Grub Street

If you miss following Sam Mason’s quixotic adventures now that the Launch is kaput, fear not — an anonymous blog Sympathy for the Restaurant Industry is offering “meta-fictional restaurant drama set in present day New York City, served in a convenient serial” and the first story details, in rather purple prose, the agonies of Sean Kasen (sounds kind of like Sam Mason if you mumble it, no?), a young, media-plagued chef opening his first restaurant who is up against “the punishment that comes when you attempt to create something perfect but fail” and also the fact that “being handsome and very talented when you are a chef is a burden.” Oh, the humanity!

The giveaway that the character, whose GM in the story is named Ian (just like at Tailor!) might just be based on our favorite blunderkind? “They were 4 months behind schedule, according to New York magazine, which had been documenting the progress of the project in its pages.” And then there’s Kasen’s rival Tommy Habana, who we can only assume is based on fellow pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini given this description of his Web page: “‘They said today on Eater that at least Tommy Habana has his website up,’ Julia the bar manager pointed out. ‘It’s just a bunch of sexy pictures of him and some bullshit bio. He's playing Mission to Mars.’”

How will young Sean Kasen cope with it all? And what will happen first, the conclusion of this story or the opening of Tailor? Meta indeed!

No Ticky, No Laundry [Sympathy for the Restaurant Industry]

Related:
The Launch [Grub Street]