The Emerilization of Keller?

[Marrow Margin]

And as far as I know, he hasn't endorsed or branded any crap California raisins--while not something I'd do--aren't in any way "bad.

We forget, however, the MRE style offering of his Mac and Cheese. Did anyone actually buy the stuff? 30 bucks?

[Fat Guy]

Two points:

1 - There's only one thing that matters when determining whether or not Keller has maintained excellence after expanding: the dining experience at the actual restaurants. The rest is politics. However, I'm sure we can expect the politics to dominate the discussions anyway.

2 - Speculation is fun and interesting, but I hope everybody will adopt a wait-and-see attitude. I can't imagine anybody credibly passing judgment on Keller until Per Se opens and has a good long time to settle in, and French Laundry reopens and also gets a little breathing room. And what, really, is the range of possible outcomes? It seems to me that rational speculation is confined to a pretty limited set of permutations ranging from two-excellent-restaurants to two-super-excellent-restaurants. I mean, knowing that Keller is incapable of opening anything less than an excellent restaurant doesn't involve any speculation at all -- it's just the nature of the universe. Of course I feel this way about Ducasse as well (even more so than about Keller, because Ducasse has been doing for years what Keller is about to do), and am constantly amazed by how many people don't.

[Marrow Margin]

Of course I feel this way about Ducasse as well (even more so than about Keller, because Ducasse has been doing for years what Keller is about to do), and am constantly amazed by how many people don't.

Let us pray that Thomas doesn't receive the press ADNY received upon opening.

[Fat Guy]

Of course I feel this way about Ducasse as well (even more so than about Keller, because Ducasse has been doing for years what Keller is about to do), and am constantly amazed by how many people don't.

Let us pray that Thomas doesn't receive the press ADNY received upon opening.

There's no need to pray. In addition to a number of factors not being present with Keller that were present with Ducasse, we're already at a point on the timeline where we can conclude it won't happen. Keller has been serving meals at Per Se for awhile now to "friends and family" and all the A- and B-list media have been there for parties and such. Although there may be some griping about the commercialization of Keller, etc., there's not a chance in hell that there will be a sustained, across-the-board media outburst against him. Which isn't to say he's handled his opening flawlessly -- someone really needs to write the book about what not to do during the pre-opening (Rule #1: Don't tell magazine writers with long lead times the wrong opening date; Rule #2: Don't name your restaurant Per Se) -- but he and his publicists have done a good enough job.

[Marrow Margin]

I concur.

[chromedome]

Generations of successful chefs died at their stoves. Times are different...

Generations of my forefathers fished until they fell over dead, or until their boat didn't come back one day. My father decided he didn't want that, and broke the cycle.

In times past, it was a rare chef who could count on more than a local reputation. Today, people from all corners of the globe can get together in a forum like this to debate, praise, or condemn a chef who is thousands of miles away from any of us. Chefs today benefit from the communications and transportation revolutions which have made "franchises" (in the literal or metaphorical sense) possible for them, as for other businesses.

More to the point, though, people in our generation expect more and want more from life.

Keller sees a need on some level to either "extend his brand", or to seek out new challenges, or to build a legacy, or whatever. I say more power to him...he's earned our respect by his commitment to excellence, and until that commitment is visibly tarnished I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

[weinoo]

Opening a Vegas incarnation of Bouchon at the Venetian is probably the one item, of all of these, that seems the sketchiest... that said, I'm not sure if that's just because we're talking Vegas here.

Not to worry, Bouchon in Vegas rocked! And it has only been open two weeks or so.

Nothing sketchy about it.

[robyn]

Perhaps Keller has thought it out - but not necessarily in a way that's calculated to try to maximize commercial success (commercial success being no crime in my book).  And if I had 2 knees that wouldn't hold me up on the line - I'd be thinking about funding my retirement - about getting the dollars that would allow me to become "an elder statesman" of my craft.  Robyn

Sounds like it comes from someone who doesn't quite get the whole Keller dynamic. I don't think commercial success is that important to the guy. He's on some cosmic all-encompassing search for the elusive muse, or at least that's what he puts out there via interviews, television and on paper. I mean read Soul of a Chef. He ain't huntin' the cash cow. Keller, as passe as it sounds, is on a different kind of trip.

And as Tony pointed out, he's got to be realizing he's nearing his twilight years and he wants his legacy to be "institutions" that are recognized for their full devotion to the culinary ideals set forth by Point in Ma Gastronome, a gastronomic shrine to perfect food.

Great coach analogy. I just can't see Thomas being a jet chef however. Man.

I've read The Soul of a Chef and the Making of a Chef - and I still don't see the point. We're not talking about some vanity venture here - or making some dishes for his restaurant. We're talking about a commercial line of dishware that is being made by a commercial for-profit corporation - to be distributed in a commercial for-profit department store. I'm sure if Chef Keller had gone to Raynaud and Gump's and said - I'm not interested in making any money on this - I'm just doing it for posterity - both would have walked/run in the other direction - fast. Robyn

[robyn]

I think the decision to go only with Gump's was a carefully thought out decision. Gump's has been in San Francisco since before the Civil War, and where'd you get the idea that the Bay Area is small? I suppose he knows his clientele from fl, and believe me Gump's is no Bloomie. They've made fortunes on Oriental antiques ever since they opened. At the breakdown of the Chinese Empire, Gump's acquired the Lion's Share of the treasures of the Imperial family, and Forbidden City. Do not take my word for it-go to Gump's, Asian Art, and the first item is two antique ancestor scrolls for 3,800. That's not small time store stuff. I'm sure if you enter jade, you will find as expensive and exclusive as you want to get.

I'm not saying that Gump's is low end (it's the opposite). It's just fairly traditional (you can get the flavor by looking at the cutesy stuff that's usually at the entrance to its web site (note that this changes many times a day - so I don't know exactly what you'll see). I get the Gump's catalogue a few times a year - and I just toss it. Most of the stuff looks like things my grandmother would have put in her house if she had had any money. The place isn't edgy at all - and I don't think it projects the right image for a chef who's supposed to be revolutionizing American cuisine. As for San Francisco being small - it's not Des Moines - but it's not New York or LA either.

This is just my two cents - but if I'm not in the target audience for these dishes - I'm not sure who is - some dowager in a San Francisco townhouse? People who are into design trends (and that group overlaps to a large degree with foodies who are into food trends) - and those groups include people like me - have a lot of stores all over the world on our radar screens. But Gump's simply isn't one of them. Robyn

[robyn]

Generations of successful chefs died at their stoves. Times are different...

Generations of my forefathers fished until they fell over dead, or until their boat didn't come back one day. My father decided he didn't want that, and broke the cycle.

In times past, it was a rare chef who could count on more than a local reputation. Today, people from all corners of the globe can get together in a forum like this to debate, praise, or condemn a chef who is thousands of miles away from any of us. Chefs today benefit from the communications and transportation revolutions which have made "franchises" (in the literal or metaphorical sense) possible for them, as for other businesses.

More to the point, though, people in our generation expect more and want more from life.

Keller sees a need on some level to either "extend his brand", or to seek out new challenges, or to build a legacy, or whatever. I say more power to him...he's earned our respect by his commitment to excellence, and until that commitment is visibly tarnished I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt.

As an aside - I don't think that the number of chefs with national or worldwide reputations has expanded dramatically over the years. And although talking with others about them has perhaps become a bit easier due to things like the internet - many people somehow managed to dine at these types of establishments before you or I were born. The first time I ever went to a 3 star restaurant in France was almost 30 years ago - and I was introduced to that restaurant by someone who had been to his first 3 star restaurant 30 years before that. Remember that a 3 star restaurant or attraction in the Michelin guides meant "Worth a Journey" - and people have indeed been traveling for a long time to eat and drink and sightsee.

If you want to get a good sense about how the more things change - the more they stay the same in terms of world travel - read Mark Twain's Innocents Abroad. Robyn

[Marrow Margin]

I'm sure if Chef Keller had gone to Raynaud and Gump's and said - I'm not interested in making any money on this - I'm just doing it for posterity - both would have walked/run in the other direction - fast. Robyn

Well of course, he's not going to say, "I don't want to make any money off my creations," and of course, Limoges is going to align themselves with the best "French" chef in the world (many may argue to the contrary). Not everything, or much at all is profit motivated in Keller's world. Go to his restaurant and get one of his magic white truffle dishes where they grate the things at the table. You literally have to tell the waiter "when". Last time I checked, the price on Alba tartufo bianco was 2100/lb. I for one would admonish, no, I'd threaten, my waiters to give each diner three slices, no more. And they're always using a fresh, unadulterated truffle,not yesterday's leftovers. Kind of getting off point.

Keller's insane attention to detail may be to blame more than his hopes for a world wide switch to Kellerware. By having a non-profitable line of crockery and china but having Keller attached to the company, Limoges is getting more PR out of it than they could possibly hope for. I read the same article and don't remember getting the impression that this line was destined for Bloomingdales. But lets look at the "facts"...

EVO, the company...last time I heard they hadn't turned a profit, but the quality of products produced (vinegar and extra V) was first rate, top of the line.

The Mac and Cheese MRE...uh, don't really know, but I'm sure Kroger hasn't been contacted. The quality, according to our bud Awbrig, was killer.

California Raisins...correlation to sales? Just plain incalculable. This one I can't attach a quality quotient to because I haven't read any market research but I bet the general public ain't hooking up exponentially more dishes using raisins because Keller's pallid face was in the advertising.

Profit motives? Tell me Calphalon coming out with a line of Kellerware wouldn't set the amateur gastronomic world on fire and line pockets a lot more effectively than a line of designer china. He chooses things that interest him, that work for him, that he can feel comfortable putting his name to. Fat Guy was dead on.

Edited February 16, 2004 by Marrow Margin (log)

[robyn]

...Limoges is getting more PR out of it than they could possibly hope for... 

Where? I read one little blurb in a magazine (don't know if it was Gourmet - Food and Wine - Town & Country - Bazaar - I get a lot of magazines). Haven't seen anything anywhere else - and the line has already been out for 4 months (there was no pre-release PR). Nothing in the NYT best I can remember - Met Home - Elle Decor - Dwell - etc.

Besides - not to put too fine a point on it - more people who buy fine china have heard of Raynaud/Limoges than Thomas Keller. It is their job to sell him - not the other way around. FWIW - this line is being put out under the Raynaud line of Raynaud/Limoges. Robyn

[Marrow Margin]

This is the sound of me abdicating.