The Payoff: Max Brenner

Today, Frank Bruni learns that he can take his niece and nephew out for dessert, and the New York Times will pay for it. At Max Brenner, critic-to-be Gavin, 6, pronounced “Not everything should be made into dessert.” No doubt Gavin will be on the Times payroll soon, as he seems to have the same discerning palate as his uncle.

I hadn’t thought that Bruni would pick out such an utterly irrelevant “restaurant,” only to give it zero stars. To be sure, it’s overrun with tourists, suggesting that perhaps there’s a large audience that needs Frank’s advice about the place. But Little Italy and the Theater District are overrun with tourists too. Will Ferrara be next week’s review?

But zero stars it is. We took the one-star action, and lose $1, for our first two-week losing streak. Luckily for us, the odds on zero stars were only even money, so Eater wins just $1.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$22.00		$26.67
Gain/Loss	+$1.00		–$1.00
Total	$23.00		$25.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	9–2		8–3