NYTimes Scribe Mark Bittman Headed to Le Virtu

Talented young gun chef Joe Cicala of Le Virtù noticed a very famous food name on his reservation book for tomorrow night: Mark Bittman of the New York Times. Known for his popular blog and column The Minimalist, Bittman isn't a critic per se, but the possibility of getting ink in the NYT will only mean great things for the EPX Italian eatery. Le Virtù is one of Philly's most exciting restaurants right now, so Bittman absolutely made the right call.

The Philly food scene has been the flavor of the month for the NYT as of late, with a great piece on Le Bec-Fin's swan song and a glowing review of Mike Solomonov's Federal Donuts making the pages of the most influential rag in the U.S.

· Joe Cicala of Le Virtu [Twitter]
· Mark Bittman at The Times [NYT]