I just scratched “dinner at Bella 7-ish” off my calendar. My plans were to dine there tonight, but nooo, DMN critic Leslie Brenner had to give the tony new spot in Uptown four big ones—the place will be jammed. Guess I’ll head to Watter’s Creek instead.
Near the end of her review, Brenner writes:
Oddly for a bar, the house cocktails are still a work-in-progress; bar manager Michael Abruzese (the former chef at Il Mulino in Dallas) was still developing his list on my last visit, intently mixing yuzu juice and gin behind the sleek, curved bar.
Michael Abruzese? The chef who trained at Il Mulino in New York and one of Joseph Palladino’s “good nuclear family of staff“—many from his old neighborhood in the Bronx? Bella is owned and operated by Anthony Porcaro and Robert “Peach” Petrie, both former Nick & Sam’s big wigs. So why isn’t Abruzese in the kitchen? Just curious, I’m always just curious. Michael? Bada bing. Call me.
