A self-assured 24-year-old man with tousled strawberry blonde hair caused a stir in Rochester's food world this summer.
Ryan Wilson, known as @dodgydines on Instagram, seemed to come out of nowhere in June,
when he posted a request on where to eat in Rochester, mentioning that he'd be exploring the city in a Corvette he had purchased for his parents. That post got more than 700 responses.
Since then, it seems like I've seen his posts every time I've logged into Instagram. People in the restaurant industry and avid restaurant goers have noticed him as well.
He talks with his mouth full and often has crumbs on his face.
He says provocative things, like describing Max Chophouse as being in a “weird ghetto location." It's in Brighton.
He takes a no-holds-barred approach to critiquing many of the restaurants he visits. "This should not be on the menu," has been expressed more than once.
But what really caught my attention was something others may not have noticed: He showed the check at the end of the video.
All of this made me curious enough to want to find out, who is this guy?
What makes Ryan Wilson different?
Influencers are accounts on social media that promote establishments or products in exchange for compensation, which could be meals or products.
"For the vast majority of influencers, it’s a side hustle,” said Charles Lindsey, associate professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo School of Management, whose classes encompass social media.
"Nano influencers" with as many as 10,000 followers may earn $10 to $100 per post, or maybe just a free meal from a restaurant. But for people with a huge number of followers, the sky is the limit. "You do have a non-trivial percentage that are doing it full time and they’re making darn good money,” he said.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has regulations that requires anyone who endorses a product on social media to reveal when they have a “material connection” with a brand. This includes having a family relationship or a financial relationship – not just being paid for posts but also getting freebies or discounts. This disclosure should be within the content, hard to miss and expressed in plain language.
“I think in reality a lot slips through the cracks," Lindsey said. He believes some of the omissions are innocent, with influencers not understanding the regulations.
In any case, it's hard to tell who is being paid for their posts, and by whom.
That's why I took notice when Wilson showed the check for, say, $275 at Gio's Prime 26 downtown and also mentioned he got a complimentary crème brûlée there. Moreover, he compared the quality and prices between restaurants, which is unusual.
What was he all about? I interviewed him twice, once on the phone and once over lunch.
Who is Ryan Wilson?
Wilson grew up in Ontario, Wayne County, and graduated from Wayne Central High School. He said he grew up in a middle-class household; his mom is a psychologist and his father is an "IT guy."
Wilson has always been ambitious; he was a high honor roll student, musician and three-season athlete. He started his online presence in his teens, when he posted videos of himself playing video games online. He also started day trading − the risky practice of buying and selling stocks and other assets on the same trading day − in high school.
“I knew high school was going to be done soon,” he said. “I did not want to work a job."
He earned his degree in cybersecurity at St. John Fisher University, mostly because his parents had saved for his college. "It was just a stalling tactic," he said. "I was never going to use it."
He moved to Florida in 2024 to live in more pleasant weather, be around motivated people and to avoid paying state taxes. He spent the summer with his parents in Ontario.
He says he makes his living as a day trader and influencer; his Instagram account, @dodgysddofficial, which portrays an upscale lifestyle, has 167,000 followers. He also has 92,000 followers on YouTube. Those numbers put him in the "macro" level of influencers, said Lindsey of UB, which could garner him significant compensation when he posts.
He started his food account in November, initially reviewing places in Florida and in his travels.
"I like food more than anything," he said. "I like to go into something random where I don't know what to expect."
He says he benchmarks restaurants based on his experience dining at Michelin-starred restaurants. (Michelin rates restaurants based on anonymous inspections, though its credibility has been called into question with its recent partnership with food distributor Sysco Corporation.)
During our telephone interview in mid-August, he said he'd received complimentary meals at about a fourth of the restaurants he reviewed in Rochester, and some chefs have sent out free dishes. He’s tried to decline complimentary meals, he said, but owners have insisted. “I don’t want them to pay me to crap on their restaurant,” he said. “I’ll feel bad.”
“I don’t do this for the money,” he said, noting that food content would represent a tiny portion of his income.
He's savvier than he seems
I picked Pizza NOTA as the spot to meet for lunch. He hadn't reviewed it, and it was a reasonably priced place for the D&C to foot the bill.
We dined in the restaurant's outdoor area and chatted about Rochester's food scene, which hasn't wowed him in general. Some of his favorite meals in Rochester were at Redd, Shell, Next Door and Chortke.
He was sure a couple of men near us recognized him, saying he's now recognized in Rochester quite a bit. Later, we'd find out he was right. "You'd better give this place a good review," one of the men called out as he left, and the two briefly compared notes on pizza places in New York City.
I was interested in how he navigates social media. He explained that the more people interact with his content – even if it’s to leave negative comments – the more people see it on their feeds.
He will deliberately mispronounce dishes or restaurant names. He’ll use a fork the wrong way or pretend not to know about the cuisine.
One thing that struck me about Wilson's review, as he recorded it on his phone, is that he made no attempt to convince people of his food knowledge. There was no checking for leopard spots on the bottom of the crust and no observing the crumb on the cornicione. He says he's not a food critic.
But he does think that including the Corvette in his videos adds to his credibility, and he mentioned that people who dine in good restaurants are the kind of people he is trying to reach.
It follows that these are the people who would have the funds to pay him for his knowledge of day trading.
"He’s selling a lifestyle. You see it in a lot of social media," said Lindsey of UB. He advises people to be skeptical.
"All is not what it seems to be on the surface, necessarily," he said. "Everybody lives their best life on social media.”
Tracy Schuhmacher has been food and drink reporter for the past 11 years. Notice a food establishment open or close near you? Email her at tracys@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Meet the 'dodgydines' influencer shaking up Rochester's food scene | Exclusive
