"frank bruni" news and stories

Talk about a food-critic mash-up -- will the earth tilt and all the restaurants on the Eastern seaboard start sliding toward Key West, Florida, when some of the country's top food critics Ruth Reichl (above left), Jonathan Gold, Frank Bruni (above right), and Gael Greene fill the same space at "The Hungry Muse," An Exploration of Food in Literature, the 29th Annual Key West Literary Seminar (starting tomorrow and running, in two separate sessions, through January 16th)?

Sure, there will be readings, conversations, lectures, and panel discussions with best-selling authors like Calvin Trillin, Roy Blount Jr., Madhur Jaffrey, Molly O'Neill, Julia Reed, Adam Gopnik, Michael Ruhlman, and many others.

But it's this sold-out event that has foodies salivating over their Key lime pie: Reichl, Bruni, and Gold on "The Art & Craft of Restaurant Criticism: Matters of Aesthetics & Taste." Why? Well, not only are these three among the heaviest of the heavyweights in the biz (where are you, S. Irene Virbila?), but, says Reichl, "I get to meet Frank Bruni for the first time, which is kind of a thrill."

For real?

"I've never met Bruni, either," Gold told us. And here we thought all the critics hung out together, like some Skull & Bones society. This talk should be the bomb.

So, ok, you get to finally clap eyes on Bruni, and, well, maybe sparks will fly. But, we asked the former Gourmet editor in chief, why Key West and why this seminar?

Slashfood's exclusive exit interviews with the latest Top Chef contestant to get the boot. In an effort to prevent spoilers, we've included the text after the jump.

Is it just us, or does Kenny say something about his "beast" on every episode of Top Chef? After a few sad rounds of this self-proclaimed "alpha dog" scoring distinctly in the middle of the pack, this week he informed us it was, again, "time to unleash The Beast."

And if ever one needs to unleash his inner beast, it's during the Restaurant Wars episode. We look forward to this annual Top Chef ritual more than we do our own birthdays (especially at this age), and there was plenty this week that had us licking our chops. Even the preview teased us with capital-letter adjectives: Drama! Fights! Gross incompetence!

We knew we were in for something special when the teams, chosen during the Quickfire challenge, pitted the two early front runners against each other: Sniveling Angelo and Kenny, acting as executive chefs of each team. "The Beast versus the best," Kenny observed, although we wondered if that statement wasn't more than a little hyperbolic -- and premature.

Happy National Sardines Day!

Said actor and writer Alan Bennett, "Life is like a box of sardines, and everyone is looking for the key." Alas, when it comes to the slippery fish, not everyone is interested in opening up that can. And it seems foodies have a love-hate relationship with the chow.

Even adventurous eater and ex-New York Times food critic Frank Bruni was under fire for rumors that he hated sardines. After further research on his praise for various plates of the dish, the final verdict was best summed up in his own words: "Sardines aren't for sissies."

What do you think? Take our poll and hit the comments to vent or rave.



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A few of the best stories spied elsewhere on the Web this week:

Learn some new holiday cooking and baking skills with this roundup of Thanksgiving cooking classes across the nation.

Not surprisingly, an Aloha, Ore., man was fined $300 for calling 911 to complain about his botched McDonald's drive-through order.

Design icon Isaac Mizrahi will sell tartan-topped cheesecakes from Junior's on QVC in early December.

Los Angeles' popular Kogi Korean Taco Truck gets a tricked out Toyota Scion Kogi xD Mobile Kitchen that's fully loaded with a grill, a sink and an Alpine Sound System.

Restaurant consulting firm Baum + Whiteman released its 2010 food and dining trend forecast, which claims "fried chicken is the new pork belly."

Former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni sold the TV rights to his memoir, "Born Round."