<P> The song has been highly acclaimed in retrospective reviews, with Scott Floman, music critic for Goldmine magazine, describing the song as an "epic multi-sectioned masterpiece which starts as a slow smoky ballad, builds up to a jaunty piano rocker with a New Orleans flavor that also shows off Joel's knack for telling stories and creating rhymes, before finally returning to smoky ballad territory again ." </P> <P> After years of speculation about exactly which restaurant inspired the song, Joel stated in an interview included on 2008's The Stranger 30th Anniversary Edition DVD that the song was written about Fontana di Trevi, a restaurant across from Carnegie Hall, which he frequented during a series of June 1977 concerts . The song's signature line: "A bottle of red, a bottle of white, whatever kind of mood you're in tonight" was actually spoken to him by a waiter at Fontana di Trevi while Joel ordered . He has further stated that the restaurant in the story has more than one real - life counterpart; however, Fontana di Trevi was on his mind while he was writing the song . </P> <P> Joel has named this song as his favorite song of his own . </P> <P> The characters of Brenda and Eddie from this song became major characters in the Broadway production . The song tells the tale of the two through their love in high school, to their marriage, and finally to their divorce shortly after . Movin' Out, although with a slight lyrical change, as the Brenda - and - Eddie story in Movin' Out takes place in 1965 instead of 1975 . </P>

Scenes from an italian restaurant brenda and eddie