Rolling the Dice: Bar Blanc

Every week, we take our turn with Lady Luck on the BruniBetting odds as posted by Eater. Just for kicks, we track Eater’s bet too, and see who is better at guessing what the unpredictable Bruni will do. We track our sins with an imaginary $1 bet every week.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews the West Village’s latest two-star aspirant, Bar Blanc. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 5-1
One Star: 4-1
Two Stars: 3-1 √√
Three Stars: 8-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: Today’s bet could be decided by a coin toss. Adam Platt and the Restaurant Girl have already awarded two stars, and the New Yorker liked it too, so it would be safe to guess that Bruni will agree. We were less enchanted, awarding only one star.

With most of the entrées between $25 and $35, these are not West Village neighborhood prices. To award the deuce, Bruni will insist on first-class service (not a strength of this restaurant in early reviews) and a high ratio of hits to duds.

The Bet: We are usually inclined to trust our own instincts (one star), but most critics have been positive, and we’re not willing to disagree with quite so many luminaries all at once. We are therefore betting that Frank Bruni will award two stars to Bar Blanc.