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Asymmetrical Plating - Enough Already?

weinoo

By weinoo
in Restaurant Life

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weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted

Not that I need anything else to complain about, but has anyone else had enough of the asymmetrical plating style so popular these days?

 

I'm not just talking asymmetrical, but where the food is all on one side of the plate, practically falling off the edge.

 

Is it really that much nicer to look at?

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

this could have been nipped in the bud years ago by refusing the "Back of the Spoon" mucous-ey smear, especially on Slate.

 

Once that sort of Crap's Art is out of the bottle you cant ever put it back.

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

Is it really that much nicer to look at?

 

Apparently not.  :smile:

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Arey

Arey

Posted
Posted

Not that I need anything else to complain about, but has anyone else had enough of the asymmetrical plating style so popular these days?

 

I'm not just talking asymmetrical, but where the food is all on one side of the plate, practically falling off the edge.

 

Is it really that much nicer to look at?

Well, at least you can be sure the server didn't get their thumb in your dinner.

  • Like 1

"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

Not that I need anything else to complain about, but has anyone else had enough of the asymmetrical plating style so popular these days?

 

I'm not just talking asymmetrical, but where the food is all on one side of the plate, practically falling off the edge.

 

Is it really that much nicer to look at?

I obviously live a sheltered life. Google was not terribly helpful on this occasion. Can you link to some photographs of what it is you're objecting to?

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

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cakewalk

cakewalk

Posted
Posted

Asymmetry doesn't bother me. Lack of design sense, now that bothers me. And I usually think those smears of sauce on the plate are gross. (But if it tastes good, I tend to be more forgiving.)

Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

weinoo,

Thanks but I am guessing that you are really talking of something more extreme as this doesn't strike me as particularly distasteful justba bit off balance. .

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

gfron1

gfron1

Posted
Posted

I think we're probably close to being on the same page.  What I hate is that chefs copy instead of finding their own voice.  That asymmetrical plating was cool when it was first rolling out what maybe 4 or 5 years ago (I'm sure we could argue earlier) by very artistically driven chefs, and I liked it because, as was stated, it was a nice use of white space.  

 

But, now there are chefs who are not creating art, who are copying the style, and its not appropriate, nor their own.  It is my big beef when chefs can't find their own voice.  (edited to delete a tirade)

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rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted (edited)

Well, at least I dont see the back of the spoon smear.

 

I more or less see a Puddle of Light Meconium in the upper area.

 

You Ate This ?

 

:wacko:

 

If you did, I sure hope some one else paid for it.

 

from their Trust Fund.

 

:laugh:

Edited by rotuts (log)
  • Like 1
dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

I obviously live a sheltered life. Google was not terribly helpful on this occasion. Can you link to some photographs of what it is you're objecting to?

 

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BU3QTI6CcAElBBf.jpg:large

 

http://cdn.cheftalk.com/6/63/500x1000px-LL-633d5405_ASp1.jpeg

 

http://cdn.cheftalk.com/c/c2/350x700px-LL-c2e48c0e_IMG_3933.jpeg

 

http://cdn.cheftalk.com/e/eb/500x1000px-LL-eb7a525a_image.jpeg

 

http://www.yammagazine.com/test-site/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/MG_0003.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

So, I'm kind of trendy because I put our meals smack dab in the middle of the plate?  :laugh:

 

 

I always thought they left that spot open in case you needed a place for your chewing gum.........

 

 

LOL!

 

dcarch

Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

If it tastes good who cares if it's cockeyed or smeared?

I sure don't!

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

So, I'm kind of trendy because I put our meals smack dab in the middle of the plate?  :laugh:

 

 

I always thought they left that spot open in case you needed a place for your chewing gum.........

Oh Shelby! As an inveterate gum chewer I spit all over my iPad.
  • Like 1

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

Anna N

Anna N

Posted
Posted

If it tastes good who cares if it's cockeyed or smeared?

I sure don't!

 I would be asking my server "Where is the rest?"

  • Like 3

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

...I just let people know about something I made for supper that they might enjoy, too. That's all it is. (Nigel Slater)

"Cooking is about doing the best with what you have . . . and succeeding." John Thorne

Our 2012 (Kerry Beal and me) Blog

My 2004 eG Blog

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

The empty spot is properly used to hold potatoes. Lots of them.

The plating I hate is the tweezer jobs with little bits of food and technicolor schmears. Cools off quickly and looks like dessert. No entree should have a blue sauce. Lacroix in Philly does this and charges a mint for it. It is an intelligence test.

  • Like 3
Shelby

Shelby

Posted
Posted

The empty spot is properly used to hold potatoes. Lots of them.

The plating I hate is the tweezer jobs with little bits of food and technicolor schmears. Cools off quickly and looks like dessert. No entree should have a blue sauce. Lacroix in Philly does this and charges a mint for it. It is an intelligence test.

When I see plates like this online ( never seen one in person )  I always think "Gosh, that must be hard to scoop up on your fork.  So many little items."

  • Like 1

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huiray

huiray

Posted
Posted

When I see plates like this online ( never seen one in person )  I always think "Gosh, that must be hard to scoop up on your fork.  So many little items."

 

Here's a plate from the former Avenues (closed a few years back) in The Peninsular in Chicago.  :-)  I would say every bit of "decoration" were individually placed/positioned by tweezer, and probably the two slices of fish as well.  The last time I ate there (before they closed) I sat at the "kitchen table/bar", a high counter running on the other side of the open kitchen, and watched the chefs assemble the plates 3 feet or so in front of me.  Lots of tweezers all over the place.  I actually asked them for a pair of chopsticks to eat my food and they stared at me like I had three heads. :-)

 

-----------------------------

 

As for "asymmetrical plating", some of you might remember this plate.  :-D

  • Like 3
Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted

I've never been a fan of asymmetrical plating either. It's like chefs do it just to be different.

 

How different can they be if so many are doing it ....???

 ... Shel


 

IowaDee

IowaDee

Posted
Posted

Tweezers are for plucking eyebrows, not parsley.  I hate a plate of precious food.  Five years ago or so chefs were seeing how high they could stack stuff and how this.  I want a chef with a PHD....Pile it Higher and Deeper

dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

Looks like the server got his whole hand in it!

 

I am not so sure. Look again.

 

It looks like the print belongs to whatever who did not have opposable thumbs.

 

dcarch 

haresfur

haresfur

Posted
Posted

Seems less objectionable to me than massive towers of food. I guess I don't mind the asymmetry as much as the grossly oversize plates, whether used as an asymmetrical or belly-button canvas. 

 

Philosophically, I think that if you are going to go to the trouble to fuss with the plating that much it should say convey something about how to eat the food. A little bit of food on a big plate says, "Better savor this in tiny bites because that's all you get". Smears of sauce around the plate say, "Dab bits of this with the rest of the food to get the right mixture for your taste".  A really tiny bit in a spoon or a spot says, "Stuff the whole thing into your mouth at once." And in general fussy plating says, "You didn't really think food should be served hot, did you?"

  • Like 1

It's almost never bad to feed someone.

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