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.

You know the drill. You and your pals want to go out for dinner, but the reliable old places are well, getting a little played out. You want to try a new place, but how do you know what the new places are, let alone which ones have good food, a good bar, or a good scene?

At one time, we might have looked back through the archives of our local newspapers for professional restaurant critics' reviews. These days however, more and more people are turning to websites that aggregate reviews from average, everyday customers like you and me. These websites, like Yelp, CitySearch, Angie's List and Yahoo Local, allow "citizen" reviewers to post ratings and reviews, and it has businesses changing their approach to marketing. Where once restaurants catered to professional critics, now they must take into account all their potential customers.

Do you use these sites when you need to make a decision about a restaurant? If so, why? And which sites do you find the most helpful?

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]

Originally limited to New York, MenuPages has been expanding quickly lately. The site, which features not only the hours, address, etc. of many restaurants, but also their menus and prices, so you know exactly what you're getting into before you go. MenuPages recently came to LA and even more recently launched in Philadelphia. Other cities the site covers include Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and Washington.

If you've never used MenuPages before, it's worth a look, since you'll be able to determine whether a given restaurant actually has anything on their menu that you want to try, unlike straightforward restaurant reviews (and they have user comments/reviews, too), which only provide a price and the descriptions of a few dishes. The restaurant categories are more location-specific than most, too. For example, in Los Angeles, there is a distinct option for restaurants that serve Wings, while in Philly, there is a category for cheesesteak places. If the food you're craving isn't on the pre-set list, another great feature of the site is the "find a food search," which allows you to narrow down your restaurant selection to those that serve flourless chocolate cake or lobster rolls.

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.

If you fancy becoming a restaurant critic, make sure you have a stash of untraceable cash, multiple credit cards with different names, and a wig.

I remember reading about Ruth Reichl's stint as the restaurant critic for the New York Times. She would go out in full disguises, changing her demeanor, her voice, everything, so that restaurants wouldn't recognize her as Ruth Reichl. Critics don't seem to be going that far these days. Restaurant critics dine with friends and family, make reservations under false names, and pay for their meals in ways that don't reveal their identities, all to provide a review based on what it would be like to dine for the restaurant's every day customer.

However, restaurants have become savvy to critics, whose reviews could crowd their reservations lines or shut them down, by educating their staff to look out for critics. They have complete "dossiers" with physical descriptions, photographs, and even explanations of crtics' idiosyncrasies.

It makes me wonder, then, how accurate those 2, 3, or 4 stars really are.

 

Would you eat at a restaurant when the purveyor of the foods says “food is overrated”? Not that he is referring to his food, mind you, but to food in general. “Restaurateur, nightlife mogul and celebrity dentist," Dr. Tim Hogle is the man who would rather not eat than eat something that isn’t on his very strict diet, though he owns a series of Miami Beach restaurants. afterglo, his newest venture, does not serve health food per se, but functional foods that are intended to have beneficial effects on the body and not simply to sustain life. Plying food to the body-conscious and sun-bleached crowd can be challenging and the restaurant serves foods that are wild, raw and, of course, organic. Hogle calls it “beauty cuisine,” though the irony of marketing supremely natural foods to a population of plastic people will not escape the notice of some. “Everything has a low GI, is highly alkaline (which reputedly helps regenerate cells) and packed with enzymes, minerals and antioxidants” according to the Independent.

Certainly sounds purposeful, but does someone who eats only for functionality sacrifice taste at his restaurant? Apparently not, since the restaurant has received good reviews. One does have to wonder whether or not Hogle will actually eat everything on his menu.

[Image of afterglo's raw "sushi" via Click Clack]

With a hat tip to Mr. Bruni, the restaurant critic who took a turn as a waiter, the Waiter stepped out of uniform and took a turn as a reviewer. The Waiter of WaiterRant.net is best known for his sharp, humorous accounts of the daily goings-on in the busy Bistro where he works. While no customers were screaming for their food or throwing fits about receiving the "wrong" table, the review of Mary's Fish Camp is no less interesting. He gets a recommendation from his waitress, samples a few dishes and leaves well-satisfied. Ever thought of a career change, Waiter?

KQED, public television in the SF Bay Area, has recently launched a new TV show that reminds me, in a way, of blogging because it takes such an unusual and accessible approach to restaurant reviewing. The show is called Check, Please! Bay Area and it takes three non-professional restaurant reviewers and sends them to three restaurants to eat at and review. The reviewers each must recommend their favorite restaurant when they apply for the show. During the show, the other reviewers visit that restaurant and the other two favorites from the 3-diner panel. The diners gather back on set to discuss their experiences. The show is the second of its kind. The Bay Area version is based on the success of the original Chicago show, Check, Please! 

To appear on the show, you must submit an essay-style application that includes a restaurant review and a mention of what types of foods you like.

A Washington DC-area food blogger received notification from the attorney of Chef Carole Greenwood, of Buck's Fishing and Camping, insisting that he "cease and desist from showing any pictures that [he] may have taken of the food and facilities at said restaurant." Jason Storch, the blogger at DCfoodies.com, said that the chef stated during dessert that he would need to ask permission before using the photos for anything, but that he was not, as the attorney claimed "specifically told [by the chef] NOT to take any pictures."

The attorney is claiming that the restaurant and everything in it is the sole and confidential property of the owner, in this case, Ms. Greenwood. I have no problem with the attorney doing his job, but does Ms. Greenwood really expect that the interior of her restaurant be "confidential"? Given that there were no visible signs informing patrons that photography would not be prohibited, she probably should not have expected this. If  the management of an establishment does not want to permit photography, they need to clearly state that. Once a photo is taken, the owner of the photo can do with it what he will.