Chef's/Kitchen Tables

[tommy]

When people tire of it, as they do of every fad or fashion, eventually.

This fad of the restaurant-kitchen as show is related to the recent rise of the "celebrity chef." But the vaunted celebrity-chefs may be on their way down, if waning sales of celebrity-chef-authored cookbooks by in Britain are any indication.

What goes up must come down. I waited out the mini-skirt fad, and eventually skirt hems did go down.

i have a hard time seeing clothing fashion trends the same way i see shifts in culture towards food and interest in cooking/dining. i bet there are a lot more people making better meals at home these days than there were 10 years ago. i don't think that's a fad that going to die down. nor do i think chef's tables will fade away. granted, as more and more people have had the experience, there will be less and less that will kill themselves to get that table. but it's clearly more than a fad.

Edited September 9, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Schneier]

I've eaten at several kitchen tables around the country, with varying experiences.

Why #1: because I'm a food geek. It's not enough for me to be a simple user. I want to see how it's done. I want to watch the process. I want to poke around in the cooler. I want to talk to the chef and the sommelier and the line cooks. It's not just about the finished product; it's about the process.

Why #2: because you can snag yourself a better menu in the kitchen. The good kitchen tables come with their own menus. I get to talk to someone beforehand and discuss likes and dislikes, and preferences. Sometimes I can give the chef my wine list and have him cook a meal to suit. Or I can bring some wine from home and share it with the kitchen.

Kitchen tables come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are sealed off from the kitchen, so you can watch but not annoy. At one restaurant the chef invited us to walk up and down the line and watch what was going on--kind of risky, I thought-- and to poke around in the cooler. At some restaurants the cooks come back to the kitchen table to talk. At some they just ignore you.

The point of a kitchen table is the interaction, so the most fun comes from more interaction. It's a trend I like, and something I'm likely to continue doing.

Many house parties end up in the kitchen. Why not restaurant meals?

Bruce

P.S. I'm also a fan of mini skirts.

[babyluck]

...quoting myself from my review of the Chickenbone Café:

But it does give me a chance to let all you chefs out there know that there is at least one customer out there who would rather not be able to watch her food being cooked. It works aesthetically at the Chickenbone and is probably the best option for the amount of space they have. But it just seems so intrusive -- like the owners assume we are all tourists at Disney Land or the pompous salesman type who expects a walkthrough of the kitchen. I would rather my fish get dropped on the floor -- I eat shit off the floor all the time -- than to have the staff on eggshells.

[Schneier]

I had dinner at Laboratorio in DC last Thursday. The entire room is a kitchen table, and it's grand fun; everything a kitchen table should be.

I'll post a review in the DC forum just as soon as I have the time.

Bruce