An Airport Restaurant Is Trolling a New York Times Columnist in the Absolute Best Way

There's a good chance that New York Times columnist David Brooks hasn't really looked at his mentions on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, in the past few days. If he had, he'd be scrolling through a seemingly endless parade of people dunking on him for a now-infamous post about his lunch at an airport restaurant. 

Last Wednesday, Brooks posted a photo of a burger, fries, and a side salad — and a glass of an amber drink that appeared to be whisky or bourbon — that he ordered at 1911 Smoke House BBQ at Newark Airport. "This meal just cost me $78 at Newark Airport," he wrote. "This is why Americans think the economy is terrible." A lot of people were quick to point out that his beverage selection probably added a significant amount to his final tab — and the owners of 1911 Smoke House BBQ were among them. 

"Looks like someone was knocking back some serious drinks — Bar tab was almost 80%, and he's complaining about the cost of his meal," the restaurant wrote on its Facebook page. "Keep drinking, buddy — we get paid off everything." (And even X, which isn't exactly known for its rigorous fact-checking at the moment, added a disclaimer to Brooks' original post, noting that "the price of the burger and fries is $17, which means that all or part of the other $61 of the tab is due to the glass of whiskey shown in the photo.”) 

But the restaurant isn't finished with Brooks yet. It has since announced a "D. Brooks Special," which consists of a burger, fries, and a double shot of whisky for $17.78, a price that it says has been reduced from its original $78. "The first few thought the double shot of whiskey was a joke," owner Maurice Hallett told the New York Post. "No, it's real, you just gotta be over 21. And for my vegans, you can swap [for] the black bean burger."

The special is currently available at the restaurant’s Trenton, New Jersey location — unfortunately, not at the airport — and Hallett suggested to the Post that it might become a permanent menu item. “If it draws people to the restaurant, I won’t be losing money,” he added. 

Brooks has since stated that he “screwed up” with his tweet about that beyond-viral airport burger. “[T]he problem with the tweet, which I wrote so stupidly, was that it made it seem like I was oblivious to something that is blindingly obvious: that an upper-middle-class journalist having a bourbon at an airport is a lot different than a family living paycheck to paycheck,” he said during a weekend appearance on PBS. “I should not have written that tweet. I probably should not write any tweets. I made a mistake.”