What did you eat last night for dinner?

[erictheobscure]



The job of the chef should be to simply elevate what nature provides him.

Now you want Nature itself to look up?

 

[CouttsClient]



Now you want Nature itself to look up?

I need to stay out of this thread while I'm on conference calls

 

[foodguy]



I don't know, you go out to dinner more than I do. All I ever see are a bunch of smears along with too small food all lacking much flavor. Even a place like Quince seems now to have everything cooked to the same soft texture with extra flourishes of smeared puree. Don't even get me started about the ultra ridiculous new, and hot, Atelier Crenn, which is basically just floral design on a plate with no flavor at all. It may be regional as well. Maybe LA is less infected. I don't go out for Western comfort food much, because it is easier, and more comfortable, for me to do that at home. The charcuterie craze is interesting, I wish the results were better.

you may not eat out more than i do, but i also expect that you spend a lot more money when you do. as the ticket goes up, chefs feel the customer's expectations do, too. and too often, they try to meet those expectations with visual fireworks rather than flavors. alas, it has always been so. it's just a matter of fashion. tall food was just as dumb, and just as flavorless as saucey skidmarks.

 

[SField]



you may not eat out more than i do, but i also expect that you spend a lot more money when you do. as the ticket goes up, chefs feel the customer's expectations do, too. and too often, they try to meet those expectations with visual fireworks rather than flavors. alas, it has always been so. it's just a matter of fashion. tall food was just as dumb, and just as flavorless as saucey skidmarks.

Well sauce skidmarks are much more functional than tall food. They showcase sauce and simplify the plate. Not a massive fan but there have been far more annoying things in the past. As long as the sauce is good I don't mind.

 

[impolyt_one]

just ate some Mongolian lamb skewer BBQ; most powdered in ground cayenne and whole cumin seed. It just slayed K-BBQ on its home turf. True story.

 

[foodguy]



Well sauce skidmarks are much more functional than tall food. They showcase sauce and simplify the plate. Not a massive fan but there have been far more annoying things in the past. As long as the sauce is good I don't mind.

you're right, but setting the bar very low. just about anything is more functional than tall food. the first time i saw skid marks, i thought they were kind of cool. now they seem to be on every plate. it's like wearing a shirt collar popped -- it's only sprezz the first time somebody does it.

 

[CouttsClient]

Can you guys stop calling them 'skid marks'? I don't think I'll be able to get that out of my head when my dinner arrives

 

[itsstillmatt]

Langoustine "pho"




Scallops with mango and passionfruit



The world's oddest (and perhaps best) ratatouille

 

[mgm9128]

Langoustine looks wonderful. As do the scallops. Though, I probably would have tried adding a bit more color to the plate. But that's just silly ol' me.

 

[Piobaire]



If I've learned anything, it is that the quality of the ingredients is pivotal in cooking. Regardless of the inherent skill of the chef, if his ingredients are inferior, it is as absurd to exact exceptional cooking as it is absurd to yell at a tree to produce more fruit. The job of the chef should be to simply elevate what nature provides him. And less is usually more.

Actually, many rich cooking traditions have come to us because people could not afford to waste substandard food.

 

[SField]



Langoustine looks wonderful. As do the scallops. Though, I probably would have tried adding a bit more color to the plate. But that's just silly ol' me.

I agree.

Love the ratatouille.

 

[SField]



Actually, many rich cooking traditions have come to us because people could not afford to waste substandard food.

Hmm you're both right.

Some great cooking traditions coming from southern italy and greece where people are very poor still had access to great ingredients. Great cheap ingredients, that is. Just because they were poor does not mean that they didn't have access to a lot of stuff that would totally embarrass Whole Foods today.

 

[otc]



The charcuterie craze is interesting, I wish the results were better.

Interesting that you say this...because I unfortunately agree.
I've always been big on salamis and stuff. Even more so after I spent some time in spain and italy eating cheap (which usually involved buying their cured meats and preparing my own food). I returned around the time that I was starting to see more and more in-house charcuterie being pushed around and it was exciting. A few years later, I see a lot of places that will sell me a board with cured meats/sausage/pate...but its often not all that good.

Ate at the bristol for my birthday last week and they had zero cured meats on the menu that night...I was sad.
If I had more space, I'd love to go all Piob on that ****.

 

[itsstillmatt]



Here, I snapped a bunch of pics from my copy.

you may not eat out more than i do, but i also expect that you spend a lot more money when you do. as the ticket goes up, chefs feel the customer's expectations do, too. and too often, they try to meet those expectations with visual fireworks rather than flavors. alas, it has always been so. it's just a matter of fashion. tall food was just as dumb, and just as flavorless as saucey skidmarks.

Just to play Devil's Advocate I took some pictures from a book called Haute Cuisine Francaise from 1994. It basically shows some favored plates submitted by each member restaurant and gives a little bio. There are probably a hundred, so I cherry picked from restaurants at which I have dined whose food I really enjoy. The classicism is very interesting. I happen to enjoy a lot of food from that era, and think that it, in its combination of nouvelle cuisine with a bit of cuisine grand-mere mixed in, while moving slightly back to the classics, was a recent high point. I know many disagree, but opinons are what they are.









Sorry for the pic overload. I finally feel like I am the guy in MC with the AA pics.

 

[Piobaire]



Hmm you're both right.

Some great cooking traditions coming from southern italy and greece where people are very poor still had access to great ingredients. Great cheap ingredients, that is. Just because they were poor does not mean that they didn't have access to a lot of stuff that would totally embarrass Whole Foods today.

It's more than just that. For generations in Europe the lord, jarl, etc. got all the prime cuts, etc. The common folk had to learn how to cook offal, the tough stringy cuts, etc. so it would taste good. There was also, of course, no refrigeration so folks had to learn various methods to preserve foods for months without the aide of freezing. So I'm thinking of everything from braises to confit to smoking in my prior statement.