Opinion and Commentary since 2003
Isn’t Wolf Blitzer’s from WNY? Isn’t he one of the few locals who went on to become a media giant?
If so, why is he busy penning facile book reports about how nice it is that people are willing to run for king of the free world?
From the rarely-situational Situation Room, Wolf hopes you have as much fun reading his 5th grade essay as he did writing it!
Late Monday, the Buffalo News clumsily excised any mention of Iron Chef from Okun’s review of Valenti’s. The bit about the parsnips is still there, alone and unexplained.
The reason given?
I can only imagine the “two sources” were Mr. and Mrs. Valenti. It’s just a red sauce joint. Hell, the food might even be good. Why be a clown and make up crazy stuff that can be easily disproven?
UPDATE: Via comment to the original post, Jeff Levine, the spokesman for the Culinary Institute of America writes:
You can add to the above list the fact that The Culinary Institute of America has no record of this person graduating from, or even attending, the college.
Jeff Levine
Spokesperson
The Culinary Institute of America
Hyde Park, NY
UPDATE 2: The Buffalo News has scrubbed any mention of parsnips, as if nothing ever happened. That’s great editing! BTW, I did call and speak with Mr. Levine on the phone to verify that he was, in fact, who he says he is, and that he was authorized to provide the above-quoted information on the CIA’s behalf.
Late Monday, the Buffalo News clumsily excised any mention of Iron Chef from Okun’s review of Valenti’s. The bit about the parsnips is still there, alone and unexplained.
The reason given?
I can only imagine the “two sources” were Mr. and Mrs. Valenti. It’s just a red sauce joint. Hell, the food might even be good. Why be a clown and make up crazy stuff that can be easily disproven?
UPDATE: Via comment to the original post, Jeff Levine, the spokesman for the Culinary Institute of America writes:
You can add to the above list the fact that The Culinary Institute of America has no record of this person graduating from, or even attending, the college.
Jeff Levine
Spokesperson
The Culinary Institute of America
Hyde Park, NY
UPDATE 2: The Buffalo News has scrubbed any mention of parsnips, as if nothing ever happened. That’s great editing! BTW, I did call and speak with Mr. Levine on the phone to verify that he was, in fact, who he says he is, and that he was authorized to provide the above-quoted information on the CIA’s behalf.
UPDATE: I am making this post sticky for the time being, as I will be speaking with Shredd & Ragan on WEDG 103.3 on Tuesday morning (click the link to listen live) around 8am regarding the Valenti’s Restaurant saga. Follow-up posts exist here, here, and here. As with any story, if you want to provide information confidentially, send an email to buffalopundit[at]gmail.com.
Yes, it’s media criticism Monday.
On Friday, The Buffalo News’ venerable, legendary restaurant reviewer Janice Okun gave a new Italian red sauce joint in North Tonawanda, “Valenti’s” 2.5 stars.
(I don’t know why literally every single Okun review involves a half-star, either.)
In that review, which was predictably yet unfortunately devoid of good feedback about the food or its flavor, Okun made the following observations:
Co-owner (with his wife, Lori) and Chef Terry Valenti is a Western New York boy recently returned home from Texas and Florida — he cooked at Mama Leone’s in Manhattan and in resorts in Daytona. In 2003 he took on uber-chef Bobby Flay on the popular “Iron Chef” program. Knocked the socks off him, too.
“It was the parsnips that did it,” says Lori. For the show, Terry produced Chilean Sea Bass stuffed with that vegetable (and artichoke hearts for good measure). He even dreamed up a Mango Parsnip Ice Cream that went over very well.
In the days since that was published, we’ve established the following:
1. Iron Chef America (featuring Bobby Flay) didn’t exist in 2003.
2. The list of Iron Chef America episodes reveals no competitor with the surname “Valenti” challenging any Iron Chef, ever.
3. The list of Iron Chef (Japan) episodes reveals no competitor with the surname “Valenti” challenging any Iron Chef, ever.
4. The aforementioned episode lists from America and Japan reveal that there has never been an Iron Chef “battle parsnip” in either series.
5. Mr. Valenti claims to have graduated from the CIA in 1993 and then became head chef at Mamma Leone’s.
6. Mamma Leone’s closed in January 1994.
7. A March 2009 health inspection of Captain Hiram’s, where Valenti had been working for 4 months at the time, is shown here. These should be made public for New York eateries, as well.
Aside from the massive question marks over the chef/owner’s alleged backstory, can someone explain to me why the photos that accompany these restaurant reviews seldom show the actual food? The Valenti’s story depicts four women outside the restaurant bidding each other good-bye, two of whom have to-go boxes. All I can gather from the image is that Valenti’s has a nice sidewalk. As for Okun, she gushes over the comfort of a restaurant’s booths, but we have no idea whether the veal is any good.
Brad Riter is a radio talk show host who most recently hosted the afternoon drive slot on WECK 1230-AM before it switched to a music format in July. He wrote one of our “Daily Five” about a week or so ago.
He’ll be filling in for Tom Bauerle today on WBEN 930-AM and 107.7-FM from 9 until 12. Brad’s a good guy who does good radio. Please check him out.
Follow @bradriter
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