Immediately prior to becoming the chief restaurant critic for the Times, Frank Bruni was the Rome bureau chief (July 2002–March 2004) and a reporter in the Washington, D.C., bureau (December 1998–May 2002). While in D.C., Bruni was assigned to cover Capitol Hill, Congress, Governor George W. Bush's presidential campaign, and the White House. Before this (1990–1995), Bruni worked for the Detroit Free Press in an assortment of positions including covering the Persian Gulf War. In 1995, Bruni joined The New York Times as a metropolitan reporter and often wrote for the Sunday magazine and for Sunday Arts.

Bruni wrote in Men's Vogue of his search for a workout to combat the calories he consumes as a food writer, and in the April 2008 issue he wrote about his addiction to sleeping pills. Bruni's book, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater was released in 2009, and since then he has written general interest and food-related columns for the Times, in part filling the "food writer at large" role that had been unfilled since the 2006 death of the Times' legendary reporter R. W. Apple., Jr.

Bruni is openly gay. He has struggled with his eating and bulimia.