Chef/Writer Spencer
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Posts posted by Chef/Writer Spencer
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I'm just totally diggin' me some fried dingbat. Thanks for that!!!
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Lissome, to try to answer your questions about Adria and word play or linguistic puns, here are a few dishes from last year that we had at restaurant. I took them from my report of that meal in the Spain forum. In truth, it was more a case of clever titles for certain dishes that were not literal renderings of their names. I also believe this aspect was more present then than it was at our meal of three weeks ago.
4. “Pistachulines" de Yogur (2001): Adrai transformed yogurt into a crispy packet that resembled a crescent-shaped dumpling. This, too, dissolved and released or “revealed” a whole pistachio nut.
6. “Philopizza” (2000): A long, narrow rectangle of herb-infused phylo dough that was topped with shredded cheese-flavored flakes and intensely flavored powder of tomato. The cheese aspect of it brought to my mind Eli Zabar’s Parmesan toast; but there the resemblance ended to anything we had ever eaten except, of course, to the taste of pizza that Adria had captured in his unique way.
13. Tagliatelle de Consome a la Carbonara (1999): Consomme that was re-formed into long jellied strands about the size of fettuccini. It was served like a Carbonara. It had an egg and butter liquid sauce with tiny cubes of cheese (possibly Gruyere) and ham. We found this to be better in conception than in taste.
ROBERT,
And this isn't just in reference to your breakdown quoted above....
I have yet to get through reading one interpretation of an experience of an El Bulli meal that doesn't include a "better in presentation than in flavor" like commentary. While true (and I know this retort will come) it may be only one dish out of twenty may be less than perfect, I don't think it's fair to put Adria on an unattainable pedestal. Is it a generality that Adria's food may be smoke and mirrors to some small extent? I'm not trying to demean what he has done for the world of food but at the end of the day isn't food more about flavor than magic tricks and presentation. To me, and I know not to a lot of people in this forum, I'm more concerned about taste than vapors and the benefits of 3-D sensory devices. Are some of us sycophants unable to point out when a trend, a style, an approach, a metier, a direction, a movement, what ever you want to call it has been played out?
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Okay, try this one. I recently had a college friend visit from san francisco who belongs to the all natural hippy sort of crowd. Anyway, she believes that the proper way to raise a child is to tote the kid every where she goes. That would have been okay if her kid is reasonably behaved. But unfortunately, she also believes that in the children's "formative years", they should be allowed to freely epress themselves.
So there we are in a fine dining establishmentin the upper east side- an experience that she would not deny her child-with a 14 month old baby who was flinging cheerios across the room and screeching at the top of her lungs. To make things worse, during the middle of dinner, the brat decided that it was time for her to feed, so the entire dining room had the pleasure of witnessing my friend breast feed her child.
somehow, I'm beginning to understand some of these rules restaurants have.
tree huggers are people too....
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I bumped into John Malkovich going into Gibsons on Friday night (not really - although he was right in front of me checking in with the hostess) and thought I he would be a really great dinner guest!
Man, I loved John Malkovich, till the guy did Con Air.
oh, just so this relates to food for the moderators....FOOD!
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Headed downstairs to the bathroom before leaving. As i came out, Georges Perrier emerged from what was (i guess) a lower-level kitchen - maybe a dishwashing area? He was fuming, screaming, cursing at the top of his lungs - "the f'ing dishwasher is broken again; what the f is going on around here; why am i the only f'ing person who can get anything done" and on and on and on.
He couldn't have been oblivious to the fact that there were at least 8-10 customers in the bathrooms, using the phones, hearing him carry on in the most infantile, abusive way.
He's widely known for his abusive language and foul temper. He's the very charicature and textbook example of a screaming, pan throwing chef.
Did you see the interview with him in Philly Magazine last year? The article begins with him saying someting to the effect of "Everyone wants to F**k Georges Perrier up the ass..."
Charming. He's widely known as a bit of a despot, for lack of a better phrase. This scenario doesn't surprise me in the least. I love that sonofabitch. A real chef's chef...
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Fire those chapters at me, C/W -- I'd be pleased to take a look at 'em! And you needn't feel like a whore, ya' know; we've all been there/done that.
Is this something I need to know about?
Send me your email address via PM and I'll send it on. I appreciate all of this free editing and advice.
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I say if it tastes like shit the first time, why try to intellectualize yourself into enjoying it.
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I'm going to go to Trio in coming months and hopefully eat my words...There's some surrealism for you...
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What style they are cooking in is irrelevant. As I said before the ones that do it well, with integredity, will be successful.....the others will just look silly.
Of course, there are good imitators and bad imitators, and then there are those who imitate the imitators, some well some badly...
The point is that these wannabees seem bereft of genuine creativity. And, although there are few who would deny them the right to cook, it is frustrating when everyone jumps on an aesthetic bandwagon, because the message is that only the current aesthetic is good. However, the reason it's the current style is because Adria does it so well, not because a flock of copycats have disseminated it to a wider audience. It's convenient to say -- This is the new food and it's what I'm going to cook. But the sad reality is that the style (and the wizardly magic) belong to Ferran Adria.
I wouldn't expect many chefs to be able to what Adria has done, but I do expect them to acknowledge the fact that what they do would never have occurred to them without him. That, it would seem, is integrity.
OUCH....
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[i guess I'm worried that this approach, however ahead of its time it seems now, will, in a couple of years, become as ridiculed and bastardized as tall food was in the early 90's. I'm worried that the substance will get lost in the mix....
It puzzles me as to why everyone is quick to jump to this conclusion about new techniques brought forth recently. Was there such a backlash in the early stages of the current style that you can find in nearly every restaurant in this country? How many restaurants can you find a "torchon" of foie gras, butter poached lobster, braised pork belly, and the list goes on and on....They are all the same. It's boring. Of course they will always be situations where people lose focus or never understand the focus to begin with, and food styles will get a bad wrap. But tell me how recieving a flavorless bone marrow foam that is so broken it looks like cottage cheese is different than being served an oxidizied piece of torchon, or overcooked butter poached lobster? It's not a question of the wand ...it's the wizzards that are at fault. What style they are cooking in is irrelevant. As I said before the ones that do it well, with integredity, will be successful.....the others will just look silly.
To say they're all the same and boring is totally subjective. If I had worked with Keller and Adria I'd probably feel the same way. If the food is executed well, tastes great, and satisfies the diner and chef's own desires to furthur his knowledge and appreciation of what it means to strive for the pinnacle then so what if the food in question happens to be a torchon--lifted from the pages of TFL Cookbook. I wonder if these ubercreative chefs can still appreciate the simple things. That's really a pointed check made knowing that Keller finds a raw fava bean intellectually stimulating and Adria loves simple Spanish fare. There has got to come a time where the movement implodes on itself and reverts back to the basics. I'd personally rather make the trek to New York solely to try Alex Lee's cooking than to see what Jaleo is doing in Washington. His creativity is going to stand the test of time.
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I guess I'm worried that this approach, however ahead of its time it seems now, will, in a couple of years, become as ridiculed and bastardized as tall food was in the early 90's. I'm worried that the substance will get lost in the mix. One French master chef that I soused for was so concerned with creating the newest movement that he forgot about the basics of flavor, contrast and substance. He had exhausted every conceivable angle in his cerebral cortex and started creating fucked up things like "Salmon Burger (basil and salmon chiffonade) with Mango Chutney (Mango Brunoise with Cayenne), Fried Dill Pickles (Tempura battered Vlasics) and Carrot Broth." And the worrysome "Rabbit Leg with Harrissa Fettucine and Coriander-Wasabi Beurre Blanc." He stuck Gaufrette in everything. Like Portale everything had to look like Mt. St. Michel. Since then he's gone back to the classics he learned at Bocuse. I don't want this movement to become a caricature of itself. That's why I side with Keller instead of Adria, though I think Adria's a genius. I'm just a devil's advocate....
Just because another artist can't quite copy the smile on the Mona Lisa doesn't make Da Vinci any less of a genius. If Adria gets it right and others try to follow, but can't, that doesn't lessen his artistry. I've never eaten at El Bulli, though I dream to. It doesn't matter to me if others attempt to copy his style. If they succeed and it works, great. If not, he's still doing his thing and apparently doing it amazingly well.
What's up doc? My friend I think you missed the point. It doesn't necessarily begrudge either--the genius or the masses that ride his coattails--to cook this "advanced" fare, to hold themselves to a culinary ideal that throws tradition to the wind. I, for one, am still milking my French Laundry visit for all it's worth. If you could see my tasting menus---I think I've exhausted butter poached lobster a million times over, cones stuffed with obscure things etc. If Keller set foot in my kitchen he would surely know how much of an influence he's had on me. No, it's not about the strive, the unavoidable copy cats and their interpretations of the movement. It's about the movement itself. I don't want Achatz to get so esoteric that his reputation faulters. I don't want to hear about Adria serving fish stick popsicles in hollowed out television sets, with tartar sauce torches brought out tableside so the diner can get the whole Captain D's experience. Foams were revolutionary, no doubt. But now they're jokes. Yes, some are doing them right, using them as subtle accents--maybe doing the honorable thing and leaving the word "foam" off the menu---but the thing has basically played itself out. Food as theatre, as a five and a half hour trek into the subliminal instead of the sublime is the trend that I'm afraid we're edging towards with all of this surrealism. Evolution, as Achatz so properly points out, is where the minds of these forward thinkers exist. But when does evolution in food become like in the automobile industry? I see these forward thinking restaurants like I see the prototypical cars that they show at autoshows. They really look cool sitting there on a trade show pedestal all Buck Rodgers looking and sleek but how many of them have you seen stuck with you in traffic.
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I was eating breakfast with a friend in a place long closed now on Colombus Ave. I found a thick steel grill brush bristle in my french toast. The manager ripped up the bill and walked away like Groucho Marx. We thought it was very odd.
I love the manager's reaction. Groucho huh? That's classic.
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Another question.
I have not been to this particulaar corner of DC in awhile. I get the sense that Cafe Atlantico, Jaleo, and Zaytinya are all close by. Say you ate an early light dinner at Jaleo, would it be convenient to walk to one of the other restaurants and eat more? Could you eat an appetizer only at the bar of one place, have a meal at another, and have dessert at a third? If so, what would be the ideal way to coordinate and structure such an event on a Saturday night?
Thx
Is Jaleo the Adria graduate who did smoked air tacos.....
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Foams? Fettucine consomme? Tricks? Gimmicks? Surrealism? When will all of this hocus pocus subside....
These techiques and the mindsets that produce them are the future of fine dining. Evolution.
Understood. And I'm a proponent of forward thinking chefs and their cuisines. I guess I'm worried that this approach, however ahead of its time it seems now, will, in a couple of years, become as ridiculed and bastardized as tall food was in the early 90's. I'm worried that the substance will get lost in the mix. One French master chef that I soused for was so concerned with creating the newest movement that he forgot about the basics of flavor, contrast and substance. He had exhausted every conceivable angle in his cerebral cortex and started creating fucked up things like "Salmon Burger (basil and salmon chiffonade) with Mango Chutney (Mango Brunoise with Cayenne), Fried Dill Pickles (Tempura battered Vlasics) and Carrot Broth." And the worrysome "Rabbit Leg with Harrissa Fettucine and Coriander-Wasabi Beurre Blanc." He stuck Gaufrette in everything. Like Portale everything had to look like Mt. St. Michel. Since then he's gone back to the classics he learned at Bocuse. I don't want this movement to become a caricature of itself. That's why I side with Keller instead of Adria, though I think Adria's a genius. I'm just a devil's advocate....
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Foams? Fettucine consomme? Tricks? Gimmicks? Surrealism? When will all of this hocus pocus subside....
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What's the general scene like for this festival? Is it too late to book a hotel room?
I've been thinking about a trip down to Memphis anyway and this seems like it might be a nice pretense. I notice that Korea is the international highlight this year and that there's quite a bit relating to that aspect of the festival that I would be interested in (certainly not the least of which being a new work by Nam June Paik).
Does Memphis have much of a Korean population and dining scene or will this be a relatively new introduction to the area? As much as I love Southern BBQ, I'd definitely spend a good deal of time at any Korean stalls as well!!
So, basically, I guess what I'm really asking is... will this be worth the trip?
Is it ironic that our jail in Memphis is located at 201 Poplar. We just call it 201. But seriously, not a great Korean population. No Korean restaurants. You'd probably score a res. with little effort but call now if you want to come. Music fest is always a blast. Three days of big name acts on the Mississippi River. It's our Woodstock. Always seems to rain and create massive mud puddles--which concert goers love to bath in. Barbeque fest is a purported a good time...and like I said before you may actually get to eat the Q. Next year we're saluting Syria....
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try Dyer's--they fry em in grease that's reportedly 100 years old. In fact, when they moved locations about ten years back the grease was transfered via Brinks truck. Fine dining, as stated above, has fallen by the wayside here.
It appears that you contradict yourself within the course of these three sentences. What greater commitment to fine dining than the use of 100 year old grease? !!!
am i missing something? oh nevermind, that's the bane of my existence.
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But I tell you what if Thomas Keller associates himself with Las VEgas I'm quitting the biz and taking up cotton farming.
so when you give up whatever it is you're doing and become a cotton farmer, are you going to stop posting?
thanks.
don't tempt me. I'm a chef...and in this economy I may have to give it up. So I'm going to salt and pepper my own words and enjoy them as they slide down my jaded gullet. Thanks Tom.
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GUS' fried chicken is the only fried chicken to eat in Memphis, bar none. Barbeque, do Interstate bbq. Hamburgers--try Dyer's--they fry em in grease that's reportedly 100 years old. In fact, when they moved locations about ten years back the grease was transfered via Brinks truck. Fine dining, as stated above, has fallen by the wayside here. The economy has strangled anyone with talent and let the pecan crusted salmon with beurre blanc drones stand tall. It's all about corporate restaurants and lack of talent....
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Why not try to introduce them to new foods, foods that you've created. I think it's a tad condescending to think that just because they're Indian they'd only want to eat food indicative of their homeland. I'm an American but when I go abroad I'm whatever country I'm in. It really bugs me when foreigners seek out the foods of their country when visiting others. Come on branch out, try something new for god's sake....
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Forgot to ask you Spencer, is your avatar from MediEvil? It mad me want to refill my life potions to keep attacking zombies!
I'm pleadin' the fifth on that one. But the outing sounds great. As for white table cloth spots you may want to hit Wally Joe's. I've been here thirteen long ass years and have yet to attend a BBQ fest. Up until a couple of years ago the thing wasn't open to the public. Sure you could walk around and watch the goings on but couldn't touch the Q. I'd be discovering the fest along with you guys. Let's get a group together.
White asparagus
in Cooking
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this sounds like redneck sous vide.