TDG: Introducing The Chocolate Curmudgeon

[Fat Guy]

Pastry chef and very critical social critic of the culinary world, Steve Klc, catches up with a favorite author.

+++

Be sure to check The Daily Gullet home page daily for new articles (most every weekday), hot topics, site announcements, and more.

[Jason Perlow]

Whoa! Thats gotta hurt.

eGullet: Where Foaming (at the mouth) is in FASHION!

[Fat Guy]

He's writing about you next week.

[Suzanne F]

I forced myself to read it twice, just to be sure.

WHY, for god's sake? That was the most mean-spirited, unnecessary piece of vitriol I've read in a long time.

[Jason Perlow]

He's writing about you next week. 

Oh oh.

[Fat Guy]

Schrambling has been sailing along unchallenged, spewing her ignorant nastiness, for far too long. Today she ran into the brick wall of Steve Klc. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving person. Bravo, Steve K -- keep 'em coming.

[Suzanne F]

Too bad he didn't take a more reasoned approach than she does. All I can hear is "Nya nyaaaaa!"

[Fat Guy]

His argument is very well reasoned -- it's just curmudgeonly too!

[maggiethecat]

Cranky. Very very cranky. In the original sense of the word.

I trust Steve's judgement.

But why? I'm sure it is well-reasoned and true. But it gives the appearance to the Big World of being "personal."

Oh well, A.A. Gill takes his licks on the U.K. board. But, come to think of it, that's simple eGulleteer opinion, not the front page of the zine.

As always, with Suzanne.

Edited February 20, 2003 by maggiethecat (log)

[SWoodyWhite]

As a life-long resident of the Los Angeles area, I have to ask a simple question: Why, when Southern California has it's own thriving food community, is it necessary for the Los Angeles Times to hire someone with a New York City perspective, rarely if ever to touch on matters that matter to the local readership? I can understand having an occasional article from the Big Apple, maybe twice or even three times a year, but the implication is that we're going to have Schrambling schoved opon us more frequently than that.

As Marlon Brando once said, "The horror." Or, if you prefer Jonathan Harris, "The pain, the pain."

[Jinmyo]

That's some bitter chocolate.

[Retired Chef]

Being newly retired and new to egullet and have been spending some time reading over old discussions. What should be a forum to share and learn has turned into a soap box for the whiney and insecure.

Whether it is "deserving" or not, I find Mr. Klc's overall opinions of his peers and others in the culinary community narrow-minded and nasty. On the other hand I do find it amusing that the only praise he seems to dole out are to restaurants that serve his desserts.

Mr. Klc, be a man. You're coming across like a whiney school boy that's not being picked to play on the team.

[IrishCream]

Whether it is "deserving" or not, I find Mr. Klc's overall opinions of his  peers and others in the culinary community narrow-minded and nasty.

Welcome, Retired Chef. I have been seriously reading eGullet since November and I have never found SteveKlc to be the way you describe him. This particular article may not be the best example of his strengths, which are many. But if you have really perused this website, you should have seen how much he has given to it.

Why do you feel so negatively about him based on one article? Where are you coming from?

Edited February 20, 2003 by IrishCream (log)

[Anna N]

Retired Chef: I too, am dismayed that you meet Steve Klc this way. His tireless and unselfish sharing of his knowledge is one of the big attractions of this board. On other threads you will meet the other Steve, the one who willingly gives credit where it is due. I do not know him personally, nor do I know his restaurants, nor his particular beef with this reporter but I trust that he has ample reason for his reaction.

Anna N

By the way, welcome.

[Fat Guy]

Time to start looking at just how innocent a victim Ms. Schrambling is. Rewind to June 20, 2001, in the New York Times and her hatchet job on Arthur Schwartz. Here's a choice quote from her "MIXED MEDIA; Food Radio: Sizzling or Scrambled."

Worse, I could not pick up the signals for many stations in my 14th-floor apartment on the Upper West Side. It was particularly disheartening on Sunday morning, when I set my alarm for a program at 4:30 only to find the station lost in static. And so I've had to pass up whatever pleasures might be provided by shows like ''In the Kitchen With Stan and Floss Dworkin'' on WFAS-AM.

I can, unfortunately, clearly pick up all 60 minutes of ''Food Talk With Arthur Schwartz'' on WOR-AM. This enormously popular program, whose host is the cookbook author and former Daily News food editor and restaurant critic, is a cheery salmagundi of interviews, interaction with listeners who call in, restaurant recommendations and commercials that could pass as programming.

Read it all here.

Now that paragraph is bitchy enough and there are a thousand like it -- her stock in trade is this sort of bitterness and I'd like to believe nobody is judging the appropriateness of Steve Klc's approach without first reading a healthy cross-section of "gastropoda" -- but here's what I'd like to know: Arthur Schwartz is cited as "former Daily News food editor." Did Regina Schrambling, food writer, ever interact with Arthur Schwartz in that capacity?

[IrishCream]

What I would like to know...am I the only person here who thinks her sharp tongue is, on rare occasions, funny? In the Nantucket article on her website...her description of the guy at the table next to her and his reaction to the winelist made me laugh.

Edited February 21, 2003 by IrishCream (log)

[plax]

I followed the link to Regina Schrambling's pieces and I have to admit with Steve Klc that she should be called for her table as "Bitter, party of 1."

Did anyone else note that little aside at the bottom of the page about how First Lady Laura Bush killed her boyfriend when she ran a stop sign? Maybe Ms. Schrambling will end up on the current administration's list of potential terrorists for that one... and relieve the rest of us of her vitriol.

Neil

[Steve Klc]

Irish--Schrambling can write very well, I guess a larger point is she's misdirected and often sabotages herself with bias, attitude and preconceived notions.

I want to thank you and Anna N but please, you don't have to defend me on this thread. I knew what I was writing and how it might be perceived. I'd discourage anyone else from weighing in like this, turning this thread into a larger referendum on what I've given to the site. What I write elsewhere--or how often--shouldn't be used to defend or excuse this piece or the attitude I've taken toward this particular food writer. Both have to stand on their own merits.

Retired chef is new, clearly hasn't read much of the site, and should be forgiven all cheap shots in my direction. I have a thick skin. He'll eventually discover all the good work of others which I've praised. The only reason I'm so willing to talk about my own restaurants is they have been exhaustively praised by local and national media. I'm not breaking any new or disingenuous ground on that score. Chefs are as much public figures as writers and as such, exposed. Retired: perhaps a chef expressing himself in public is something your generation wasn't comfortable doing nor might you be comfortable with career changers--you know, chefs like me who went to college first before choosing to enter the profession--nor chefs' writing articles or books themselves. I respect that point of view if it were indeed accurate. You're also entitled to your opinion of what this site should be about. You'll learn quickly enough that eGullet twists and turns in very interesting fashion and many eGulleteers are vested in how it turns out. Welcome to the mix.

Stick to this piece, though, and to Regina Schrambling's portfolio--and I hope I've prompted you to go back and re-read some of the threads on eGullet which involved her writing. Peruse her website and her archive at the NY Times website and make up your own mind.

Suzanne and maggiethecat raise valid points--I'd respond by saying most of the cooking--and food writing--that I like IS personal. Very personal. Why should there be a double standard? Chefs and writers are public figures and along with knowledgeable eGulleteers, we all serve as checks and balances on each other. Dishes, like articles, are either good or they aren't, they're either accurate and interesting or they aren't.

To bring this back to Schrambling--go back to her blog. Two of the leading female chefs in the world--perhaps the two most pre-eminent--Elena Arzak and Helene Darroze-- were recently in "Regina's town" to cook for a dinner and attend a party afterward. Pretty significant event I'd say.

Here's the New York Observer's take:

"Chalk it up to the transformative power of white Armagnac, but there was little evidence of the political chill between America and France at D’Artagnan on Feb. 8. An international cast of cuisiniers and gourmands—including Sopranos creator David Chase—gathered until the wee hours of the morning at Ariane Daguin’s restaurant to dine on cassoulet and Bordeaux and celebrate the arrival of Ms. Daguin’s fellow Nouvelle Meres Cuisineres : Elena Arzak Espina from Restaurante Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain; Christine Ferber, from Boulangerie-Patisserie in Niedermorschwihr, France; and Helene Darroze, from La Maison d’Helene in Paris. Ms. Darroze seemed a bit dazed —not from the lethal Armagnac, but from learning hours earlier that she’d just gotten her second hallowed Michelin star. The following night, the four women cooked with Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert at a City Harvest Benefit Dinner in honor of the late Jean-Louis Palladin. "Call me the rooster," Mr. Ripert said of his role as the sole male chef.

But Mr. Ripert wasn’t the only cock of the walk at D’Artagnan. Daniel Boulud was on hand, as were chefs Bill Telepan, Christian Delouvrier and Francois Payard. And around midnight, a group of stout-hearted and extremely high-spirited men from a Burgundy wine association called La Poulee parked themselves at D’Artagnan’s downstairs bar and sang, for at least a good half hour, a Burgundian rhythm called " Le Ban Bourgignon "—one of those ancient songs where the rhythm and the tune stay the same, but the spontaneous lyrics reflect the singers’ progressive state of inebriation. Every so often, one of the men would link arms with Ms. Daguin and dance around in a circle with her.

Upstairs in the restaurant, a group of younger French dandies, including Jean-Charles Cazes, whose family owns the Lynch Bages vineyards in Pauillac, were singing a similar song that involved repeated use of the phrase " lechez-moi ," which translates to "lick me." And you thought we couldn’t all get along."

Very nice stuff.

Now read Schrambling. Instead of mentioning something about the dinner, instead of even mentioning their names, what was "the most amazing sight" and the main focus of her blog entry? I'm-so-superior tripe like this: "Rather than have the grace to look embarrassed, I noticed, they all took the Rumsfeld approach: mock the French for eating fat on fat."

[vengroff]

I don't suppose Schrambling is likely to pop in for a Q&A any time soon?

[Retired Chef]

Let me be the first to say that Steve has a lot of good advice and insight and offers a lot to the egullet community.

What I have noticed in reading over the discussions is that along with discussion and opinion, which is good and enlightening. I have also seen the ugly side. The side where in an attempt to salvage someone’s reputation someone else not involved is put down. One such case is your attack on Valerie Hill. I have enjoyed Ms. Hill’s desserts since she was at the Morrison-Clark. Why did Ms. Hill have to be the victim in your attack in order to make Ms. Meighan look better.

This is just one example I’m thinking of, Mr. Klc.

As for my education Mr. Klc, I did go to college and majored in economics. I stayed in Europe after the war and trained to be a chef. When I came back to this country there was no celebrity...only the tough love of the job. There were no cookbook deals and TV shows. I’m from a generation of chefs that weren’t called Chef until they could carve a swan from a block of ice.

You speak of your thick skin. Frankly, your skin couldn’t look thinner. You constantly need to “talk about my own restaurants” so all can share their “exhaustively praise by local and national media”. Thick skinned people let it go. I wonder if you would you have been so quick to comment on Ms. Schrambling’s article had one of your restaurants not been mentioned.

I'm sorry to see that this is what this site is about. I'm sorry to see humility absent in the modern culinary world today. Yes, I suppose my generation was different. In my day it was jsut unadulterated dedication to the craft. j People were too busy making food all day and all night in clubs and restaurants to sit in front of their computer all day and critique the work of others who are so busy at work they haven't time to defend their work

and their good name.

[Fat Guy]

Ah, the good old days, when chefs took it lying down.

[GordonCooks]

Chef - Great stuff

Your observations are shared by myself and many others.

Edited for clarity

Chef refers to Steve KLC's opinions on Ms Schrambling's culinary prose

Edited February 20, 2003 by GordonCooks (log)

[g.johnson]

I would have prefered more evidence that Schrambling is, in fact, The Most Evil Food Writer That Has Ever Lived and less ranting. That would, however, require a bit of work.

Edited February 20, 2003 by g.johnson (log)

[Suzanne F]

After perusing Schrambling's website (which I did before I made any comment on Steve Klc's piece), I would never refer to her as an "innocent victim." Yes, she is bitchy, she is mean, she is unpleasant. So why waste so much time and effort on her at all? And, worse yet, in the same negative style she uses? This carries the rank odor of a vendetta.

Retired Chef, welcome. Please do not be put off by Chef Klc's own cheap shots. He has much knowledge to offer, and does. But neither is he an "innocent victim." Just remember Hamlet, Act I, Scene v, lines 106 to 109.

[Retired Chef]

Well Suzanne, maybe Mr. Klc should be more Gertrude than Hamlet here:

"O Hamlet, speak no more:

Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul;

And there I see such black and grained spots

As will not leave their tinct."