Frank Bruni (left) and interviewer John Berman. Photo: ABC News "Nightline."

Restaurant devotees tuning into Wednesday night's edition of ABC News "Nightline," slavering for juicy tidbits from the upcoming tell-all penned by departing New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni were treated to an intimate portrait of ... uh, the poignant tale of ... OK, the dude wants to sell some books. This was his infomercial.

It's hard to blame the guy. For the past five years, the admitted former bulimic who once sported a 42-inch waistband was the most fear-inducing eater in all of New York's five boroughs, his deft, often hilarious and scathing reviews packing the power to loft or condemn restaurants' fates -- around 270 of them during his tenure at the Times -- despite his intensely conflicted relationship with food and the constant pressure to maintain anonymity by means of unflattering wigs, stick-on facial hair and fake reservation names he'd sometimes forget upon arrival at the host's stand.

In his first network interview since taking on this trencherman's task in 2004, Bruni -- publicly revealing his face on video for the first time to a national audience -- talked about his lifelong battle with overeating and the extreme, often unsuccessful measures he took to combat his epic binges.

"Bloody poop" anyone? The toilet aesthetic is nothing new in Asian restaurants. We have a post, from a few years back, about a toilet-themed restaurant where people actually sit on toilets at a table. Recently, Time magazine had an article about a Taiwanese restaurant chain that's opening up restaurants in China and other parts of Asia. Modern Toilet serves dishes, with names like "green dysentery," in toilet-shaped plates. Food is presented in the shape of excrement.

Modern Toilet interestingly combines the vulgar, the obscene, the scatological with the high-end. As the Time article states: "Every customer sits on a stylish acrylic toilet (lid down) designed with images of roses, seashells or Renaissance paintings." In this way, the restaurant is enticing patrons and receiving positive feedback. Jennifer Finch, an American who dined there, described the experience as tasteful and clean.

The cuisine is an eclectic mix of Asian foods, including curries, pasta, fried chicken and Mongolian hot pot. Patrons comment that despite the disgusting descriptions, the foods are great. Apparently, China's comfort with (and interest in) toilet creations beyond the bathroom are not new. Time points out that a flush toilet was found in a tomb of a Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 24) king. The Chinese invented toilet paper in the 6th century! But, while toilet dining may be less shocking in Chinese culture, Westerners seem to be gravitating to these restaurants as well.

This week on "The Martha Stewart Show" (11 a.m., syndicated), "domestic diva" Martha tours some of her new favorite restaurants, all located on East 10th Street in the East Village of Manhattan. The restaurant tour seems appropriate since it falls during Restaurant Week, when many high-end restaurants, such as Mario Batali's Del Posto, offer reduced fixed price menus.

The New York Post explains that Martha's fascination for E 10th st. began this summer at Graffiti Food and Wine Bar, a tiny four table restaurant. In fact, the tour kicks off tomorrow with a tasting of 15 small dishes from Graffiti's chef Jehangir Mehta. The tour then goes to the ramen noodle counter at Rai Rai Ken, ChikaLicious dessert bar, and of course the hip and trendy Momofuku Milk Bar.

These restaurants offer a refreshing diversion from many of the larger restaurant establishments that will be offering discounted meals for Restaurant Week. In fact, the prices at some of these East Village restaurants are just as inexpensive. Check out Martha' website to find out more about the restaurant tour and to view some of chef Mehta's recipes.

There are numerous reasons why I enjoy going to restaurants that serve local food. When traveling it's an exciting way to discover the foods that different places have to offer. Atlantica in Camden, Maine is an excellent restaurant that incorporates local ingredients.

I started off dinner with salad of organic red and yellow beets and Jasper Hill blue cheese. Then, came the masterpiece of the meal: the salmon. The salmon was so tender that it seemed to slowly dissolve on my palate. It's surprising how many restaurants cook salmon to the point that it's completely dry and all you taste is the sauce on it. The fish at Atlantica was superb.

The restaurant is run by a husband and wife team: Ken and Del Paquin. Ken graduated from the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park New York. He strives to make use of the finest and highest quality ingredients, both organic and sustainable. He searches for the best local purveyors. So, it's no surprise that it was at Atlantica that I discovered Maine's many cheeeses. Atlantica is also an excellent place to enjoy Maine's incredible lobster. Be sure to order their hard-shell steamed lobster.

So what is Hngry all about then? Despite missing vowels.

A chap called Richard (or should that be Rchrd) has set up an online database for people to list their favourite restaurants. The site is free to use and allows for sorting by rating and is fully taggable. It also boasts a 'friend feature' allowing you to share info and invite friends to eat at a particular location. And it keeps track of coupons for you too.

It is early days of course but having logged in I couldn't actually find any restaurants. I try totally random, various food types and price limits but nothing came up. (Richard you need to add a 'home' button to the find restaurant page). Now maybe I am using Hngy incorrectly but one of the uses of a site like this is to search a database by town; say you are visiting Des Moines and you would like to find eateries there, you would enter Des Moines and see what comes up. I would expect to be able to add a restaurant to your personal list, print out directions or follow a link to a google map or whatever. But you can't do this. It looks like any searches you do is restricted to those restaurants you personally enter and tag. A little disappointing that something lacking basic functionality and any restaurant listings has been released...

What would also be clever is to link automatically to blog entries - plenty of bloggers post reviews of restaurants and to find an excerpt under the restaurant list would be very cool. Oh, how about adding photos of the food or restaurant?

So Hngry; maybe useful but it has some way to go.

There is a blog associated with the site.

[From netscape]

If you follow the New York restaurant and dining scene at all, then the name Gael Greene is familiar. Gael Greene spent thirty-two years writing a column for New York magazine entitled "The Insatiable Critic." Though she was writing restaurant reviews, her columns revealed her life as a social diva, who ended up in bed with the likes of Elvis Presley as well as chefs of notable New York restaurants.

Gael Greene has a new book, Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess, which is a memoir of those days and nights. Nerve.com has done an interview with the writer in which they ask such questions as "Do you think there's a connection between the physical experiences of eating and sex?" and "Do you have any suggestions for in-the-bedroom treats?" all of which she answers very straight-forwardly.