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I got this from the New York Times dining blog.
There’s a million obvious jokes to make here, but having been a waiter for years and still having a huge amount of respect for service professionals, I’m going to refrain and let this speak for itself. Check out these Japanese monkey waiters.
Atlanta Cuisine, the monthly tabloid published by AtlantaCuisine.com, will publish its first “readers’ choice” issue this month. In the September issue, publisher Tom Maicon cited his own choice for most annoying food trend:
Let’s see … most annoying food trend? Last year was easily cupcakes. But this year the most annoying food trend to me is the whole southern farm-to-table thing. Don’t think for a big-city minute that it’s the farm-to-table part of this trend that grates my last nerve — I can respect a freshly plucked vegetable just as much as the next guy — but it’s the over-used southern part of this trend that rubs me the wrong way. I mean…do we really need another southern farm-to-table concept?
For the remainder of this year and next I’ll be on the lookout for chefs who aren’t sheeople too….chefs who are willing to choose that path less taken. I’m looking for chefs like Hector Santiago of Pura Vida and Lamar Thomas of East West Bistro in Athens, Ga. who aren’t afraid to take local ingredients and do interesting things with them, rather than just mindlessly serve the awaiting public another tiresome deviled egg.
I eat to expand the mind as much, if not more, than to fill my belly. I want well-thought flavors, textures, and temperatures. I want to eat something that isn’t being overdone everywhere else in town. I want bold ethnic flavors with my so-called farm-to-table ingredients. Wouldn’t that be cool?
You can read the entire column by downloading the PDF file of the September issue on Atlanta Cuisine’s site.
Over the past three years, I have become so disgusted by Fox’s “Hell’s Kitchen” that I gave up watching it at least three seasons ago. I don’t mind Gordon Ramsay’s incessant screaming at contestants, or his foul mouth, or his disdain for his customers and viewers (I thought it was hysterical, at the end of one season, when, after a kind-of sincere monologue about how happy he was about the winner he turned to the camera and said, “Now you can all go fuck yourselves.”) What bothers me is the casting. I hate that the show deliberately casts contestants who are not up to the task, who can’t cook, and who’s main purpose is to entertain us with their abject humiliation. I feel that as a viewer, my intelligence and genuine interest in food and cooking is being insulted. Also it’s boring.
So, with that said, you wanna be on “Hell’s Kitchen”?? Here’s the press release:
FOX’s HELL’S KITCHEN is looking for top-notch Chefs, 21 and over, who are passionate about cooking and skilled at their craft.
Can YOU stand the heat?
OPEN CALL: October 10th, 2008
10:00am - 3:00pm
The Artistry
942 Peachtree St. NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
For more information go to www.fox.com/hellskitchen
Call: 424.216.2880 // HK hotline 866.226.2226
Email: LCastmaster@gmail.com
Meredith Ford Goldman, the AJC’s dining critic, has named Tierra as the paper’s restaurant of the year. It’s a great choice — I’ve long considered Tierra to be one of our city’s great, under appreciated restaurants. Perhaps now they’ll get the crowds they deserve. Read the AJC story here.
A few weeks back, Scott Freeman wrote about the troubles 5 Seasons was having with the Sembler company at their Prado location. It appears the legal part of the disagreement is over — here’s the official statement:
“Five Seasons, Prado, and The Sembler Company are pleased to announce that all disputes between them have been amicably resolved on terms that the parties have agreed to keep confidential. Five Seasons is open for business, and there is ample and convenient parking available. The redevelopment of the Prado is near completion. The parties look forward to many years of working together to provide the public with an outstanding shopping and dining experience in Sandy Springs. Five Seasons, Prado and the Sembler are very excited about the New Prado. Come see for yourself”
I loved David Foster Wallace’s writing, and was dismayed to hear of his death last week. His foray into food writing is probably the best thing I have ever read in Gourmet magazine - imagine getting an assignment to cover a lobster festival and writing a tortured treatise on the morality of eating. Check it out here.
As we have reported here before, Joel Antunes has moved to New York to helm the kitchen at the Plaza Hotel’s newly renovated Oak Room.
I have a very sentimental attachment to the Oak Room - my father, who I see rarely (he lives on the other side of the world), used to take me there whenever we were in New York together. Because his visits to the US are usually business trips, and his business usually takes place in New York, most of the time I have spent with him over the last 17 years has been in the city. Until the Oak Room closed in 2005, we would always make time to stop in there for a drink. I remember him first taking me there for gin and tonics when I was 15 (yes, I grew up with a European attitude towards drinking, whereby children were taught how to drink rather than not to drink), and it seemed to me the height of sophistication. When I lived in New York I would sometimes stop in for a gin and tonic by myself if I was missing my father particularly. It was an expensive form of nostalgia - I remember paying almost $20 for the last drink I bought there.
Check out this New York Times video of the progress Joel and his buddies at the Plaza are making. The Oak Room is scheduled to open in late September.
The best restaurants are the imaginary ones. Last week, Besha wrote about a nonexistent Milan restaurant that won a prestigious award from Wine Spectator magazine.
The New York Times‘ Stanley Fish has written a column about the matter too. His first paragraph:
Last week the New York Post’s Page Six picked up on a story that had been widely circulated on the blogosphere. The magazine Wine Spectator was the victim of a hoax when it came out that its “award of excellence” had been given to a restaurant that did not exist. Robin Goldstein, a wine critic who said that he wanted to expose the lack of any foundation for many food and wine awards, had submitted an application that included the menu and wine list of a fictitious restaurant he named Osteria L’Intrepido. Goldstein revealed the hoax within a week or so of the announced award and declared that what he had done proved that “the level of scrutiny” that accompanies such awards is “insufficient.”
Perhaps Goldstein was also in charge of vetting Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate.
Last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration gave the go-ahead for irradiation of spinach and lettuce (and possibly tomatoes) in response to recent outbreaks of E.Coli and salmonella in our produce. Grocers and food-industry groups have been ready for the irradiation allowance for quite a while, but are consumers?
When I read about the FDA’s nod of approval to have our veggies zapped with gamma rays, the high pressure-hosing scenes from Silkwood haunted me every time I glanced in the direction of a salad. A bit extreme, I know, but quite frankly, radiation is scary. And I will admit I had some questions.
Turns out, a lot of our meat, fruit, and imported spices have been irradiated for years. Fortunately, labels will let you know which products are treated with electronic pasteurization, so if you’re not down with irradiation just yet, don’t buy the beef (or vegetables) with the Radura logo. (more…)
I’ve always wondered about Wine Spectator’s awards - they seem to show up at restaurants with all kinds of wine lists. As long as the list is long-ish and has a few really expensive bottles, the overall quality doesn’t seem to matter that much. Now some guy has received the award for a restaurant that doesn’t exist. Read the story here.
Haute vs. BudgetBy Lindsey Zuckerman
In years past, burgers weren’t served at fancy restaurants and toppings didn’t get much more exciting than cheese, bacon or chili. But today, you can find burgers at all price points with a huge array of possible ingredients and toppings. Of course these haute cuisine burgers come at a price, so you better save up for a $16 wagyu beef burger at Shaun’s or a $150 double truffle burger at DB Bistro Moderne in NY.
So, is there cause for burgers to cost more than $8? The Wall Street Journal doesn’t think so. It called the Ghetto Burger at Ann’s Snack Bar the best burger in America, and there is nothing fancy about it. Ann’s is an old school hole-in-the- wall that serves up big, sloppy burgers. For less than half the price of a fancy-pants Kobe beef burger, Ann will serve up two-giant patties topped with bacon, American cheese, and chili. It’s a delicious mess.
In this week’s review of Sushi House Hayakawa, I made a point about how different customers can create different dining experiences. This was especially apparent on my Saturday night visit to Hayakawa. A bunch of diners who rarely frequent Buford Highway (my assumption, not a fact) were there, probably in part because of the restaurant’s inclusion in Christiane Lauterbach’s Top 15 Best New Restaurants feature in Atlanta Magazine. But it felt weird, like some breach had been made - those of us who spend a lot of time eating on Buford Highway are used to it being a safe haven from the trend-seeking mobs you might find in Buckhead or Midtown.
After I finished writing the review, I came across this post on Frank Bruni’s New York Times blog about how other customers can ruin a perfectly good dining experience. He then goes on to wonder how much influence customers have over the food, not just the atmosphere. In Atlanta, the real or perceived limitations of customers’ palates has influenced the ambitions of kitchens for years. But that seems to be changing. In my Holeman and Finch review, I made the point that our best new restaurants have totally disregarded the idea that customers can’t handle interesting or daring food. But that doesn’t mean customers don’t drive change - Beleza changed its menu after opening to deal with customer expectations regarding price and serving size.
Still, for me, the greatest impact customers can have is on other diners and the vibe of a restaurant. There are places I simply won’t go because I’m sure the customers there will drive me batty. Sometimes, I find myself somewhere for work and look around the room, and ask myself “what am I doing here? How did my life come to this place where I’m spending time surrounded by these people?”
Matt Richardson’s blog, RowdyFood.com, seems to have disappeared. Anyone have the scoop?
I’ve always wondered exactly what the pro and con arguments were for honey consumption by vegans. Slate spells it out here.
In the upcoming weeks, we’ll be inviting readers to act as guest bloggers on Omnivore. We’re not looking for restaurant reviews, we’re looking for stories about your life with food, your triumphs and failures in the kitchen, quirks you’ve noticed in the dining world, stories from servers about their jobs and lives, observances as eaters, waiters, cooks and humans. If you’re interested, please send me an email at besha.rodell@creativeloafing.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
I heard from Richard Blais today - he is in the process of negotiating a TV show and a book deal. No word yet on what kind of show, or what network it will appear on. I’ll keep you posted…
And watch next week for my review of Blais’ latest efforts in the kitchen at Home.
Epicurious.com has put out a list of the top 10 farm-to-table restaurants in the U.S. and our very own, Woodfire Grill, has made the list.
Here is what they had to say about chef Michael Tuohy’s Cheshire Bridge eatery:
Chef Michael Tuohy has long been a supporter of organic growing, and helped launch Georgia’s Organics, a nonprofit group that promotes healthy, local, sustainable food in the diet of people across the state. While he uses local produce to create dishes, his cooking shows North Californian influences, hinting at his San Francisco roots. His commitment to adapting his menu with the seasons is clear: The day’s fresh, local ingredients take center stage on the homepage. And even the decor has a local theme: Tuohy asked Atlanta-based craftsman Tracy Hartley to make some of the tables and wood paneling for the Grill. In many cases, the menu pays homage to the farms that provided the fare: There’s a Wood-Oven-Roasted Bramlett Farm Trout with Anson Mills Grits, Steel-Pan Greens, and Herb Butter; and a Chilled French White Asparagus with Sauce Gribiche (an aïoli sauce with chopped herbs, capers, lemon juice, and spices) and Ashland Farm Micro Celery.
Click HERE to view the rest of the locally-minded restaurants that made the list complete with a photo slide show.
Zagat has released details of its most recent survey of Atlanta restaurants. There are no surprises:
In keeping with tradition, Atlanta surveyors named Bacchanalia as the Top Food winner this year — an accolade the restaurant has earned in every Zagat survey since 1996. Also familiar to the top five, Quinones Room, Rathbun’s, the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Dining Room and Aria. Quinones Room took bragging rights for Top Service, while Bacchanalia, The Dining Room, Bone’s and Park 75 came in just behind. As for Decor, Nan Thai won top honors with Quinones Room coming second, The Dining Room, Canoe and Restaurant Eugene followed in order.
The survey also reports the influx of celebrity chefs here and the trend to go “green.” Like the rest of the country, Atlantans’ most popular cuisine is Italian.
Read a summary here.
