A Better Bette

Of all the signatures of the food blogger, none is perhaps so particular as the desire to document meals at the world's finest restaurants with dozens of digital photographs. Take The Amateur Gourmet, for example. Just back from foodie photoblogging his jaunt across the Mediterranean (including a stop at Joel Robuchon's Monte Carlo outpost), he tucks into brunch at East 1st Street stalwart Prune and proceeds to have himself photographed holding a mimosa and Canadian bacon. Hey, whatever works.

Which brings us to the core of the foodie photoblogging conundrum. As the food magaazine editors among us can relate, photographing food so it looks?well, um, edible?turns out to be quite the bitch. To wit: last week, husband/wife blogging team Andrew and Karen made it into Bette?and brought their camera. Above, photographic evidence of "our amuse-bouche of lobster gazpacho" and "last night's winning calamarata pasta special." Uh, delicious?

When photos fail, words save. Here's Andrew and Karen's less visual take on their meal:

Bette's chef Tom Dimarzo hit it out of the ballpark with last night's pasta special, a calamari ring-shaped pasta served with prosciutto, figs, mint, porcini and a drizzle of olive oil. But is that any surprise when the chef motivates his cooks' preparation of each dish by urging them to tap the same sense of prideful craftsmanship "as in the making of a pair of Manolo Blahniks," as he told Andrew on our way out last night?