McNally Takes a Cheap Shot at BruniIn yet another retributive strike by a restaurateur against Frank Bruni (Jeffrey Chodorow’s much-discussed broadside being the first), Morandi owner Keith McNally has planted a letter with Eater accusing the Times critic of being biased against woman chefs. “Bruni had never given a female chef in Manhattan anything more than one star, ever,” McNally writes. The complaint goes on for a long time and seems unlike McNally, who has almost always stayed above the fray. What’s especially unseemly is the way the letter dwells on Bruni’s attitude toward gender (“…when the chef is a man Bruni often makes quite a song and dance about it.”) Given the amount of food-world speculation about Bruni’s sexual orientation, this seems like a low blow, especially since the Times’ review echoed a near-universal critical consensus about Morandi. Times dining editor Pete Wells, asked to comment about the letter, agrees, saying simply, “Frank’s review speaks for itself. Period.”
Keith McNally: Bruni Has ‘Unremittingly Sexist Slant’ [Eater]
Beef
We Ask Jeffrey Chodorow If He’s Been Feeling Well LatelyThe food world has been abuzz over Jeffrey Chodorow’s paid full-page rant in the New York Times. The restaurateur claimed that Frank Bruni wasn’t qualified to be a food critic and declared that from now on he intends to hold Bruni and Adam Platt accountable on his blog by reviewing the same restaurants. Not wanting to risk a pummeling by meeting him in person, we got Mr. Chodorow on the phone.
Back of the House
Wall Street Loves Agribiz; Did the ‘Times’ Dig for Dirt on a HaplessDid the Times send a private eye after a chef sued them for having suggested he was a druggie? [NYP]
Restaurant Week is the “Woodstock of the culinary world,” a wondrous opportunity that no one should let slip by. So says Drew Nieporent’s brother, anyway. [NYDN]
Wall Street investors are stampeding each other to invest in agribusiness commodities. And that is making some corn and cattle producers very, very nervous. [NYT]
