Eater: On the House: The Bruni Journal, Part II

On the House: The Bruni Journal, Part II
Tuesday, September 19, 2006

On the House is our weekly column written by the owners and operators of the great food and beverage establishments of New York. Your resident proprietor is William Tigertt of Freemans, who it turns out will get Bruni'd tomorrow.

When we last saw our hero, he had just hosted Evan, a Times photographer, for a photo shoot. Still unknown was whether The Bruni would be filing a formal review or not. And away we go.

The Bruni Journal, Part II
Friday, September 15th
The day after the photo shoot we get the call from Bruni. In a Buster Keatonish mix up of flying phones; we inadvertently hang up on him. It takes an agonizing four minutes for him to call back.

“This is Frank Bruni from the New York Times. I’d like to set up a time tomorrow when I could ask a few questions for review I’m writing on your restaurant.” We make an appointment for 1:00. I get his info to send him menus. The conversation lasts all of three minutes. It’s officially not a blog entry.

Saturday, September 16th
“So what’s he like?” was the first words out of AF’s mouth when I see her on the street after the interview.

“He was really nice and polite. He was really specific in his questions. He obviously cares about what he does.”

“Of course he does, he’s too good not to care. Bruni should raffle off a dinner date for charity. I know a lot of women that would jump on it.” I elaborate the minutia of the interview. He asked mostly about the expansion, how our menu has changed, questions about the kitchen and décor. I tell AF that I have Bruni’s contact information, and I could set her up. Her eye twinkles at the concept of a Bruni blind date, but seems to play it down out of consideration for my ego.

Monday September 18th, 2006
The Dining section fact checker, Elaine, calls and verifies all hours and info for the box next to the review. It’s running Wednesday. So there’s nothing to do now, but wait. It used to be a downtown tradition to go out on an all night bender the Tuesday night before your review landed. You could grab the first edition of the paper a mere forty-five minutes after 4:00AM last call. The newsstand at Astor place supposedly got one of the first drops or it might just be the closest to all the East Village bars.

It makes me sad to think that tomorrow night I will sitting in my office in front of a computer clicking reload on the New York Times webpage until carpal tunnel syndrome sets in. I would much rather be carousing dive bars with my co-workers, self-medicating our jitters, and celebrating whatever victories and setbacks the past two years of New York has thrown at us.

At this stage in the game the Big Review won’t make or break us. It will put our mark in the Big Book, though. It will fix us in a point in time in the ever-changing theater of New York nightlife. After thousands of customers have come and gone, meals served good and bad; it’s something permanent and a validation of our hard work. More than anything, it means that we’ve made it this far, and that alone is worth celebrating.

--WDT

This story was filed before anyone in the Freemans organization had knowledge of how many stars the Times would award. It should in no way be seen as an anticipatory rebuttal to the review.

· On the House: The Bruni Journal, Part I [~E~]
· On the House: The Best Burger Downtown [~E~]

Posted in Eat: On the House

Email this post to a friend

Comments (0 extant)

All set here? Continue enjoying Eater...
« MenuGate: Meet the Players | Home | Honey »

Open

Reviewed

Closed

See more and submit to Eater Photo Pool

NYC Links
Utility
Add Your Own
AOL CityGuide
Citysearch
Dodgeball
Menupages
OpenTable
Savory NY
Sushi NYC
Yelp
Zagat

Print Media Online
New York
NY Daily News
NY Post
NY Sun
NY Times
TONY
Village Voice

Gastro-Communities
Chow
Chowhound
Digesty NYC
eGullet
Mouthfuls NYC
Px This Forum
ShamelessRestaurants
Shiftdrink

Food & Eating
Amateur Gourmet [rss]
Applesauce [rss]
Augieland [rss]
Bitter Waitress
Bruni Digest [rss]
CityRag Eats [rss]
Cutlets [rss]
Down By The Hipster [rss]
Gourmet's Choptalk [rss] Clublife [rss]
Jay McInerney [rss]
NYT's Diner's Journal [rss]
Eat [rss]
VV's Eat for Victory [rss]
Black Book's Eat This
Ed Levine Eats [rss]
Ext 212 [rss]
Food Writer's Diary [rss]
The Food Section [rss]
Foodite [rss]
Gaijin Girl [rss]
Gastro Chic [rss]
Gastropoda
Gridskipper NYC [rss]
Chow's The Grinder [rss]
Gothamist Food [rss]
The Gurgling Cod [rss]
A Hamburger Today [rss]
Insatiable Critic
Midtown Lunch [rss]
Lovescool [rss]
Mona's Apple [rss]
F&W's Mouthing Off [rss]
NY Journal [rss]
NYC Nosh [rss]
Off the Broiler [rss]
RestaurantGirl [rss]
Ruhlman [rss]
Salli Vates [rss]
Slice [rss]
Snack [rss]
NYer's Tables for Two
Twenty Buck a Day [rss]
Uptown Flavor [rss]
VittlesVamp [rss]
Waiter Rant [rss]
Walker New York [rss]

Newsletters
DailyCandy
MUG
Juli B
LX.TV
Rare Daily
Strongbuzz
Thrillist
Urban Daddy

Click to advertise on the Foodblog Network

About Eater
From the newest temples of haute cuisine to the oldest dive bars in New York, from Batali to McNally, Eater has you covered. More about Eater...

Tipping Is Customary
Know about a restaurant opening or closing in your neighborhood, or other NYC restaurant gossip? Do let us know.

Restaurant Search

Archives & Feeds