The Payoff: Rayuela

Today, as expected, Frank Bruni awarded one star to Rayuela. Quite predictably, he found its broad geographic reach a drawback:

It’s a beautiful, fascinating, frustrating place, its cosmetic showiness echoed by dishes that are also all over the map, in terms of their appeal as well as their geographic and ethnic tethers, and in the way they throw ingredient upon ingredient and seasoning after seasoning at you. 

Both Eater and NYJ win $2 on our hypothetical $1 bets.

	Eater		NYJ
Bankroll	$39.50		$36.67
Gain/Loss	+2.00		+2.00
Total	$41.50		$38.67
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Won–Lost	16–4		14–6

Rolling the Dice: Rayuela

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 Rayuela, with its “Estilo Libre Latino” cuisine on the Lower East Side. The Eater oddsmakers have established the action as follows (√√ denotes the Eater bet):

Zero Stars: 4-1
One Star: 2-1 √√
Two Stars: 6-1
Three Stars: 75-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1

The Skinny: I’ve given zero thought to this restaurant. With casual restaurants like Reyuela, the Bruni X-Factor can never be discounted—that is, his willingness to give two stars to practically anything. But I’ve heard nothing to suggest Rayuela is such a restaurant. The rather long menu and wide geographical range of its cuisine will probably work against it.

The Bet: We agree with Eater that Frank Bruni will award one star to Rayuela.