The Bobby Flay hamburger mystery

I just came across the article in the local newspaper reporting that Bobby Flay was building a hamburger restaurant in Paramus. This story was under a one-column headline on the local news pages, in contrast to the far-more-elaborate story and color photos that appeared last month in the feature pages. The stories had the same byline, both written by the paper's restaurant reviewer.

The mystery is why the first story specified that burgers would be made from Certified Black Angus beef and the second story, despite thousands of additional words, was silent on the kind of beef used beyond a few vague phrases such as "chef's quality." It turns out the first story was in error and should have referred to Certified Angus Beef. It's good, but Certified Angus Beef Natural is far better, because it is raised on vegetarian feed and without antibiotics and growth hormones, and each animal can be traced to its ranch of origin.

Is it possible that Flay, the celebrity chef who has a bad habit of biting his fingernails (you can see it in one of the photos), felt even the lower grade Certified Angus Beef would cut into his bottom line too much and went with something cheaper? Or did the restaurant reviewer screw up? Stay tuned. I will try to find out. (This post has been revised.)