bruniland posting difficulty

If you read augieland you know that I love comments. If you read any food blog you know that Bruni started a blog of his own last week. This story starts when Frank put up a post titled good questions to which i added the comment:

I am interested to know if you know that every single person in the NY dining scene knows exactly who you are on sight, and if you think this in anyway limits your ability as a critic. Assuming your intentions are to represent the anonymous diner of NYC how can you not feel your every experience is skewed by your conspicuousness?

to this I linked my Moriomoto report in which I mention seeing him.

Frank was kind enough to address my concerns in a follow-up post titled weighing the difference

to which i tried to comment:

The kids at Hooters may not know who you are, but everyone hoping for a star or better does. I can confirm that you are not gaining weight because, starting 18 months ago, people in restaurants began pointing you out and still do. Grimes made it years and no one was SURE who he was, and Reichl used to don costumes, creating alternate people with lives that dined out. To use the excuse that people in restaurants trade pictures of you and listen to your conversations amounts to little more than an admission that they are working harder than you, and is symptomatic of a kind of apathy that seems to be a recurring problem at the Times. I rely on you; sometimes I agree, sometimes I don’t, and that is the fun of something as subjective as food, but you have to be doing your share. At least change shirts. The last 3 times you have been pointed out you were in a black V-neck sweater.

I followed that with a link to my Alto post, in which I mention my esteem for Frank with an exception being his review of Alto. To be fair, I call him a boob in it, but other than that possible reason I cannot figure out why 22 hours later not only has my comment not been published, but none since have.*  If you are one of the people that commented after I did, I apologize if I am the reason Frank will never share your feelings about his weight with the rest of his readers.

*as of noon 2/22 another comment had been posted, not mine

Comments

[Chris]

I feel a little left out, I don't know what he looks like :(

I'm not in the Food & Wine industry but I enjoy eating at many of New York's top (and not so top) restaurants. I've spotted numerous other celebrities but wouldn't know how to begin to spot Mr. Bruni. Any tips, without totally blowing his cover? How did you come to know/recognize the man?

[augieland]

The problem is I long for him to be anonymous, so I won’t say. I will say that back in Grimes’ days 4 different Bills were pointed out to me. Frank’s acceptance of the fact that everyone knows him makes him effectively as useless as Judith Miller and Jayson Blair.

[S.C.S.]

Huh? Everyone I know could spot Grimes, and even commented frequently on his weight loss.

[Marc Shepherd]

I suspect they deleted your comment because it made a specific reference to his appearance (the black V-neck sweater).

As far as I know, no Times critic besides Ruth Reichl employed disguises to avoid being recognized. As another commenter mentioned, William Grimes was indeed easily recognized most of the time in high-end restaurants. There's no doubt that Amanda Hesser was constantly recognized in her stint as interim critic, since her picture is available all over the place.

I haven't been a great fan of Bruni's food writing, but I think it's in poor taste to question his work ethic because he doesn't change his sweater often enough. No matter what outfit he wears, Bruni is going to be recognized in most establishments that have aspirations for a Times review.