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Times Union writer beaten
Steve Barnes and friend attacked after leaving Guilderland restaurant

By JIMMY VIELKIND, Staff writer
First published in print: Sunday, October 19, 2008

GUILDERLAND — A Times Union writer and his friend were attacked Friday night after leaving a newly opened restaurant in Stuyvesant Plaza, police said.

Steve Barnes, a senior writer who writes restaurant reviews on his Table Hopping blog, said he was attacked in the parking lot around 9:30 p.m. when he was leaving Creo with a friend, Joshua Carr.

"My face is swollen and bloody," Barnes wrote in an account on his blog. "One of my knees, one elbow, one wrist and the back of my head are ailing. Josh hurts in a variety of places. We're grateful to the Guilderland cops and EMTs for their professionalism; regretful to the Creo crew that this happened so near them despite their responsibility being nil; and more than a little perplexed and angered by the seemingly random violence that befell us in a mall parking lot."

According to Barnes' account, the two assailants approached briskly and without speaking. Both Barnes and Carr were punched by an attacker; one of the assailants then tripped Barnes and fell on top of him.

The other attacker walked away after striking Carr.

The first assailant continued pummeling Barnes for several seconds. Barnes wrote that Carr jumped on the assailant, who got up and walked away as another restaurant patron approached in a car. The assailant was last seen walking toward Western Avenue, Sgt. Eric Batchelder said.

Guilderland police officers responded moments later. Barnes suffered cuts and bruises to his face, head and arm. He was treated at the scene and was not taken to a hospital. He is recovering at home.

Carr also suffered facial injuries in the attack, but was not taken to a hospital.

It is unclear what motivated the attack.

"They said nothing about money, or a watch, or credit cards or anything," Barnes said. "The attacker just stood up and walked off." Barnes described his attacker as a well-built white man in his early to late 20s with a bald or shaved head. He was wearing a button-down shirt and fingerless gloves.

Police officers interviewed witnesses, but Batchelder said he wasn't aware of any cameras in the mall parking lot.

Barnes had previously written about Creo, which will officially open Tuesday. His Friday night reservation for a preview dinner was announced in the comments section of an earlier blog post.

Whether the attack was premeditated and specifically targeted Barnes or was a random assault remains under investigation. Batchelder said. No one has been arrested.

Times Union Editor Rex Smith said: "Whether this is a random act of suburban violence or an attempt to send a message to the media, it's something that I'm sure authorities will take seriously and handle appropriately."

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Guilderland police at 356-1501.

Jimmy Vielkind can be reached at 454-5043 or jvielkind@timesunion.com.

Quoted from 191

I dont wish to comment for fear of the lawsuits over there. But I have a feeling some money need to get paid that is owed to some people over there because when bills and such arent paid then accidents could happen indeed

Quoted from 191

I dont wish to comment for fear of the lawsuits over there. But I have a feeling some money need to get paid that is owed to some people over there because when bills and such arent paid then accidents could happen indeed

Quoted from righteous

What the fu*k are you talking about? Sal's ignorance is really disturbing

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June 17, 2008 at 1:29 pm by Steve Barnes, senior writer


Update: Here’s today’s print version of this story.

Original post: In a suprising and fascinating development, chef Andrew Plummer (right) and manager Paul McCullough are leaving McGuire’s in downtown Albany to become equity partners in Creo (rendering above), the restaurant replacing Mangia in Stuyvesant Plaza. They will share ownership in a company called Creo Restaurant Ltd. with White Management Corp., the local company that owns area Mangias and several other restaurants and food businesses.

The pair will leave McGuire’s, which they helped open 5½ years ago, at the end of July, though they may stay longer depending on McGuire’s needs, they told me.

Plummer will be a partner and executive chef of Creo; McCullough, a partner and the restaurant’s general manager. They broke the news to me this morning while we were chatting in White Management’s Guilderland office with David R. White, the company’s president, and its food-guru VP, Mark A. Burgasser.

“We had talked about doing something on our own, and when the opportunity with David and Mark came up, we pursued it zealously,” said McCullough. “They’ve got a great reputation in the business.”

Plummer said, “Paul and I talked about doing everything from a fried-dough truck to (taking over) the Sign of the Tree” restaurant space at the Empire State Plaza. “Nothing was right until this,” he said.


“With them we think we’ve got the best chef in the entire area (and) the best front-end person in the entire area,” said White.

Tom Despart, owner of McGuire’s, said only, “I wish success to all involved.” Despart finally decided to put a restaurant in the McGuire’s space, at the corner of State and Lark, after nine vacant years only once he knew Plummer was aboard as chef. McGuire’s opened in September 2002.

Creo, pronounced cree-oh, is Latin for “to create.” A late-September opening is expected. The Mangia structure, once a Howard Johnson’s, was demolished earlier this month. It will be replaced by an environmentally friendly 6,000-square-foot building with a roof of organic grass, some cork floors and others made from 100 percent recycled rubber, plus tabletops fabricated from compressed recycled paper and a bartop of recycled cans. Like the current Mangia, it will seat 144, with an additional 24 outside, more at the bar and in a private room.

Besides the appeal of having an ownership stake in a restaurant that will be literally new from the ground up, Plummer and McCullough said Creo’s larger size and less exclusive nature appealed to them.

“That we can open Mark and Andrew’s product up to a larger target market is a big motivation,” McCullough said. Translation: more diners experiencing progressive food, stylish presentation and service with panache,  but at lower prices.

Dinner entrees on the ecletic Mediterranean and American menu will range from $13 to $25, and on a busy Saturday night Creo could serve more than 500 people. Those numbers are, respectively, half as big and five times larger than the comparable figures at McGuire’s. Creo will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week and will employ 60 full- and part-timers, Burgasser said.

Referring to the state-of-the-art space he will move into in September, with a wood-fired rotisserie and oven and a cooking brigade of 25 to 30 people, Plummer said, “Mark has put together a kitchen that is going to be like a playground for me.” Comparing it to the 12-table McGuire’s he said, “The new kitchen will be bigger than the whole restaurant.”

Check out the Business section of tomorrow’s paper for a longer version of this story.

Below, left to right, are McCullough, Plummer, Burgasser and White at this morning’s meeting.

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What Does It Mean?
December 19, 2010 at 11:37 pm by Philip Morris

I am not the kind of person who looks for meaning in accidents or stupidity. I don’t think that I am somehow being punished when some jerk steals my bicycle. Things happen and, to me, only letting it roll off keeps a person from sort of going crazy.

On the other hand, it’s simply foolish to ignore malice and intended harm. For me, there was no point to ignoring a neighbors intent to harm my cat, for example. It wasn’t carelessness or even indifference, it was intentioned malice.

I am struggling now with a court’s recent decision to ignore the intentional malice inspired by a bar owner in the attack by a professional “fighter” of Steve Barnes, a fellow blogger, a TU journalist and a friend. What does it mean when the justice system, knowing who did what to whom and when, let’s people off the hook?

I know it happens a fair amount, really, and often around way more serious crimes. That doesn’t help me here, though. This did not involve passion or family complexity or drugs or any number of the things that turn black and white to grey.

Does it mean it’s okay to “pretend” to threaten someone in front of a known fighter and then carry no responsibility when that fighter, thinking he is doing someone’s bidding, carries out an act of violence? Possibly for free drinks? Ethically not much different than a contract shooting, what does it mean when the perpetrator gets off? Does it mean the attacked should stop speaking or writing opinions? Does it mean food writers should carry pepper spray or art critics carry loaded violin cases?..............................>>>>........................>>>>.................http://blog.timesunion.com/philipmorris/