Like everyone, I’ve been waiting breathlessly for Steven Brown—one of the biggest cooking talents this town has ever produced—to announce his new restaurant. So when I picked up a voice-mail from a manager of the forthcoming Stanley’s Bar Room in Northeast (the former Stasiu’s), saying that their menu was designed by Steven Brown, I about broke my neck racing to call him back.
I learned a lot of interesting things: That the new Stanley’s is so-named because it’s English for Stasiu, but was also a name of a grandfather of the new owners, father and son David and Steve Benowitz. That the new Stanley’s will open a vast new patio (50–100 seats, I’m told). That Steven Brown will not be cooking there, but has designed the menu. And that the higher-ups had a tasting with Brown and determined the food will be “completely different from what northeast is used to in terms of food.”
Very exciting! Thrilling even. Can’t wait. I put the target opening date of October 9th on my calendar in red.
I told the manager from Stanley’s who called me that I’d get something up on the blog right away—at which point he told me I had to wait till next week, because they were still working out a PR contract with Brown. What? I explained to my caller that the rules of the game run thusly: If you want to give a journalist something for background, or an embargoed story, you get that agreement in advance, you don’t leave the juicy bits on their voice-mail, confirm the whole story with added color, and then say ‘Don’t tell anyone’ in closing. Upon which he told me that City Pages and some other news outlets already had published the story, albeit in a somewhat buried way.
So then I didn’t know what to do! But did it anyway.
