BruniBetting: Cashing our Chips

Eater announced today that it is formally ending its famed BruniBetting feature, or as they put it, “we’ve remanded BruniBetting to its creator, odds expert Ben Leventhal.”

We present the final standings below:

	Eater		NYJ
Total	$128.50		$149.67
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Won–Lost	58–26 (69%)		60–24 (71%)

Our record was slightly better than Leventhal’s. In all fairness, we had a significant advantage, as our bet was always placed with the knowledge of what Leventhal had already done. (That was because Leventhal announced the odds and Eater’s own bet in the same post.)

If Eater has dropped the feature in deference to Leventhal (who is no longer affiliated with the blog), it probably means we’ll see a revised version of it somewhere else. When that happens, we’ll reset the score to zero–zero, and start again. Looking forward to it, Ben!

Does Bruni have another 4-star review in him?

Over at Eater.com, Ben Leventhal asks the existential question:

The biggest question is, Will The Brunisimo inaugurate one more restaurant into the four star club before he leaves? He confirmed Daniel’s four stars in January, but hasn’t put a new restaurant into the club since Masa in late 2004. Frequent dining companions of his whisper about the man’s quiet interest in finding one more perfect restaurant before he departs. And these critics, they like to leave a mark, which to me means we’ve got one more four star review coming if any restaurant even comes close to getting it done.

We totally agree with Leventhal that Bruni must be itching to play king-maker one more time. Indeed, we’ve noted before, Bruni currently holds the record for the longest interval between new four-star reviews. Awarding four stars—not reaffirming, as he did with Daniel, but awarding—is a critic’s signature moment, and he has kept his powder dry for the last 4½ years.

We doubt, though, that Bruni will pull the trigger unless he’s convinced. In a post late last year, he mentioned recent visits to Eleven Madison Park and Del Posto—clearly looking for an excuse to promote them to four stars, but finding both wanting.

Here are the restaurants that Leventhal thinks could break the string, with Eater’s trademark odds:

Marea: 3-1
Aureole: 10-1
Del Posto: 18-1
Blue Hill, Stone Barns: 19-1
Babbo (Bruni’s first review): 75-1
Momofuku Ko: 298-1
Le Cirque: 500-1
Locanda Verde: 5,000-1

We do not think Marea is designed to compete with the likes of Le Bernardin and Jean Georges. In flusher times, Chris Cannon and Michael White would no doubt have liked to, but by all appearances it seems they (wisely) hedged their bets. The new Aureole, even if it ultimately gets four stars, is probably opening too late (not till June, by most reports).

Del Posto needs to be crossed off the list for now, based on Bruni’s year-end comments. Babbo? I doubt that even Mario Batali thinks it’s a four-star restaurant. We certainly agree that Le Cirque is the longest of long-shots, and Locanda Verde is (by its creators’ admission) intended to be a neighborhood place.

In our view, that leaves only Momofuku Ko and Blue Hill Stone Barns as plausible candidates. We think BHSB is a near-perfect restaurant, but even if Bruni thinks that, would he award four stars to a restaurant that is not even in New York City?

That leaves Momofuku Ko. Bruni has been curiously silent about the ambitious lunch menu that was launched after his original review. That lunch menu would certainly provide the excuse for a re-review, and if the inconsistencies he wrote about have been smoothed out, perhaps Ko would be the place.

Given Bruni’s long-standing shine for everything Chang, we have to think that Momofuku Ko is the best candidate.

Edit to Add: I am not saying that I believe Momofuku Ko will be (or should be) upgraded to four stars. I am only saying that if Bruni files another four-star review, Ko is a more likely recipient than any other.

Rolling the Dice: Fishtail

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews David Burke’s Upper East Side seafood shack, Fishtail. The Eater odds haven’t been posted as of 6:05 p.m., but we’re going to go ahead and record our bet anyway.

Update: Well, it turns out that Eater never did post the odds. Lucky for us, as our prediction (below) was wrong, so we avoided losing $1 on our hypothetical bet.

The Skinny: Fishtail had a rough early start. The original executive chef, Eric Hara, left in late February to take over the Oak Room. Dallas native John Tesar replaced him in March. We’ve heard nothing about the restaurant since then. The only major-media review, one star from Adam Platt, pre-dated Tesar’s arrival.

We liked Fishtail, rating it at 2½ stars. Like Platt, we visited while Hara was still there. Our only complaint was that the tables were packed uncomfortably close together. The fish, however, was impeccable. What we cannot assess is whether the kitchen is consistent, and whether it has improved or regressed since Tesar took over.

There are a dozen reasons why a restaurant like Fishtail would not appeal to a nitwit like Platt, even if the fish were prepared perfectly. Bruni is a far more intelligent critic. Nevertheless, the vibe of an Upper East Side socialites’ restaurant is not likely to appeal to him, and no doubt he will find some of Burke’s compositions too cute for their own good. We’re fans, but sometimes we feel that way ourselves.

Our guess is that Bruni wouldn’t be bothering to review this place so many months after the opening review cycle, unless he had something positive to say. To award one star would be an insult, and while Bruni has done that plenty of times (and will again), he’s not likely to do it for a restaurant everyone had forgotten about.

The Bet: We are betting that Frank Bruni will award two stars to Fishtail.

The Payoff: La Fonda del Sol and Txikito

We were half-right, half-wrong about Frank Bruni’s double-review of La Fonda del Sol and Txikito. The latter restaurant got the expected singleton:

Across many meals here I had wonderfully memorable food (suckling pig as fine as any in New York beyond Eleven Madison Park’s); ridiculous food (a rib-eye so excessively fatty and undercooked it was almost inedible); food that fell somewhere in between (the crosscut spareribs, with too much bone and too little pork); and food that never tasted the same twice. The meatballs in a shellfish broth could be hard and dull or tender and nuanced. It depended on the night.

Although the prices on individual items are low, the bill can climb surprisingly high, especially considering the plainness and tightness of the quarters.

But to our surprise, La Fonda got the deuce. It’s not that we doubted La Fonda deserved two stars (it clearly does), but that we didn’t expect Bruni to see it that way. With two-star restaurants being a rarity these days, we had figured that any place he deemed worthy of the deuce would at least get the courtesy of having a review to itself. But Bruni’s review patterns were made to be broken:

Although the menu has weak spots, with a few too many dishes not from the heart but from a marketing plan, [Chef Josh DeChellis’s] cooking here feels less forced and more exuberant than it did at any of the other restaurants where I tried it.

More important, it reflects a steady, precise hand. A tried-and-true combination of octopus with potato seemed fresh again, because the kitchen got precisely the tenderness it wanted from the octopus and the firmness it sought in the potato, so that each was a textural mirror and mimic of the other.

At lunchtime, when so many restaurants put on their B if not C games, La Fonda served me a fillet of wild striped bass so vividly white in color and melting in consistency it could have been a snowdrift. The fish got a thrillingly salty, nutty charge — and some nice crunch — from the pumpkinseeds scattered over it.

We and Eater thought that Bruni would award a single star to both places. On our hypothetical one-dollar bets, we win $2 for Txikito and lose $1 on La Fonda, for a net gain of $1.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$127.50		$148.67
Gain/Loss	+1.00		+1.00
Total	$128.50		$149.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	58–26 (69%)		60–24 (71%)

Rolling the Dice: La Fonda del Sol and Txikito

The Line: We missed BruniBetting last week with the flu, but for the record our bet would have been the same as Eater’s: no stars for Charles. Oddly, we find ourselves nearly always in agreement with Eater these days. We realize that’s boring, but there’s no point in disagreeing for its own sake, especially where imaginary dough is on the line. Anyhow, back to business.

Tomorrow, Frank gives us a Spanish twofer, taking a fly on La Fonda del Sol and Txikito. The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

La Fonda del Sol
Zero Stars: 10 - 1
One Star: 3-1 √√
Two Stars: 5-1
Three Stars: 25-1
Four Stars: 10,000-1

Txikito
Zero Stars: 7-1
One Star: 2-1 √√
Two Stars: 5-1
Three Stars: 500-1
Four Stars: 20,000-1

The Skinny: Eater gives a good explanation why both of these restaurants will get the singleton, but we have an even better one. In Bruniland, the line between two stars and one is the line between good and mediocre, between important and humdrum, between destination and also-ran. Though one star is supposed to mean “good,” in Bruni’s world it almost never does.

Two-star reviews have been extremely scarce this year. So we figure that if Bruni thought that either of these places merited the deuce, he would let it have a review all to itself. As best we can recall, Bruni has never awarded more than one star in a double review if the Times had never reviewed the restaurant before—as is the case with both of these establishments.

For the record, we really liked La Fonda del Sol, but the other critics haven’t been as wild for it as we were.

The Bet: The year of the one-star restaurant continues. We are betting that Frank Bruni will award one star to both La Fonda del Sol and Txikito.

The Payoff: Co.

Yesterday, Frank Bruni awarded one star to Co. We are still not sure what this review was doing in Bruni’s territory. If ever there were an obvious $25 & Under candidate, this was it. Anyhow:

Its sire and guiding spirit, Jim Lahey, hails from the breadmaking side of things. It’s bread above all he knows and loves, and you may well have tasted the evidence of that if you’ve eaten out in New York over recent years. Many restaurants buy loaves, rolls, focaccia and such from Sullivan Street Bakery, his yeasty baby. At least they do if they’re smart.

… … …

But he could indeed improve upon his pizzas somewhat. Although the best of them are outstanding and all pack the pleasures of a serious crust with serious blisters — Mr. Lahey uses an oven that generates heat in excess of 900 degrees — he hasn’t yet nailed the toppings. It’s as if he’s too focused on, and maybe too confident about, what lies beneath. A pizzaiolo-come-lately, he needs to sweat the cheese and the rest of it a little more.

We and Eater both took the one-star bet, but it paid only even money, so we win just $1 on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$126.50		$147.67
Gain/Loss	+1.00		+1.00
Total	$127.50		$148.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	57–25 (70%)		59–23 (72%)

Rolling the Dice: Co.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni gives yet another audition for the $25 & Under column with a review of Jim Lahey’s Vongerichten-backed pizzeria, Co. (pronounced “Company”). The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 10-1
One Star: EVEN √√
Two Stars: 5-1
Three Stars: 500-1
Four Stars: 20,736-1

The Skinny: Today’s action won’t detain us for long. We’re not regulars on the pizzeria circuit: there just aren’t enough days in the year, nor spare calories in our diet. But the notion of betting on anything other than one star strikes us as absurd, crazy, or absurdly crazy. Take your pick.

The Bet: The year of the one-star restaurant continues. We are betting that Frank Bruni will award one star to Co.

The Payoff: Macao Trading Co.

Today, Frank Bruni bestowed one star on Macao Trading Co., once again cementing the perception that the rating means “mediocre,” not “good,” as the Times claims:

One of my companions put it best. “This…is a deeply silly restaurant.”

That’s what makes it sort of fun, and that’s what keeps it from being anything more than that. In the right mood, with the right stretch of the menu, lubricated by the right cocktails, and with the right tolerance for ear-decimating decibels, you can definitely enjoy Macao, in a minor way….

I think fewer New Yorkers these days are looking for restaurants that “ooze sex and decadence,” which is how the publicist explained the aim behind the erotica. But if New Yorkers are looking for croquettes that do that, Macao’s their place.

We and Eater both took the one-star bet, winning $3 on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$123.50		$144.67
Gain/Loss	+3.00		+3.00
Total	$126.50		$147.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	56–25 (69%)		58–23 (72%)

Rolling the Dice: Macao Trading Co.

The Line: Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Macao Trading Co., the new Sino–Portuguese cocktail bazaar in West TriBeCa. The Eater odds are not yet posted as of 5:23 p.m., but we’re going to go ahead and bet anyway.

ETA: The Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

 Zero Stars: 4 - 1
One Star: 3 - 1 √√
Two Stars: 15 - 1
Three Stars: 10,000
Four Stars: 250,000 - 1

The Skinny: Bruni waited a while to review this place, which has been open since late November. If his reaction was anything like ours, when we visited in mid-December, then Macao Trading Co. is a mortal lock for one star. There were too many things wrong with it to justify two stars, but a David Waltuck menu and a strong cocktail program will keep it out of goose-egg territory.

We don’t entirely rule out a repeat of the Double Crown Affair—a similar restaurant that inexplicably got the deuce—but one star seems like a safer bet.

The Bet: We are betting that Frank Bruni will award one star to Macao Trading Co.

The Payoff: Bouley

Today, Frank Bruni gave three stars to the new Bouley, confirming what most other critics have said: it’s better than the old one, but not quite four-star material.

[T]he new Bouley is a labor of obvious and obsessive love, its décor preferable to that of the old Bouley, whose purplish pink color scheme and candied gloss always left me feeling that I was supping inside a gigantic magenta gumdrop… .

In an era when the trend in restaurants is toward sleek minimalism, Bouley is a thrilling blast from the gaudy past, a reminder of how much pleasure can be had just from being tucked into such opulent chambers and attended with such formal manners. The servers are punctilious. Numerous, too.

While a three-course dinner here will set you back at least $75, not counting tax, tip or drinks, you’ll never wonder where that money is going. Only Daniel — which, interestingly, also spruced itself up recently, just in time for the recession — and Per Se give you quite the same feeling of giddy privilege… .

A meal at Bouley has many such peaks, but it has valleys, too, and now as in 2004, when I gave the restaurant three stars, its cooking over all isn’t on par with Daniel’s or Per Se’s. The food can be uneven, and too often engenders appreciation more than ardor. You regard rather than devour it.

We and Eater both took the one-star bet, winning $3 on our hypothetical one-dollar bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$120.50		$141.67
Gain/Loss	+3.00		+3.00
Total	$123.50		$144.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	55–25 (69%)		57–23 (71%)