Plating

I see a lot of people here cooking and getting into making things a little more special as far as their food goes. I am delighted to see so many people cooking out of Bouchon and Ad Hoc. But, seeing as this is style forum, I'd like to make a suggestion. Simple, white china. For so many people with fantastic taste in clothing and other things, I see a lot of fairly tacky looking (and sometimes expensive) plates and bowls. You will instantly elevate the appearance of your food by putting it on a beautifully clean canvass. Nothing too thick, choose high quality porcelain (can you see your hand through it in light is apparently a good trick). You don't have to go for square or rectangular shapes. Gordon Ramsay on F-Word always uses what looks like Wedgewood made Jasper Conran white plates with a simple rim, since that show is geared towards home cooking. I own the same plates for my day to day use. There's a lot more options out there. The people with the most tasteful dining rooms I've seen, even if they're using stuff that's old, is almost always plain white. It never goes out of style and it will always serve it's purpose. At Tru and some other places you'll see them use ornate designs (Versace bowls and cups for soups and sauces in Tru's case) which is cool, but in general they stick to white as does pretty much every other restaurant out there and those kinds of pieces are meant to punctuate an elegantly simple backdrop.

To me there is nothing more luxurious than really fine porcelain china in brilliant white. All the hand painting and decorations make me feel like I'm at grandma's house. The greatest elegance is in restraint, and I like for the ambiance to be set by the space. Plates, I believe, should be in service to the food. As far as it being fetishized, yes I totally think it is. That's the fucking point. You have to eat, and you might as well do it in a way that is most pleasing. In fact if more people fetisizhed food in this country, there would not be nearly as many fat people.

Yes. Avoid symmetry, less is more. Serve things together that have complementary flavors. Generally the protein should be well framed, and anything with a particularly special preparation should stand by itself as well. There's usually one subordinate element on every plate and two principals.

White plates ignore the social aspect of dining? You realize that this idea is french, right? And I'm sorry, but I don't find myself being any less social in a great American restaurant than in a french one. A great meal is about the people you're with and the quality of the food. And often it doesn't even have anything to do with the food. Restaurants can do very little to influence the quality of your company. What they can do is make the experience before you walk in the door the best they can, and the rest is up to you and your own sociability.