JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

Frank Bruni misses the real shandah!

By Ami Eden · February 22, 2008

Frank Bruni triggered quite a debate with his blog post about whether the Second Avenue Deli should be considered kosher since it is open on Shabbos.

"What say those readers who know more of matters kosher than I do?" Bruni asked.

We'll leave that debate to the more knowledgeable and passionate posters to Bruni's blog entry. But we would like to humbly suggest to the esteemed NYT food critic that the real shandah came this week, in his review of Dovetail, an Upper West Side eatery that most readers would agree is probably not kosher.

This passage of the review would seem to remove any doubt:

There's an appetizer that combines two of the most fashionable ingredients in upscale restaurants these days, seared pork belly and a slowly poached egg, and as soon as you taste them together, you smile at what's afoot. It's breakfast for dinner, only at breakfast the belly is smoked and called bacon.

In one of the entrees, curls and chunks of lobster are scattered around monkfish, reminding you that this fish has often been cast as the poor man's lobster, vaguely similar in texture but not nearly as sweet.

But, now, check out the photo that ran with the review:

Give the guy on the right with the yarmulke a break – he probably just ordered the apple.