Restaurants

[John Whiting]

John, welcome. I continue to be fascinated by the fact that, almost uniquely among modern food writers of any reputation, you never talk about restaurants where you have eaten. In fact, I remember one aside in which you modestly explained that you couldn't afford to eat at the more expensive ones. Your world, as I've written elsewhere, seems to revolve around your kitchen and your library.

Was this restriction deliberate or circumstantial? It would appear that it continues to give you all the scope you need -- chamber music, as it were, rather than full-blown orchestral.

[John Thorne]

John, good Lord, I devoted an entire essay to restaurants called "How Restaurants Mean" -- is there anything more to be said about them? (I also wrote an essay about restaurant menus but never could get anyone to publish it -- and it seemed too esoteric for Simple Cooking. So it languishes somewhere in a drawer.) This may seem to be a drollery rather than an answer, but it is one: I simply cannot write as a restaurant reviewer. A restaurant meal is just too far removed from Mr. Onion, Ms. Potato and the usual gang I hang around with. I did once propose to Gourmet that they send me to Paris (the theme being aged food writer visits there for the first time since he was a teen -- and then more interested in Jean-Paul Sartre than Simon Arbellot. But they said they had already signed up Jane and Michael Stern for that gig. And, besides, I would have had to have bought some decent clothes.) What would have come of that I simply can't imagine.... Well, what the editors of Gourmet would have gotten from it is what I can't imagine -- I'm sure it would have been quite educational for me. And I could have met you somewhere!

[John Whiting]

(I also wrote an essay about restaurant menus but never could get anyone to publish it -- and it seemed too esoteric for Simple Cooking. So it languishes somewhere in a drawer.)

Could it possibly be more esoteric than your essay on Cuisine Méchanique, which is (in my opinion) one of the most important you ever wrote? Might you consider sharing it with us here in some manner (such as putting it on your website with a URL you share only with us)? Or, best of all, include it in Simple Cooking, no matter how esoteric. Perhaps as a separate issue, available to electronic subscribers, so that you don't have the expense of an extra mailing. (Your response to the primitive Chez Gramond menu, with its myriad overpastings, tells me that this essay must not be wasted!)

[John Thorne]

Thanks for saying that. I might do it but it's not really ready for prime time. And, believe me, it's not in the same league as "Cuisine Mecanique." But I'll think about unearthing it.