Go ahead. Eat all the pork you want. Just know that you might be eating the pig that could have discovered a cure for obesity or translated the entire opus of Proust into pig latin. The New York Times has the story.
Anyone who has spent significant time struggling with weight will tell you how pervasive and frustrating that internal voice can be. The voice that tells you you’re ugly. The voice that chastises you for enjoying food. The voice that congratulates you for abstaining, that picks apart every culinary decision, that fixates on clothing sizes, that wears you down until you hate yourself for being so predictably sado-masochistic.
It’s this voice we become privy to in Frank Bruni’s new memoir, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full Time Eater. Bruni, who has spent the last four years as restaurant critic for the New York Times, has written a book that chronicles in detail his lifelong tussle with his weight. Bruni recounts every self-doubting thought, every fluctuation in pants size, and the tortured conflict of emotions surrounding every mouthful of food.
In many ways, it’s a powerful story, highly relatable and familiar to many of us. But the book belabors in 368 pages what we know in the first few chapters – this man has a fraught relationship with food and self-image. The meticulous detailing of that relationship seems self-indulgent at best, at worst an unhealthy excuse to feed his neuroses.
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Outgoing New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni gives Eleven Madison Park four stars. He philosophises a bit more losely about the descision on his blog as well.
Read the transcript or listen to the podcast of yesterday’s “Talk of the Nation” from NPR, where Phil Vittel, the Chicago Tribune’s dining critic talks about irritating menu phrases.
The AJC’s John Kessler reports on a conference call with “Top Chef” judges Toby Young and Gail Simmons.
The AJC’s Meredith Ford Goldman gives Nikolai’s Roof an affectionate 3 star review. I’ve never eaten at this Atlanta dinosaur, but from this piece it seems worth the visit, and for more than the kitsch factor.
On the Atlantic’s food site, Carol Ann Sayle asks whether small farms can feed the world.
In the New York Times, John T. Edge writes about the origins of and American devotion to Sriracha, the chili sauce known to many as “rooster sauce”.
Frank Bruni just put up his first blog post since yesterday’s announcement that he’s leaving the job as restaurant critic for the New York Times. In it, he describes the well funded and well respected status he’s enjoyed from his employers. Aw.
If you’ve missed it, the food world has gone totally rabid with the news of Bruni’s job change. Eat Me Daily has a good roundup of Eater’s excellent coverage of what they’re calling Bruniocalypse.
After our coffee panel of a few weeks back, Jennifer Zyman and I were discussing what other blind-tasting fun we could have. Absinthe sounded like a blast, but the idea got put on the back burner for the time being. Doh! It seems the New York Times has beaten us to it – here they taste 20 absinthes, compare contrast and offer helpful hints on how to imbibe.
Eat Me Daily posts an awesome video which will both warm your heart and teach you how to make tabbouleh.
Ezekiel J. Emanuel writes on the Atlantic’s food site about how the internet age could be responsible for ruining eating – if every meal is blogged, do we lose the pleasure? This is kind of interesting, but is the same hand-wringing we’ve been seeing for years: does the internet make privacy obsolete? Did I ruin my relationship by blogging about it? And on and on….
This post just went up on the New York Times Diner’s Journal blog about the ethics of food blogging. In it, Kim Severson asks “Should a food blogger follow the same ethics as a traditional food journalist?”
I have so much to say on this topic I should probably muzzle myself to keep from making this an all-out rant. I will say that it must be difficult for non-professionals to navigate what’s ethical and what’s not when many traditional food journalists push the ethical boundaries (media dinners, freebies etc.). But disclosure is key, and I applaud any effort to give guidance on that front.
Pete Wells writes about telling your kids where meat comes from in the New York Times. It’s an interesting subject, and one I’ve tackled in my own family with some of the same results Wells describes. Ever since my kid was old enough to understand, I’ve let him know that the meat he eats was once a living animal — I want him to understand the moral repercussions of what he consumes, be it food-related or otherwise. At this point, his response is “I don’t want the lamb to have to die. But it’s so gooood.” I hear ya, kid.
Michael Ruhlman writes incredibly well (as usual) about being a food writer. My favorite line (something I try, usually unsuccessfully, every semester to impart to my interns):
Perhaps the best general advice I got about writing was to always ask myself, “Why should a stranger be interested in what I have to say?” I think you should always be asking yourself this, whether you’re querying a magazine editor or blogging (though the blog is a new and unusual beast).
It’s been reported all week on other Atlanta blogs, but in case you missed it, here’s the link to Food & Wine magazine’s Best New Chef article featuring our own Linton Hopkins. I do wonder what the magazine’s definition of “new” is, but I’m so happy Linton’s getting some much deserved recognition.
Catharine Price writes about what to do with winter vegetables on Slate. This article may be a help to many people, but I have to say – really? Has the woman heard the term “soup”? And she doesn’t know what to do with parsley? I do love Mark Bittman’s response to her parsley dilemma, although his declaration that kiwis aren’t that good is horrifying. Makes me think he hasn’t had fresh ones off a vine – tiny, sweet/tart home-grown kiwis are perhaps the best thing in the entire universe. So there.
Derek Brown writes a history of the American mixologist on the Atlantic’s food site.
The New York Times gets in on the Varasano’s conniption of pizza joy.
Eater L.A. reveals “Top Chef” contestant Stephan’s horrible clothing line. (Thanks to Bliss for the link)
The New York Times continues with their Georgia/travel love-fest with a story about breakfast in Athens. Also in the NYT, Frank Bruni goes over the basics of the reasons that tipping is an obligation. Are we still having this conversation?
Mother Jones starts the conversation about what’s really going to help make our food systems sustainable.
John Kessler reports on his blog that Cafe Intermezzo will be opening a branch at Atlanta Harstfield-Jackson International Airport.
The New York Times takes on healthy eating on a recession-y budget,
Michael Ruhlman has a cool recipe for beef jerky.
The Blissful Glutton reviews Blue Fin Sushi in Duluth.
Usually I fall hungrily on the New York Times restaurant review the day it comes out — I can’t say that about many reviews from other cities, but Frank Bruni is one of my favorite critics, and New York is a city I lived in and still eat in a few times a year. I like to keep up.
But this week, returning to work after a vacation, I was too busy and too jetlagged to bother looking at the food section online the day it came out. And now, here I am late Sunday night, finding that Bruni reviewed the Oak Room this week, where our own Joel Antunes absconded to. I am sadly behind, obviously. But if you haven’t seen the review, allow me one tiny spoiler: Ouch.
Marcella Hazan reflects on the growing use of the word, as well as the value of home cooking.
This week, restaurant critic for the New York Times Frank Bruni answered reader questions, covering topics from noise levels in restaurants to his review practices. You can read the exhaustive, 15-page Q&A here.
Incidentally, Cliff and I are always happy to answer questions from readers as well – just send us an email at foodanddrink@creativeloafing.com, and we’ll print the answer on this blog.
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.
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.
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?”
Eric Asimov has an interesting story in the New York Times this week about drinking wine at home with teenagers. In it, he learns of a study that showed that introducing wine as part of a meal to teenagers in the home could have a positive impact:
Dr. Vaillant compared 136 men who were alcoholics with men who were not. Those who grew up in families where alcohol was forbidden at the table, but was consumed away from the home, apart from food, were seven times more likely to be alcoholics than those who came from families where wine was served with meals but drunkenness was not tolerated.
Dr. Vaillant goes on to say:
“If you are taught to drink in a ceremonial way with food, then the purpose of alcohol is taste and celebration, not inebriation,†he added. “If you are forbidden to use it until college then you drink to get drunk.â€
Other experts quoted go on to say that the context of the setting is important. If the child sees the parents get drunk, then the child will see that as appropriate use of alcohol.
I grew up in a country that is much more relaxed about alcohol consumption, and where it was acceptable for teenagers to start drinking at a much earlier age (and where the drinking age is 18). My father always allowed me to taste his wine, even as a child, and once I was about 14 I was allowed to have a glass myself. I do think this instilled an appreciation and ability to taste wine rather than just swig it to get drunk. On the other hand, I saw my parents’ friends and sometimes my parents drink heavily at the table and beyond. And I did spend a lot of my teenage years and 20s drinking for the express purpose of getting drunk. I’m not sure I can blame my parents or their behavior for my teenage drinking — I was fairly compelled to do whatever I could to be as stupid as possible for a while in there — but I am sure I can thank my early wine tasting and education for my palate, at least in part.
It seems there’s a new trend in food writing, and it goes beyond the usual critical voice that we critics get to use in regular reviews. This week New York Times critic Frank Bruni chimes in with an article about his restaurant-speak pet peeve. I agree whole-heartedly with Bruni’s assessment, although I think that usually the restaurant specifically trains waiters to speak this way. It’s one of my biggest complaints with restaurant management in Atlanta — even high-end places like Trois obviously force scripted, patronizing, canned language on their service staff.
Also check out this “manifesto” that Leslie Brenner wrote a few weeks back in the L.A. Times, which is a list of “rights” diners should expect to have when showing up at a restaurant.
Of course, I did my own restaurant-bashing a few months ago with my article on the top things restaurants do wrong. But at least I tried to even it out with another article about what customers do wrong. In the battle between bad customers and bad waiters, who will reign supreme as the suckiest group? I say customers, although waiters will no doubt get the most press for their foibles.
A few weeks back in my column about bad customers, I failed to mention the drunkard, one of my most feared foes back when I was a waitress. I don’t know what it was, but drunk customers made me want to die.
This week, Frank Bruni has written an article in the New York Times describing the many exploits of drunkards in New York’s finest restaurants. In it, he muses that New Yorkers are more likely to let loose in nice restaurants because they are less likely to be driving home. Well, I’ve seen the guys in nice suits stumbling out of Bluepointe on Tuesday nights and I’m not sure I agree with Bruni’s theory, although his NY examples include sex, drug use, vomiting and swimming in the pool in the center of Four Seasons’ dining room.
C’mon, Atlanta, I know we’ve got stories this good. Any waiters out there want to venture your best tales of drunken customers?
The New York Times has a fascinating article this week about how much planning, market research and financial risk are involved when a restaurant chain adds a new dish to its menu.
In an anecdote that doesn’t speak well for the sophistication of local diners, the story describes how the folks who run a hometown chain decided that Atlanta wasn’t adventurous enough to handle goat cheese:
Goat cheese, for instance, failed to impress customers when it landed in a salad last year on the menu at the Atlanta Bread Company chain of bakery restaurants, based in their namesake city. That surprised Chris Campagna, the vice president for marketing, who said his customers like to take risks. Those who tried the salad liked it, he said, but there were not enough orders to keep it on the menu.
“It was a little too early for goat cheese,†Mr. Campagna said. But, he vowed, “we’ll try it again a few years down the road.â€
While goat cheese bombed, a sandwich of Cuban roast pork loin with cheese, mustard and roast pickled onions is being served at all 160 of the company’s locations in 24 states, even as far north of Cuba as Beloit, Wis. Modeled after the classic Cuban version, the Atlanta Bread sandwich sells well in areas both with and without sizable Hispanic populations, Mr. Campagna said.
For the most part, however, the company has focused less on ethnic dishes and more on sauces and spreads that can make a sandwich seem more sophisticated. For example, it puts a sun-dried tomato topping on its turkey sandwich, served on ciabatta. “They still want their chicken salad, they still want their turkey, but they want sun-dried-tomato spread and pesto,†Mr. Campagna said.
