restaurant. Of course you might like a restaurant more or less than I do, for different reasons. For example, if you are a regular at a particular restaurant, you may receive better service than someone there for his or her first visit.

And yet, I still believe in the value of restaurant reviews; and, I believe that even those who ultimately disagree with me should take my opinion seriously. Why? Because my opinion is founded upon training, experience and a great deal of hard work. My opinion is not my gut reaction to a single experience. It is formed by two or more extremely attentive visits, a careful weighing of different aspects of the meal, and a sense of the meals' context within the Pittsburgh dining scene and within the much larger context of dining in general.

The restaurant business is a tremendously difficult business, and I have great sympathy for the struggles that new restaurateurs face. Yet I believe that the competitive nature of this industry makes it all the more important to reserve praise only for restaurants that have earned it.

Restaurateurs are not hosting a dinner party. They have not earned gratitude or compliments simply by opening their doors.

The strong reactions to changes in the dining column suggest that Pittsburghers are extremely interested in many aspects of food and dining. Pittsburgh diners have clearly kept up with the city's growing and developing restaurant scene, and it is your enthusiasm that makes it such an exciting time to be a critic at the Post-Gazette.

Great restaurants cannot exist without a knowledgeable clientele. Often, the most discriminating and enthusiastic diners are people who themselves love to cook and who appreciate the effort it takes to produce exquisite food. Starting in late February or early March, profiles of talented home cooks in the Pittsburgh area will become a semi-regular feature of the dining section. Recommend your father-in-law, your neighbor, or your best friend, whoever in your life you think is an incredible cook with personality and flair. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.