The Blog of Many Hats

Well, it looks like Waiter Rant has finally hit the shelves. I've been waiting for this book for a long time.

I've been following the adventures of The Waiter almost since his blog began. It's one of my favorite reads.

I'm kind of annoyed that the press has done their sleuthing and determined that Waiter's restaurant, "The Bistro" is actually Lanterna Tuscan Bistro in Nyack. I'm annoyed because I figured it out two years ago (in January 2006), but I kept my mouth shut because I knew Waiter didn't want it revealed.

In case you were wondering how you could have figured it out yourself, here's the long list of clues that Waiter dropped over the years:

• New York metro area
• Italian Bistro
• Owner with a stereotypical, Italian-sounding name ("Fluvio")
• Owner offers occasional cooking classes
• Restaurant offers take-out
• Restaurant has a web site
• Take-out menu is posted online
• Very close to a Starbucks (I know, they're everywhere, but you'd be surprised how many possibilities this eliminates)
• Close proximity to an Irish pub where you can get your Bushmills, neat.
  

All those clues made me 90% sure the restaurant had to be Lanterna. However, the final clue for me was when Waiter posted that "The Bistro" had "river views". As you can see from this map, Lanterna is right on a big 'ol river.