Not so Super Mario

Today, The New York Times' Frank Bruni reviewed Mario Batali's Del Posto and gave it three stars. (Mario Batali and Del Posto, as you may recall, feature prominently in my last project for the Food Network)

As interesting as that is, this New York Observer article was on the case, publishing a story today about the New York Times review. Even better, it makes constant mention of the Mario show:

The chef Mario Batali was seated before a small table covered in white linen, speaking face-forward to a television camera, one afternoon this past winter.

“We’re shooting to make Del Posto a four-star restaurant in New York City,” he said in the deliberate, teacherly tone he has perfected as a television chef, preparing the footage that would serve as an introduction to Mario, Full Boil, a documentary special for the Food Network about his latest restaurant venture.

What's fascinating for me is how this now skews the show I just did. Darcy, the producer, all along maintained that the show would be a letdown for the audience if Mario didn't achieve his stated goal and get four stars. I disagree. What I liked about the show (when it aired) was that little bit of open ended doubt it left you with. The last thing audiences saw was "The New York Times restaurant critic has yet to review Del Posto" written in white on a black background. Would Mario get all four stars? Everything they've seen for the past hour seemed to suggest he would. But who knows? Mario himself in the voiceover said four stars would demand "perfection across the board." And (he says as well) the sole arbiter of perfection in New York City restaurants is Frank Bruni.

So, today, the real story of Full Boil came to an end. Mario and his partners spent $12 million trying to impress one man, and failed. I'm sorry, but that's great television.