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Trotter closing in Chicago to go to school...

post #1 of 27
1/1/12 at 10:35am
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http://www.suntimes.com/9725535-417/charlie-trotter-to-close-his-world-renowned-chicago-eatery.html
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post #2 of 27
1/1/12 at 12:14pm
Not surprising, also not surprising that he claims its not about the finances, when it pretty clearly probablt is.
Still, a pretty major moment in the history of American fine dining, IMO. Glad I worked there when I did.
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post #3 of 27
1/1/12 at 12:47pm
The restaurant will be missed.
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post #4 of 27
1/1/12 at 2:46pm
You know the old joke: "Philosophy bakes no bread."
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post #5 of 27
1/1/12 at 3:47pm
Hmmm, philosophy and political theory, in Chicago or California. Claremont? I wonder if he is a Straussian ...
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post #6 of 27
1/2/12 at 12:20pm
I don't know, Manton, could be DePaul and UC Santa Cruz. Personally, I would find it distracting to think about Trotter's recipes while reading his papers.
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post #7 of 27
1/2/12 at 12:26pm
Santa Cruz!! Either way his life is intersecting strangely with mine.
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post #8 of 27
1/3/12 at 5:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post

Santa Cruz!! Either way his life is intersecting strangely with mine.

Maybe you should open a restaurant.
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post #9 of 27
1/3/12 at 6:29pm
Actually I think my little suburb could use a good bistro but I am totally unqualified to be anything but a commis.
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post #10 of 27
1/3/12 at 6:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post

Actually I think my little suburb could use a good bistro but I am totally unqualified to be anything but a commis.
The same has been said about the subject of this thread...
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post #11 of 27
1/3/12 at 6:48pm
Oh come on, I have eaten there, it is fantastic.
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post #12 of 27
1/3/12 at 11:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post

Oh come on, I have eaten there, it is fantastic.
That doesn't mean anything as far as Trotter's ability to cook. Is he qualified to be more than a commis? Depends. I personally think the man is a genius when it comes to palate, understanding food on an intellectual level, and understanding what it takes to make a restaurant great. But as far as I have experienced, he doesn't actually know how to cook at all. This comes from my time having never seen him so much as touch a pan (even so far as hosting a cooking class in which he had a sous chef cook and then just did a Q&A during the session) and from other people's experience when they have in fact seen him cook and the results weren't great. My comment was meant as an offhand joke, as obviously the guy knows what he's talking about when it comes to food/restaurants/high cuisine, but I don't think he can physically do it himself, and in that sense, commis is as high as he would probably get in someone else's kitchen.
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post #13 of 27
1/4/12 at 4:44am
Are you sure he doesn't know how to cook or did he just get so eminent that he could afford not to? Isn't that what happens to all top chefs?
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post #14 of 27
1/4/12 at 8:35am
Soon he will be a philosopher-chef. Slightly below a philosopher-king, but not bad. Either that, or he will self-deconstruct.
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post #15 of 27
1/4/12 at 8:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post

Are you sure he doesn't know how to cook or did he just get so eminent that he could afford not to? Isn't that what happens to all top chefs?
Relatively sure. I never saw him even touch a pan, which is understandable since he's a millionaire and a celebrity and doesn't have to dirty his hands anymore. However, in talking with cooks there, who have been there since the beginning, and in other people who had worked with him or around him back in the early 90s, it seems like he has never really had a knack for cooking. Which isn't surprising, considering he dropped out of culinary school and never really worked in another restaurant before opening CT. Apparently he knew theoretically the right way to cook things, so he could still give instruction or scream relentlessly at people for not cooking perfectly, but couldn't physically do it himself. I guess Matthias Merges or other made sure he knew just enough to be able to not embarrass himself on the show or in his books.

Does any of this really matter? I don't know. Whether Trotter can cook or not, CT is still an incredible restaurant. I just think it's really a kind of interesting history.
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Originally Posted by philosophe View Post

Soon he will be a philosopher-chef. Slightly below a philosopher-king, but not bad. Either that, or he will self-deconstruct.

laugh.gif
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