Tomorrow, Frank Bruni reviews Delicatessen, the new Soho scene that uses food as a prominent footnote. Today, the Eater oddsmakers have set the action as follows:
Zero Stars: 4-1
One Star: 2-1 √√
Two Stars: 6-1
Three Stars: 15-1
Four Stars: 25,000-1
If we had a few weeks more distance between this review and Bruni's hammer drop goose egg at Michael's, the zilch would look like a real good bet this week. Delicatessen makes it almost non-secret that they don't care primarily about food, and the scene is so absolutely brutalizing at certain hours that the Bruni's visits could certainly have been disastrous. But, here we are two weeks from his last excoriation—and not all that far out from Delicatessen's debut (he'd wait longer to zero it). Plus, in fairness, there is at least one critic in the land who didn't hate the joint, so we've got to put that on the table. If only because no restaurant should be allowed such menacing signage, we wouldn't not bet on the goose if it were a reasonable option, but it just isn't. So, look for one star, noting with full Bruni flair the immense scene, and the irony of naming the place Delicatessen.
· Delicatessen [NYT; after 8:00 PM]
√√ denotes the Eater bet.
