"frank bruni" news and stories

B52 on ice. Photo: quinn.anya, Flickr

• Ice isn't solely a drink chiller. It's also a fine art for bartenders concerned with chilling rather than diluting.
• Farm vacations hit stateside. Would you pay hundreds for the chance to work on one?
  
• Frank Bruni's final column notes his (often underrated) favorites around New York City.
  
• After nearly half a century, Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" has finally topped the best-seller list.
• The Minimalist dips into peanut butter.
• Hot baths and other treatments to keep your berries from growing mold too quickly.
  

How does a man with a price tag on his head -- or at least his face -- keep from having his photo snapped by fellow partygoers or folks out for a hefty reward? Former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni explains the art of ducking the spotlight in this Skype video from Salon's Kerry Lauerman.

[Via: 'Binger turned food critic' at Salon.com]

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.

Photo: Pink Sherbet Photography, Flickr

• Edible flowers proffer a delicious, colorful boost to summer cocktails.
• The Minimalist makes a corn and tomato salad.
• The joy of a BLP, with plums subbed for blight-stricken tomatoes.
  
• Alluring Italian white wines are giving their red counterparts a run for their money.
• The Temporary Vegetarian goes fungal with Mushrooms in Lettuce Wraps.
• Brooklyn's Creative Cooks Culinary Center teaches tykes the art of culinary creations.
• Hudson Valley farmers' markets offer foodie thrills and a distinct sense of community.
• I scream, you scream, parents scream about ice cream.
• How to go retro with a 1951 recipe for Brandied Peaches.

Frank Bruni reviews the Choco Taco. Video: ABC's Nightline.

As we mentioned last week, outgoing Times critic Frank Bruni will be on ABC's Nightline this evening, talking about his childhood bulimia and taking down the Choco Taco.

"I believe that food that rhymes is almost always better than food that doesn't rhyme, don't you?" he says in the outtake released to the press, in which he calls a reporter "namby-pamby" for ordering a soft-serve ice cream cone instead of his own adventurous "South of the Border" choice.

Who knows if new national critic Sam Sifton will have Bruni's talent with one-liners, but we do know that, after reading this morning's (very accurate) description of the dinner review process, we will miss him: About a woman who "fumed" if her steak arrived at the table already cut, he writes, "People are as strange about eating as they are about love. They want what they want."

Perhaps our favorite description, though, is of those who just don't eat. One friend demanded that they order a fatty porterhouse with fries, and then "She commenced such frantic knife and fork movements that a veritable cloud of dust rose around her -- I was reminded of a Road Runner cartoon. When the dust settled 15 minutes later, I took a close look at her plate, and almost nothing was missing. The food had just been reconstituted and rearranged, a Picasso of its former self."

If this is the stuff of his new memoir, we'll be reading it.