NYC's Restaurant Paradigm - June, 2003

[robert brown]

If you want graphic evidence that a proverbial paradigm shift is unfolding in NYC dining, take a look at this week’s NYT food section. This week’s “Rambling with Schambling” story is about the return of classic sauces; the well-done report by Amanda Hesser documents the financial hardships of several high-profile restaurants; and Grimes’ restaurant review gives no quarter to any restaurateur who tries to transplant an ethnic cuisine without notable regard for freshness and authenticity. Does anyone out there have an idea of where New York restauration may be heading? Is Fusion finished? Will luxury dining be like it was in the 1960s and 1970s; i.e. mostly French as was Café Chauveron, Lutece, La Grenouille, Cote Basque, etc? Will the kind of restaurants Jane and Michael Stern write about dominate the NYC restaurant scene along with French bistro-type places? Will the big-name chefs trim their sails in all respects? And will the people who were hyping New York as the “restaurant capital of the world” dust off their yellow Michelin Maps once the skys are safe for democracy? Or do you think this is a short-term blip after which things will return to how they were six months ago?

[Andy Lynes]

To me, Schramblings piece epitomises the use of a lazy journalistic devise whereby the tradition is dressed up and paraded as the latest fashion, the "brown is this seasons black" syndrome ("The Conventional is now experimental, the experimental is now conventional" to quote the legendary Mancunian genius Mark E Smith from the 1980 song "New Puritan" by his band The Fall).

It's attempting to establish a trend for the sake of generating an article by focusing in on a very narrow band of activity, whilst ignoring the broader picture.

Here's my version of what a lazy food journalist might write about London at the moment:

"Forget fish and chips, pie and mash or the traditional roast, London has gone crazy for the far east. Everyone has downed knives and forks and are picking up their chopsticks to eat at the capitals most fashionable new eateries.

The bold new ethnic cuisines of Mju, Nham and relative old timer Nobu typify what London foodies most want to eat. They are just not satisfied unless they have enjoyed the multi course marvels that chefs like David Thompson are dishing up.

"The 3 course meal is dead and gone. No one wants to eat all those heavy classic french sauces anymore. Diners are more discerning these days, and are looking for lighter food, in smaller portions, but that still packs a big flavour punch" says one leading restaurant critic.

If you are visiting London, forget about the Savoy, Claridges, the Ritz or the Connaught, with there last centuary cuisine, and head straight for the new millenium delights of somewhere like the Halkin, but get ready to join a very long queue!!!!"

I would hold up my little article as being about as accurate a picture as what is happening in London as Regina Schamblings is about New York (ie not very I suspect). And it took as long to write as it did to type (I bet you couldn't tell!).

[robert brown]

Andy, having recently returned from the latest of several trips to Japan, but the first ever to Bangkok and Cambodia, I have to say that Asian food (and eating in Bangkok was extraordinary), like many others, doesn't travel well. To me, fusion food and even "pure" Japanese and Thai, especially Thai, in NYC or London, is a far cry from the original. I hadn't realized that Asian ingredients and approaches are such a big deal in London. To me, this kind of cooking is as much to cover up lack of technique than anything else. (Coincidently enough, sorrel sauce symbolized for me the hallmark sauce of "La Nouvelle Cuisine" and the kind of thing aspiring chefs, if they have the ability should aim to create. And To her credit, Regina Schamblings refers to it). The heart of the matter is that cuisine has become part of the popular culture and not any longer limited to gastronomes; so, of course, ignorant and indiscriminating people can be led around by the nose as restaurant fads and fashions come and go with the regularity and duration of styles in fashion, industrial design, and what have you. London has always struck me as a place that has this tendency is extreme than lots of other big cities. Anyway, I have a friend here who makes a point of flying to London every fall to have grouse at the Connaught.

[Andy Lynes]

Robert, the point of my little pastiche is that Asian influenced cuisine is only one of any number of trends in London.

If I wanted to, by choosing a couple of recently opened French restaurants, I could make a case for the resurgance of french regional cuisine in London.

By highlighting the fact that Michel Bourdin and Peter Kromberg are retiring this year, I could say that the old guard are giving way to the new wave of chefs, and perhaps it's time for the Roux brothers and Pierre Koffmann to hang up there whites.

All the above could be used as the basis for a dodgy magazine or newspaper article by a desperate food journalist with nothing better to do, but nothing of the above facts are particularly indicative of anything, other than some new Asian and French restaurants have opened, and that a couple of chefs who have worked in their respective jobs for over a quarter centuary each have reached retirement age.

I hope I haven't confused the issue here with my sarcasm, I am simply casting doubt over the existance of a "trend" as identified in the NY Times article originaly quoted.      

[Bux]

I have so many problems with the writing and editing of articles in the Dining In/Out section of the NY Times, that I rarely read any of the articles very closely. That the "paper of record" has as great an ability to influence its readers as it does to report on trends is something to think about.

I don't know if Ms. Schrambling has made much of a point other than the fact that the great chefs with classic training have technique and depth on which to rely when cooking or creating and that the young flash in the pans do not and that the latter's short repetoire leaves them out of breath (or is is breadth?) way before the finish line. Boulud, Valenti and Heffernan have some enlightening things to say and they all have shown some inclination to produce good old down home cooking, even if it is French down home cooking in some instances. Even at Daniel that temple of refined haute cuisine, there's usually been some earthy classic, if redefined, on the menu and a regular diner might find himself offered tête de veau if he's managed to convey the right impression about his love for food. The only constant is shift.

Of course a change in the economy will create changes in the way people eat and especially in the way they eat out. I suspect the world economy is not far behind us and many of the restaurants hardest hit in Manhattan are the destination restaurants on many tourist's must list. I doubt that the top restaurants in Paris will not feel the impact of reduced travel as well.

[Fat Guy]

Messrs. Brown, Bux, Lynes, I wonder if you might have additional thoughts based on the almost two years of restaurant history that have elapsed since 9/11 (the event that cast a shadow over this topic when it was first created)? French Laundry coming to New York. Atelier. WD-50. The El Bulli cookbook. Robuchon's place in Paris. What does it all mean?