Abbe Diaz Accuses Eater of Morandi FavoritismThe industry veteran and ‘PX This’ forum master says she was attacked by Eater because she criticized one of the editor in chief’s chef buddies.
Mediavore
Anne Burrell Is Riding High; Jean-Georges’s Foot ProblemCentro Vinoteca chef Anne Burrell’s inspirations? Why, only the people she’s worked for, including Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali. [NYDN]
Crowds gathered at Cafe La Fortuna, the small 71st Street storefront once patronized by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, for its last day. [Lost City]
Bobby Flay has a new TV show, and you can have a small part of it. [Eater]
Beef
Ungrammatical Forum Poster Tossed From Jean Georges, Gets Revenge inWe’re always leery of the strange, strange world of Abbe Diaz and her online forum, PX This, but a media alert titled “Blogger Tossed From Jean Georges” was difficult to resist. As you might expect, Diaz — a former maître d’ at Jean Georges who wrote a dishy book about her experiences in the business — was in fact the blogger tossed, a cringe-inducing event publicized by the pilloried herself. (All of Diaz’s entries on PX This read like interminable text messages tapped out by the jittery, manicured thumbnails of an ex-model at Rose Bar at 4 a.m.) We include it here entirely for purposes of education: Remember, if you dog someone you worked for in a book, don’t go to his restaurant unless you know he won’t be around.
“Abbe, Maybe You Should Think About…” [PXThis]
Related: Is Abbe Diaz Behind “Sympathy for the Restaurant Industry?”
NewsFeed
Is Our Mystery Roman à Clef Writer the $2.45 Million Boston Bartender?After we brought to your attention the dishy fictionalization of Sam Mason, Keith McNally, Graydon Carter, et al that we’ve grown totally obsessed over, Fishbowl New York picked up on the story and got Abbe Diaz to deny that she was the author, as we initially considered. So who is the author? We’re now almost certain it’s Gwen Butler. You may or may not remember her as the Boston bartender who tried (and failed) to open a restaurant using the $2.45 million that one of her customers gave her on a whim, then started a blog called the Full Comp only to shut it down after posting an item described by the Boston Herald as “an XXX-rated diatribe” against her ex-boss, Garrett Harker of Beantown’s Eastern Standard Kitchen.
NewsFeed
Chef Roman à Clef: “I’m Not Abbe”Yesterday we speculated that Sympathy for the Restaurant Industry — a new site that is fictionalizing restaurant-industry players — was the work of PXThis blogger Abbe Diaz. The pillorying of Sam Mason, Keith McNally, et al sounded pretty much like e-mails from Abbe. But the author insists to us: “No, I’m not Abbe. She’s the original, the godmother of restaurant blogs and general awesomeness. I’m not worthy.” Hmm — suspiciously high praise.
NewsFeed
Chef Roman à Clef Continues; Keith McNally PilloriedYesterday we treated you to the first chapter of a story seemingly based on Sam Mason and his trials and travails with Tailor. We can now confirm, after contacting the author — who is remaining anonymous (even to us!) because he or she is “notorious within the industry” — that the story is based on Mason and Johnny Iuzzini as well as other players. “Yes, I plan on continuing,” assures the well-connected scribe, “and yes, I have inside info. I’ve been getting a lot of mail, but I would never run anything that I hadn’t triple-checked to be true.”
Beef
‘Industry’ Types Baffled by Restaurant GirlBlowback continues from Restaurant Girl’s surprise appointment to the vacant Daily Snooze chair, which has somehow managed to make the somnolent paper relevant again, if only for a day. The industry backbiters over at PXThis have their own nasty ideas about Danyelle Freeman’s new assignment. The best comments, after the jump.
