Jaunted

New York Times

Frank Bruni Discovers a "Portofino on Quaaludes"

May 7, 2007 at 10:05 AM | 0 Comments

Restaurant critic and itinerant eater Frank Bruni has the latest scoop on Apulia in this week's New York Times travel section--and he likes what's happenin' in the heel of Italy. With all the rolling hills, trulli and, of course, food, Bruni's basically in paradise.

To wit:

For less than $60 dollars apiece, including plenty of wine, we had a terrific four-course meal brimming with Apulia's culinary trademarks. There was orecchiette, of course -- those fat, ear-shaped nubs of pasta. There were chickpeas and broccoli rabe and cured meats seasoned with more pepper than in other parts of Italy and garnished with pomegranate seeds.

We even have to give Bruni credit for calling out the "tired, trite sobriquet" of "the new or next Tuscany." Though, we're a little unsure how he managed to sneak that by his avant garde editors at the Times.

[Photo: Chris Warde-Jones/NYT]

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· The Heel is Rising [NYT]
· Bangladesh is the New Bangladesh [Jaunted]

Dirty Bingo

Tonight: Dirty Bingo in the Meatpacking District

March 27, 2007 at 4:23 PM | 0 Comments

Back when America's Most Wanted Restaurant reviewer Frank Bruni sat down at Paradou, one of the few nearly-indigenous (i.e. opened before the Hotel Gansevoort) Meatpacking district eateries, he mentioned Provençal food, bare-bones décor, and impressive Kobe-style beef tartare, but he left out the fact that this place queues up a monthly game of dirty bingo.

According to the restaurants website:

This is definitely not your Grandmas bingo. This is definitely not the bingo they play on cruise ships or poolside at family resorts. This is DIRTY BINGO!!!
The rules are the same as regular Bingo. The prizes are definitely of a more adult nature. And we learned from the last DIRTY BINGO that we have a randy bunch on our hands, so the gifts will be of a more, shall we say, directly applicable nature. These prizes will definitely keep you hot and bothered on those chilly early spring nights.

Join us on TUESDAY, MARCH 27TH, at 8PM as our fabulous Canadienne, Genvieve, calls the numbers. Prizes provided by Kiki De Montparnasse
Price: $2 per card per game.

Champagne cocktails, fabulous Canadienne women, Bruni-approved French food and the opportunity to win a crystal-bejeweled vibrator or some other Kiki gift. Um, did we mention this is taking place tonight?

If you go, photos please.

[Photo: thatgirlsab]

Related Stories:
· Dirty Bingo [TheDateVine]
· Paradou NYC reviews [NYTimes]

Manhattan Restaurants

Chodorow Offers Fat Reward For Identifying Frank Bruni

February 27, 2007 at 12:04 PM | 0 Comments

Anyone who watched Jeffery Chodorow and Rocco DiSpirito battle back on NBC's The Restaurant knows that they are both certifiably nuts.

However, these days Chodorow has taken his act to a whole new level. He has had enough of New York Times critic Frank Bruni and his unfavorable reviews. Subsequently, Chodorow issued a public ban of Bruni from all 29 of his restaurants.

I'm telling my staff that the first person to recognize Bruni at any of my restaurants will be given a free trip for two to the Caribbean." The Kobe Club owner, who bought a full-page ad in the Times blasting Bruni over a zero-star review, will also post Bruni's photo on his Web site.

This after he took out a one page ad in the Times as a rebuttal to Bruni's zero star pan of the Kobe Club. In his ad he announced, amongst other things, that some people believe there is such a thing as the Rocco DiSpirito curse (someone ping Dan Shaughnessy there is another curse to write about!), and that he also, "loves his mother." And finally, Chodorow adds:

In the interest of fairness, I am introducing my personal blog, which will be a compilation of my food-related experiences and musings and a special section entitled Following Frank and After Adam, in which I will make a follow-up visit to the restaurants they write about for the purpose of reviewing their reviews. My blog will appear at www.chinagrillmgt.com/blog/. My friends in the restaurant business have warned me that there will be further retaliation against me for speaking up. So be it.

Welcome, Jeffery to what idiots and venture capitalists call "the blogosphere" Oh, and feel free to steal our above Bruni wanted poster for your own use, we don't care.

Related Stories:
· Hunt the Critic [Page Six]
· Chodorow Blog [Official Site]
· Bruni Digest [Blogspot]