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Pat Bruno Responds: Anonymity? It's 'A Tempest In A Crockpot'

bruno_threeq2.JPGAfter we umasked Pat Bruno for his quasi-anonymous showing on 'Throwdown! With Bobby Flay,' the emails started flying here at MPHQ. The most important of which, of course, came from Pat, a.k.a. Pasquale Bruno, himself:

Helen: thanks so much for the publicity re my appearance on the Flay Throwdown. And, of course, bringing it to the attention of one and all at the Sun-Times. Keep that blog mill churning.

Of course, practically everyone in the restaurant business knows what Phil Vettel and Penny Pollack and Dennis Wheaton look like. And, too, a few restaurant owners know what I look like--after all, at one time I had a cooking school here in Chicago, and also owned a chain of cookware stores and some of my best customers were chefs and restaurant owners.

Actually, the person you see on the video is me, but not really me. I was wearing a very clever disguise to, of course, protect my anonymity. Study the video carefully. Then should it happen that Pat and Helen are dining at same restaurant, try and pick me out of the crowd. If you can, dinner is on me.

But what difference does it make should I be recognized? Will the restaurant in question suddenly, like magic, put out better quality food? Will inept service suddenly become "ept?" Nah. On the other hand, I can count on one hand the number of times I have been "made" while reviewing a restaurant.

Methinks you have brought up a tempest in a crockpot. But then it takes a lot of gossip to fill up a blog. Keep up the good work. [all emphasis added]

So, Pat, the difference between you going on TV using your real name, and "practically everyone in the restaurant business [knowing] what Phil Vettel and Penny Pollack and Dennis Wheaton look like" is as follows: You went on TV. Using your real name.

Let's set aside the up-for-grabs matter of anonymous criticism. (I'll be diving into that, in depth, in an upcoming post — stay tuned!) The offense here isn't against chefs whose restaurants Bruno reviews, or against the other reviewers at other publications who presumably take certain measures to reasonably protect their identities. As we mentioned in the original post, this is a matter of disrespect for the readers.

No one's expecting Ruth Reichl-esque disguises (even though Bruno claims, above, that he's wearing one. Seriously? If so, that is one hell of a bald-pate makeup job). But we readers — yeah, for all my quips and snips, it's a job requirement that I be a loyal weekly Bruno reader — ingest these articles with a presupposition that he's going to these restaurants anonymously, getting the same kind of service that we would get, paying the same bill. Going on TV while you're still an active, theoretically anonymous critic, and thus blowing your cover for all those hundreds of restaurateurs who don't know you from back in your day as a kitchen-supplies salesman? Not okay, no matter how clever your disguise.

If you're new to this whole dramz, you can find the original story here.

The Sun-Times's Pat Bruno Could Care Less About Anonymity, Appears on 'Throwdown With Bobby Flay' [previously]

Filed Under: Food Media,
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9 Comments - Add yours

  • Pat Bruno is cleverly disguised, if you do look close. But it shouldn't matter whether he is anonymous or not. Few people, including most amateur web reviewers have the palate and knowledge that Pat does. And after all these years I think Pat would know when he is getting special treatment, if at all. Every restaurant I work with treats all customers as they are reviewers--because they are. Only restaurants that have problems need to up the ante because they think a reviewer is in the house.

    By Jude on 01/28/2009 at 2:38 PM

  • Dude- I do appreciate the value of a good critic and agree that you need to take the public opinion with a grain of salt. I believe that you should look at what else the reviews have posted to make sure they have similar tastes as your own.

    By Joe on 01/22/2009 at 9:52 AM

  • I prefer to look at what the public is saying in the forums. Me, I'm not so sure about that. Not to say one group knows more about good food than the other, but a few guys like Bruno have demonstrated a great knowledge of cooking techniques, what certain types of foods and styles are supposed to be like, etc. The stuff I get from open-to-the-public restaurant review sites are "The food was SOOOOOOOO good. OMG!" Sure if a lot of average people are raving about a place I might go check it out. But I do value the opinion of a guy like Bruno, just as I value the opinion of a guy like Ebert over a bunch of folks on a website. If I based my movie picks on public opinion, I'd be sitting in some theater right now watching "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" (the no. 1 box office winner of the past weekend)

    By Dude on 01/21/2009 at 1:41 PM

  • My feeling is, they can step up their game, but unless you're totally breathing your own fumes, you should be able to tell if you're getting appreciably better service than all the tables around you, your steak is twice as big, etc. Nevertheless, it's clear that many reviewers in the past HAVEN'T noticed such things-- hence the shock in New York dining circles when the first Zagat guides came out in the 80s and there was a big disconnect between the great food and service reviewers had been experiencing at many places, and the experience actual paying customers had been enduring.

    By Mike Gebert on 01/21/2009 at 10:14 AM

  • Not being too familiar with restaurants and how SOME of them work, are there instances where the sight of a known restaurant critic might prompt the kitchen to but out the "good" stuff: the best cut of meat, the freshest vegetables, instead of the passible stuff they give "regular" people? Might they step up their service a bit (water glass filled after every sip, etc.). If I owned a restaurant, even if I was working at the top of my game, I would definitely tell my staff to kick it up even higher if influential known critic comes walking in the door. I mean, were talking a revewiew that can have a big impact on business. I know, I know, that shouldn't make a difference, but... hey, it worked for Ratatouille (sp?)

    By Dude on 01/21/2009 at 9:56 AM

  • I agree with Bruno, who cares if an owner knows what he looks like? Nothing is going to change in the way of service or food in a split second after recognizing someone at a table. With sites like Yelp and Metromix everyone becomes a critic. I rarely look to Vettel, Pollack, or Bruno for reviews, I prefer to look at what the public is saying in the forums.

    By Joe Flaherty on 01/21/2009 at 9:28 AM

  • Hi there, First I enjoy your blog. Second, I don't know what Phil Vettel, Penny Pollack or Dennis Ray Wheaton look like nor does anyone on my staff at Crofton on Wells. I do know what Pat Bruno looks like because I met him a long time ago at Elaine Apollo's office where she used to sell, among other things, espresso machines. Just thought I'd pass this along. Suzy Crofton

    By suzy crofton on 01/20/2009 at 8:09 PM

  • I'm just impressed that he was able to use complete, grammatically-correct sentences...

    By lostfourwords on 01/20/2009 at 2:41 PM

  • Well, at least he admits the dirty little secret, which is that none of them are anonymous to people in the biz. In any case, I think anonymity is a red herring for the thing that really distorts coverage, which is that their papers pay for their meals. Too many of them have lost touch with how it feels to be an ordinary diner getting the screws put to you by some trendy spot; that's where I think they're "corrupted," not morally but in terms of relating to things like you or me.

    By Mike Gebert on 01/20/2009 at 2:10 PM

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