San Francisco restaurants as seen from Paris

[John Talbott]

Hello out there. I thought you might be interested in “how others see you” from a French perspective, especially since so many of you are Parisophiles. Jean-Louis Galesne of Les Echos, who does a weekly column in the French equivalent of the WSJ or FT, did today’s on the largely ethnic places he went to in San Francisco. They included The Slanted Door, Sushi Ran, Bushi-Tei, Quince, Yank Sing, Mamacita + Coi. The article is of course, in French, for those interested.

[Carolyn Tillie]

John - I do not read French but I am especially interested in the review on Bushi-Tei as I dined there for the second time last week and was completely underwhelmed (despite a first visit that was quite good). They have a Michelin star which boggles my mind...

[John Talbott]

John - I do not read French but I am especially interested in the review on Bushi-Tei as I dined there for the second time last week and was completely underwhelmed (despite a first visit that was quite good). They have a Michelin star which boggles my mind...

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Well it's not a real review and all he says is "Autre nippon de qualité, Bushi-Tei (Japantown), qui pratique, lui, une cuisine fusion enlevée (pieuvre géante du Pacifique grillée, salade de tomate et pistou de shiso, langouste et crabe, feuille de chrysanthème, papaye, bacon, crème de gingembre et huile de curry, etc.)," that is, the other Japanese place of quality practices fusion cooking con brio (then giving the ingredients). And he mentions they have a star. In the intro he says SF is a happening place where one eats well and with food from all over, including France.

[rjwong]

Pardon, John, mon camarade, did you notice the beginning phrase before "San Francisco"?

Plus authentique que Los Angeles, San Francisco est actuellement la ville à la mode aux Etats-Unis ...

TRANSLATION: More authentic than Los Angeles, San Francisco is actually the trendy city in the United States.

Did the writer have to put down Los Angeles to make San Francisco look good?? Isn't the ethnic cuisines found in LA far more "authentic" than those found in SF?? I wonder whether the writer would have said New York instead of Los Angeles ...

[Fat Guy]

Yet another absurd use of the word "authentic."

[Carolyn Tillie]

Isn't the ethnic cuisines found in LA far more "authentic" than those found in SF??

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In my honest belief, it depends on *which* ethnic cuisines you are referring to...

Japanese? More authentic in Los Angeles. Same for Mexican.

Chinese? I'll take San Francisco's Chinese restaurants. And Korean, actually.

German? You can't beat that little village on the corner of the 405 and 110 near Torrance.

Indian? Possible split - I miss the Little India in Artesia but maybe it is because there is such a beautiful concentration of Indian in SoCal (like in Northridge as well).

Middle Eastern? San Francisco, definitely.

[StanSherman]

John - I do not read French but I am especially interested in the review on Bushi-Tei as I dined there for the second time last week and was completely underwhelmed (despite a first visit that was quite good). They have a Michelin star which boggles my mind...

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We had the same impression. It was good, but not memorable. The only thing I remember was the server touting the Omasake wine pairing that was grown in the Russian River region of Napa.

They had tough competition since we ate at Kiss the night before.

Edited October 13, 2007 by StanSherman (log)

[Carolyn Tillie]

John - I do not read French but I am especially interested in the review on Bushi-Tei as I dined there for the second time last week and was completely underwhelmed (despite a first visit that was quite good). They have a Michelin star which boggles my mind...

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We had the same impression. It was good, but not memorable. The only thing I remember was the server touting the Omasake wine pairing that was grown in the Russian River region of Napa.

They had tough competition since we ate at Kiss the night before.

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Between the two, I would take Kiss any day of the week...

And for those who may not understand Stan's comment, the Russian River is not part of the Napa region...

[ricain]

Pardon, John, mon camarade, did you notice the beginning phrase before "San Francisco"?

Plus authentique que Los Angeles, San Francisco est actuellement la ville à la mode aux Etats-Unis ...

TRANSLATION: More authentic than Los Angeles, San Francisco is actually the trendy city in the United States.

Did the writer have to put down Los Angeles to make San Francisco look good?? Isn't the ethnic cuisines found in LA far more "authentic" than those found in SF?? I wonder whether the writer would have said New York instead of Los Angeles ...

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I think there is a cultural factor in this usage. I've worked in French Studies and business now for over 20 years and it's my experience that when it comes to foreign travel the French tend to idealize nations and / or destinations. Part of the objective in traveling abroad for the French is the search for the "true" essence of a place. The message back to his readers is that SFO is the current place to be in the US, a true foodie town in the French tradition, here at the expense of LA, which is implied to be "superficial".

I realize this is in itself a generalization but it's one I nevertheless experience on a frequent basis. John since you live there do you experience this as well?

In terms of content I can't speak to the Japanese restaurants but I do think both Coi and Quince are good recommendations for a French person coming over for a visit and wanting to check out the current SF scene.

[John Talbott]

I think there is a cultural factor in this usage. I've worked in French Studies and business now for over 20 years and it's my experience that when it comes to foreign travel the French tend to idealize nations and / or destinations. Part of the objective in traveling abroad for the French is the search for the "true" essence of a place. The message back to his readers is that SFO is the current place to be in the US, a true foodie town in the French tradition, here at the expense of LA, which is implied  to be "superficial".

I realize this is in itself a generalization but it's one I nevertheless experience on a frequent basis. John since you live there do you experience this as well?

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I'm not sure my French friends are representative of anything. I host a Franco-American symposium each year in a different city and my French guests seem to like it when I take them to a place serving "local" food, Mexican in San Diego, crabs in Baltimore, southern in Atlanta, cajun in New Orleans, etc. But my French critic/writer friends are more interested in cutting edge stuff (WD50 in NY, Alinea in Chicago, etc.) However, the much larger number of French visitors fall in neither group and from the newspapers I glean that they love anything in Los Vegas, Florida, etc.