National: Birthday Boy Frank Bruni Served A Music Box Motor

We're going to depart, today, from our usual Friday movie, so that we can give a nod to the ongoing Sandwich Duel, in the New Yorker's Cartoon Lounge. Yesterday's entry was especially entertaining because it was all about New York Times restaurant critic (and birthday boy) Frank Bruni, who we read all the time. And it's hilarious. Like this part:
You’re not going to impress Frank Bruni by making a sandwich. The guy has eaten Emeril’s muffuletta, out of Emeril’s hand. The guy has had the big important pastrami thing at Katz’s. He has been to Foxington Whiddle, Sandwich, Northumberland, where the sandwich was invented, and he has had his picture taken in the exact spot, in the ruins, where the Earl of Sandwich took the first bite of the first sandwich. You can’t just “make” Frank a sandwich. So I didn’t.Plus, at the bottom of the thing, there's a drawing of Bruni. We don't think it really looks like him, but that's supposedly the point. Anyway, it's nothing you can't discover with a Google Image search.I set down a clean white plate with a small music-box motor in the center. Frank set the guitar upright in the deep grass and pulled his chair to the table.
“Interesting,” he said, almost too quickly. “They’re doing something like this at Adria’s this season.”
I smiled politely. “No, they’re not,” I thought.
[The Cartoon Lounge: Sandwich Duel, Part 19 [New Yorker]
Happy 44th Birthday Frank Bruni [Eat Me Daily]


• Harrowing Halloween cocktails! [
In these lean times, almost any expense can be hard to justify, especially spending more than necessary on food. This, obviously, makes it hard for restaurants that sell anything fancier than a Big Mac to stay in business.
Not up for cooking? Here in South Florida, there's no shortage of Cuban sandwiches. Head to the nearest
A restaurant chain in the UK is offering a python curry for Halloween this week:


Chef Jeff McInnes is a busy guy. The chef de cuisine at 

