Frank Bruni Raves About Revel for 'Best Thing I Ever Ate'

The Bruni love continues: Hanna Raskin says The Food Network spent the weekend at Revel, filming a spot for its show The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Each episode features chefs, food writers and other culinary notables gushing over one particularly memorable dish. Hence, being featured on the show is pretty cool. Even more impressive: when the person singing your praises is Frank Bruni, former New York Times food critic and author of the excellent memoir Born Round.

Bruni apparently picked Revel's asparagus rice bowl for inclusion on the show. This is the latest of many accolades that chefs/spouses Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi's second restaurant has received since opening late last year. Food & Wine editor Dana Cowin dined at the Fremont restaurant in February, and every reviewer in town has sighed, swooned and moaned over the dumplings, pancakes, short rib and other street-style plates. In the lengthy travel feature Bruni produced after his recent Seattle bender, he specifically mentioned the dish:

During lunch at Revel, a new contemporary Korean restaurant that is like a sleeker, sexier and slightly less accomplished Momofuku Ssam Bar, to use a Manhattan analogy, I had an outstanding riff on bibimbap, the traditional rice dish, with asparagus, pistachios and olives.

Chirchi tells La Raskin that he and Yang didn't know the former critic would be dining at Revel during his Seattle sweep, but Chirchi says his wife read on Twitter that Bruni was in town and said, "Seif, tighten up Revel."

If you're hankering to try the asparagus bowl, go get it now; the dish won't stay on the menu past asparagus season. The episode will likely air in the spring.

· Bruni Taps Revel's Rice Bowl for "Best Thing I Ever Ate" Segment [Seattle Weekly]
· All Previous Frank Bruni Coverage on Eater Seattle [-ESEA-]
· All Previous Revel Coverage on Eater Seattle [-ESEA-]