Willie Brown opened his Sunday column this week by punning on Donald Trump's persistant media presence: "Once again, Donald Trumped the media." We like to think Da Mayor gave himself a pat on the back for that one, but unfortunately for his readers not decadent enough to pay for a Chronicle subscription Willie's story was trumped by the SFGate Internet embargo. Reading it a couple days later, the whole thing suddenly seems out of date in our post-Osama mediascape. But hey, anyway, Willie got a chance to mention that he and The Donald are pals (again), so he still has that, at least.
Quickly outdated news aside, we really only read Willie's column for his movie reviews anyway and his take on Water for Elephants is one of the finest, most succinct observations of cinema we've read. We don't want to muddy his review with extra words, so here it is in it's entirety:
Movie Time: "Water for Elephants." Worth every nickel of the admission. It's a combination of love triangle and animal rights saga, with all the abused victims rising up against the bad guys. My kind of movie.Someone should warn his daughter to hide her Robert Pattinson issues of Tiger Beat from Mayor Dad.
After making the requisite appearance at Greg Suhr's swearing-in ceremony, Willie headed off to Washington, DC for a quickie lunch a the White House with a former staffer where he ran in to the Giants execs who were in town to to be honored by the president for their World Series win. He unfortunately declined to review the food at the White House.
He did, however, review his dinner at Nello in New York - a restaurant he dropped in to "by accident." The owner personally headed back in to the kitchen to cook Willie a meal of truffle asparagus, langoustine and a lamb chop so large he didn't think the whole animal would be able to fit in a parking stall. Nello being a proper fancy restaurant, each course was accompanied by a wine pairing and each wine pairing was accompanied by a glass of Cristal Champagne. Because duh: that's how Willie rolls, and he's not gonna apologize for it. And just for good measure, he pointed out that Hermes is right across the street from the restaurant.
Back in town, Willie's still unapologetically pulling Willie Brown moves: dropping in to Farallon unannounced, "they used [his] being an identified figure to be almost immediately seated in a place where you can see everything." Ignore the awkward construction of that sentence for a moment and just let the implications of being "an identified figure" roll around in your head. The man is much too refined to call himself a celebrity, but not too refined to order off-menu, deep-fried oysters. Restauranteurs frustrated with Willie's table preferences take note: More than an accommodating staff, those little babies will keep him coming back.
