BarFry, Cabrito, and the war in Iraq.

Cooking can be like war.

You join the battle at a restaurant ready to liberate the palates of diners looking to pledge allegiance to the next big idea. With good communication down the line, a front-of-house infrastructure and the right contacts among the natives you can win them over up and down: from their press and community boards, fearsome groups with terrorist-sounding acronyms like the DOH or the SLA and the workers in the field who will always have a job regardless of who's in charge, the farmers and deliverymen, plumbers and electricians. Do it right and you'll not only be the benevolent occupiers, you'll bring in business from outlying regions and bring pride to your subjects.

Do it wrong and you'll soon realize your army is camped in the wrong location, rations are running low, costs are running high, your front line deserts you and you can't trust the untrained replacements you're desperate to recruit to hold your position, critics snipe at you, new forces move in around you hidden, their territory fortified by plywood and the underground railroad of bloggers spread word of a new invasion, your days are numbered and an ominous whisper of a deathwatch is spoken wherever you turn. You have options.

You can make a final surge. You can humble yourself before the press hoping to gain sympathy, admitting you invaded a hot zone too soon without a long-term strategy. You can change the reasons you invaded and goals you want to accomplish. You can equate leaving with losing, hunker down and try again opening Cabrito, "a fun, upbeat, SW Mexican restaurant/bar with cool music, great drinks and authentic food." Or you could actually learn something from the war in Iraq.

If you're ready to enlist, servers, bartenders, hosts and hostesses can apply here.

Cabrito will be located at 50 Carmine Street. New York, NY. 10014.