FORMER Times food critic Frank Bruni‘s farewell party last week, thrown by Food & Wine restaurant editor Kate Krader, drew an A-list of kitchen talent. Joining him on the third floor of the Spotted Pig were Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert, “Top Chef” star Tom Colicchio, Minetta Tavern’s Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, and Spotted Pig owner Ken Friedman and his chef, April Bloomfield. Bruni told guests that his trip to Japanese TriBeCa eatery Ninja — which, we can’t help note, is still open despite Bruni’s zero-star review a few years ago — was the worst of his tenure as critic.