Berardo Paradiso chewed slowly, his fork halfway to his mouth.

“Basil and pepper, they are a very good boyfriend and girlfriend,” he said, gazing at the two sauces around the fillet of red snapper with potatoes and string beans. “Naturally, the potato is very much the witness of the wedding.”

But something wasn’t right. “It’s like being in a concert, and you have the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra playing,” he said. “It is still a great orchestra, but there is somebody sleeping next to you and making little snores. That is what the string beans are.”

Mr. Paradiso, 72, has been the head of the New York SoHo chapter of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina, the Italian Academy of Cuisine, for more than a decade. He addressed his criticism to 30 or so Accademia members (“accademici,” so designated by demure green, red and white pins affixed to their lapels, which differ in design according to rank) and their guests, who gather each month to review an Italian restaurant. For the 66th anniversary of the Accademia this summer, they dined at Osteria 57, a pescatarian restaurant in Greenwich Village.