NPC Food Reviewer Is the Ultimate De-Influencer

After years of TikTok food influencers uncritically hyping every overpriced and overrated Italian restaurant below New York City’s 14th Street, miraculously landing a seat at The Office of Mr. Moto, and berating us “peasant[s]” for not trying every Nobu in the continental United States (cry about this, @TheVIPList) a new proletariat hero is ready to challenge this bourgeois foodie hellscape: TikToker @futurecanoe82.

His face obscured by camera angles and a can of (suspiciously eggplant-shaped) cartoon tomatoes, @futurecanoe82 is food TikTok’s latest “de-influencer,” detailing what it’s really like to stop by some of NYC’s most aggressively praised food destinations. Gaining a following earlier this year with viral videos putting dishes from celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Binging With Babish’s Andrew Rea to the test, @futurecanoe82, a self-described “NPC in NYC” has emerged as just that — a non-playable character in a world full of recognizable social media influencers.

“I feel like a lot of these restaurant reviewers are really well-known or they got paid to say good things,” he began the first clip of his unofficially-titled “NPC Review” series last week, a review of Brooklyn’s Forma Pasta Factory, the first three installments of which have already garnered about six million views. “So I’m gonna show you the experience of an average NPC like me.”

From gauging line length to ordering woes — “Can I please get this pepperoni burrito thing?” he asked during his foray at Manhattan’s Unregular Pizza — to rating each locale’s water and to-go container situation, @futurecanoe82’s behind-the-sneeze-guard POVs are a welcomed step removed from the Hollywood (or at least Bon Appétit) song and (definitely not sponsored) dances of his highly-paid influencer counterparts.

“If you’re getting tired of these restaurant reviews and want to see some cooking content, you should go to my YouTube channel and check out my chalupa video,” he concluded his last clip on Lafayette Grand Café and Bakery’s viral croissants before signing off with his signature “alright, thank you.”

He might be a foodie by default now. But he’s never stopped being a normie, which is exactly what makes his reviews so delicious.