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Last Update: Aug 11th, 2011
Dig

Something Smells Fishy at DIG

For months, DIG in Delray Beach and their PR machine cranked out articles featuring Joey Giannuzzi, the Burt Rapoport trained "chef" who has rode the 'Green' craze with his little Green Gourmet cafe in Western Delray. All of the articles used some variation of "partner" or "owner" to describe his relationship with the restaurant, with the clear implication was that Giannuzzi was not only an owner of the restaurant; he was also the chef. Recent developments imply that neither was the truth.

On June 10, Jan Norris posted this article, where chef Giannuzzi is characterized as a "partner" with Greenfield in the new venue.

On June 12, publicist Sharon Levinsohn posted this article. It's all very typical for a restaurant that is still under development; a lot of fluff and lofty platitudes to gain interest. This article was re-posted by the blogger/parrots all over South Florida from Dine Magazine to New Times. It says that Chef Giannuzzi had "partnered" with Greenfield.

One June 30, Nicole Danna of New Times posted this article, most of which seems to be quotes lifted from previous articles. It's not clear if she ever spoke with Giannuzzi, but in this article, Giannuzzi is called an owner.

Now on Aug 10, New Times posted this article, which quotes DIG owner Robert Greenfield as stating that Giannuzzi was never an owner or "partner"; that he was a consultant. County records show that DIG is merely an alias for Greenfield's of Atlantic, the former name of the restaurant. Greenfield indicated that Giannuzzi broke off his relationship to the restaurant "over a month" ago, which is troubling considering the restaurant has only been open for 7 weeks. Could "over a month ago" mean that Giannuzzi never actually manned the kitchen? They say that some guy named Wilson Weiggel has been in the kitchen, and now every shill rag in South Florida is lauding this dude from New Mexico who was running a hotel restaurant as some sort of suitable replacement.

Greenfield also maintains that the restaurant isn't Farm-to-Table, "yet". That reminds me of a blind date I had once who said she was 102lbs and she turned out to be closer to 150. She was on a diet, she told me. Great. Call me when you get there, Babe.

Adding insult to injury, DIG's web site features an article that was sent out as an email advertisement that specifically states that the restaurant is owned by Joey Giannuzzi. Now you'd think that such an article would have had to be approved by DIG and/or their PR people; but it appears that the truth wasn't an important factor in gaining their approval.

Here's the problem. This entire premise of this restaurant was that locally renowned chef Joey Giannuzzi was bringing his substantial experience with local sourcing to DIG; but he's no longer there. The entire build up was based on Giannuzzi as the chef; not Greenfield or Wilson Wieggel. I was a bit surprised that New Times wasn't livid about being used as a tool of misinformation by DIG; I certainly would have been if i had been misled. And then I noticed that DIG had signed up as an advertiser. No wonder they were defending them.

We reviewed the restaurant on Aug 5, and the restaurant just felt like a fraud. A $12. tuna fish sandwich that appeared as canned tuna with a half-ripe tomato just didn't seem to live up to the hype. Now it all makes sense. The "hype" wasn't real.

The question is, why should we believe anything about DIG now? I can't think of a reason.

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