The Most Exclusive Restaurant in America

[pastrygirl]

Saw this article posted on another discussion site: 

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/29/damon-baehrel-the-most-exclusive-restaurant-in-america

 

This guy supposedly forages almost everything from the 12 acres around him and is booked out for years.  Some people are skeptical whether he really does as much as he says, and I have to admit I am one of them.

 

I immediately thought of @gfron1 - Rob, I'd love to read your take on this.  How possible is it that one person can do all that foraging, curing, grinding, pickling, etc and still have time to develop dishes and produce dinners?  This reminds me of the Mast Bros expose' - he may be foraging and cooking, but with some exaggeration of production.  I bet he cooks when he feels like it or several times a month, but nightly dinner service?

 

 

[MelissaH]

When I read the article, I thought this sounded less like what I think of as a restaurant, and more of what could loosely be described as a supper club.

[gfweb]

12 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

Saw this article posted on another discussion site: 

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/29/damon-baehrel-the-most-exclusive-restaurant-in-america

 

This guy supposedly forages almost everything from the 12 acres around him and is booked out for years.  Some people are skeptical whether he really does as much as he says, and I have to admit I am one of them.

 

I immediately thought of @gfron1 - Rob, I'd love to read your take on this.  How possible is it that one person can do all that foraging, curing, grinding, pickling, etc and still have time to develop dishes and produce dinners?  This reminds me of the Mast Bros expose' - he may be foraging and cooking, but with some exaggeration of production.  I bet he cooks when he feels like it or several times a month, but nightly dinner service?

 

 

 

I thought of @gfron too.  I also wondered about how a few acres of woodland and swamp could be that intensively foraged and still hold up

Edited August 25, 2016 by gfweb (log)

[gfron1]

Your link to me didn't catch so it was a good thing that I thought I should come chime in here. I've been really thinking, not so much about him, but the reaction to him.

 

I've read people say he can't feed a crowd on that little amount of land. He can't make that many cheeses. He can't make that many syrups. OR if he does they can't be very good.

 

Well, I think he can. I know that my mis en place each night is jokingly small, yet somehow I feed 7 courses to 20-30 people five nights a week. My staff joked that it was a loaves and fishes miracle every single night. Because, not exaggerating, I often had less than ten prep tubs in front of me, a couple of proteins hanging out on the side, and whatever fresh greens were around. A truly foraged meal can not be compared to a traditional meal - it's not about protein, carb, veg, garnish. Foraged chefs think differently out of necessity or maybe we forage because our minds are different to begin with.

 

So here's my take.

 

First, it is rare that I find a commercial kitchen that I don't think is overstaffed. I'm in one right now. We have 7 at night and I would lop off at least 3 of them. My chef last night even commented how I was rocking through prep. Well...yeah. It's called hard work and demand of value - I want 8 hours of work out of an 8 hour employee. I put in 14-16 hour days for 8 years. I loved what i did and thrived. I also found a sweet spot of efficiency. When I gather stinging nettle, for example, I come back to the kitchen and make 3 or 4 different things with it - maybe a panna cotta for this week, an oil for the next month, wrap a goat cheese for 3 months from now and so on. Long-term planning and creativity made my scarce resources last a long time. So, as far as workload goes - yes, he can do what he's saying he does.

 

Second, like most chefs, we are story tellers. There's a line of bullshit that runs through every ego-driven chef. Look at menu language - so much BS. The Farm to Fable article captured this to an extent...and when a good story becomes an outright lie. His "booked until 2025" just reeks of BS to me. He's creating an air of exclusivity, and my guess is that he opens nights to "last minute cancellations" whenever he has the supplies and energy to knock out a dinner. If his booked til claims were true, then when this article came out, hundreds, nay, thousands of people would have been posting on their facebook pages that they had reservations for 2019. That hasn't happened as far as I can tell. So again, I call BS.

 

I did order his cookbook, and it's odd because if you go to his publisher's page you'll see they do a sort of dummies investment books, not cookbooks. Maybe a friend. Maybe a fan. I just hope I get my book for the money.

[pastrygirl]

Thanks, Rob! 

 

I believe you about a different way of thinking.  So instead of planning a year's supply of something, you do different things with each plant, using or preserving them at different stages.  And if you're doing tiny courses you don't need much. 

 

Very strange about the suppliers, too.  Why so secretive?

[Toliver]

The word "exclusive" in a restaurant's description always raises my hackles. I tend to steer clear of such venues.

As Groucho Marx once said "I don't want to belong to any club that would accept me as a member." 

[chefmd]

@pastrygirl

i am also not sure why chef can not name his suppliers.  Lack of transparency is always suspicios

[Tere]

Even eating at Takazawa I've managed to get in with a couple of months notice, and they have 12 covers.

 

I reckon he cooks twice a week, that maintains his lifestyle and with the exclusivity ticket that makes him enough money to live on. Just my impression though.

[Tere]

For tiny space dining I am going to shamelessly pimp one of the best restaurants in Tokyo. I called him sensei, and rightly so. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g1066457-d4021851-Reviews-Restorante_Amoroso-Shinjuku_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html

[gfron1]

10 hours ago, chefmd said:

@pastrygirl

i am also not sure why chef can not name his suppliers.  Lack of transparency is always suspicios

His story is that everything comes from that land. That article seemed to crack that story a bit. My guess is that he does some shopping. 

[suzilightning]

OH MY GOSH!!!!

One of my dearest friends and her husband who used to be in the business have been eating at Basement Bistro since it started and are good friends with Damon.  Don't know if the 2025 booking is accurate but I do know that the last time they wanted reservations for their anniversary 5 years ago they had to call almost a year in advance.

She did said he did it all himself and the food was all locally sourced.  Will have to talk to her and get her take on the article...

 

[pastrygirl]

15 hours ago, gfron1 said:

His story is that everything comes from that land.

 

I believe he does claim to outsource proteins - Amish chickens, fish, etc.  Does all meat have to be processed in a USDA licensed processing facility?  If he is using wild game and if that is not strictly legal for sale to the public, that may be why he is vague about suppliers.

[gfron1]

8 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

 

I believe he does claim to outsource proteins - Amish chickens, fish, etc.  Does all meat have to be processed in a USDA licensed processing facility?  If he is using wild game and if that is not strictly legal for sale to the public, that may be why he is vague about suppliers.

As my previous health inspector used to say, "There are some questions that you don't want to ask." Almost all of my meats came from 4H youth and were not USDA processed and I was always vague to the media, but upfront to my customers. Possible but for such a high profile publication he'd be pretty stupid to not be more careful with his words.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I'm a firm believer that centralizing animal husbandry and slaughtering operations, like is so much done these days to reduce the cost for the huge corporations who do most of it, actually greatly increase the chances of unhealthy product. I would buy and consume Amish or 4-H meat products, could I only get them, any day over mainstream raised and processed product. Just look at the government's tolerance for salmonella in chicken and egg mainstream products. A lot of the regulations are purely designed to shut out small farmers and ranchers.

 

I say, "Rock on, small producers!"

[gfron1]

Well, John Sconzo and Steve Plotnicki ate there tonight. We're all waiting on the verdict.

[gfron1]

It's December. That means his cookbook should be shipping soon. And as a follow-up, Sconzo posted his review. His words as he left the meal were "interesting and unique" if I remember correctly.

Edited December 1, 2016 by gfron1 (log)