Lido, Canyon Ranch, Frank Bruni, Klime Kovaceski, Julie & Julia

​*Frank Bruni, recently retired restaurant reviewer from The New York Times, has been all over the media of late to promote his memoir, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater. Bruni writes about food as well as any critic in the country, some of his more cutting comments collected here. In one of his book tour interviews, Bruni noted that the obligation to be "a vivacious and interesting host" during his reviews could be "emotionally draining". I couldn't agree more, and have already emailed my editor at New Times asking for additional vacation time, citing "extreme exhaustion from vivaciousness and hosting -- especially the vivaciousness."

*Chef Mark Zeitouni of Lido Restaurant at The Standard is creating the most delectable "living food" in town. And the vegan Ding Dong created by pastry chef Vanessa Lane there is better than a real Ding Dong. That's big news.

*In smaller news: Did you hear about the M&M inspector that got fired for tossing out all the W's?

*Canyon Ranch has hired Elizabeth Barlow as its' new executive chef. Miami Beachers will recall chef Barlow fondly from her days heading food ops at The Delano. And for those keeping score, that's 3 executive chefs at Canyon in ten months of operation. Anyone know what the record is?

*And does anyone know what happened to chef Jeffrey Brana? Restaurant Brana was one of our favorites.

*So was Klime Kovaceski's wondrous Crystal Cafe. Here's a recent photo of Klime and a layout of his dishes at Mez, where he has been executive chef since helping to debut the restaurant early in the year. Mez was named Best New Restaurant in Charlotte by Charlotte Magazine.

photo by dan dry

Kovaceski at Mez

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*I was supposed to write a review of Julie & Julia for Short Order, but it just looks so damn boring that I can't bring myself to go see it. Does this count as a review?