Alinea. - by Rug Burn Junky
driver on 24/8/2006 at 19:10
That's pretty much my point, Cyberfish. Most of the time when people go to these restaurants with silly french names, no one gives a fig what they ate, they're just trying to show off their wallet size.
I daresay if these restaurants actually served their food in properly sized portions and people could actually put enough in their mouth to get a proper taste, their opinion would change dramatically. As it is, it's all style over substance.
I may very well be an uncultured yob, but I look at the pictures in this thread and the words 'Pretentious' and 'More money than tastebuds' spring to mind.
ignatios on 24/8/2006 at 19:44
Instead of merely looking at the pictures, you could also try reading the thread.
Or would that be too pretentious as well?
Rug Burn Junky on 24/8/2006 at 19:44
Quote:
I daresay if these restaurants actually served their food in properly sized portions and people could actually put enough in their mouth to get a proper taste, their opinion would change dramatically. As it is, it's all style over substance.
That's really the kind of bullshit that someone who doesn't know what they're talking about would say. It's the culinary equivalent of Internet Male Syndrome.
There's a law of diminishing returns when it comes to food. Two hot dogs taste great, 20? not so much.
Would I have been blown away by the corn/coconut if it had been a giant bowl served like custard? Quite possibly not. When you have that much of it, the flavors tend to become more diffuse, and you don't appreciate it. It's the initial impact that makes it so good, the surprise as it changes flavors and reveals characteristics that you didn't expect. That gets lost in larger portions.
But that doesn't mean that the inverse is true. You can't just take anything, reduce it to a tiny portion, and make it impressive. The skill is in being able to find flavors which, in small portions and unexpected forms (powders, foams and gels), still manage to be interesting.
The novelty is part of the experience. 10 1 bite courses can be far more satisfying than 1 ten bite course in this way. You can't appreciate that? Fine, sucks to be you. But that doesn't mean that there isn't real skill going into this, and real pleasure to derived from experiencing it.
Edit: mind you, I don't think that just because something is expensive, it's good. I've been more than let down by overpriced meals in the past. Key difference being, I'm able to figure out when they get it right, and this was definitely knocked out of the park.
driver on 24/8/2006 at 19:50
That's interesting, because
Quote:
The future of cooking? I don't know, but it's certainly a style that will last for a while, because the potential is out of this world.
Is the sort of bullshit that someone who doesn't realised he's been robbed blind by some silly frenchman with would say.
Behold the Emperor's new
clothes cuisine.
Rug Burn Junky on 24/8/2006 at 19:58
If thinking that makes you feel better about yourself, go right ahead.
Fortunately for me, I have the palate to appreciate such things, and I had a fantastic experience. I personally enjoyed it immensely, it was interesting enough to share, and the money didn't phase me in the slightest.
I much prefer that to being an uncultured yob.
Edit: and, uhh, the guy ain't French.
CyberFish on 24/8/2006 at 20:36
driver, I think you read something into my post that wasn't intended. I didn't say people buy and eat fugu because it's expensive and they want to show off - there are far more expensive meals out there - but because it's lethally poisonous if prepared incorrectly. No-one would eat fugu if it was completely harmless, regardless of how much people charged to prepare it. There's something macho about eating something that might have tetrodotoxin in.
(Apparently, fugu prepared really well still has a tiny, tiny trace of the poison in it, just enough to make your lips feel ever so slightly numb.)
Oh, and I'm with RBJ on the small portions tasting better thing. The first bite of something is often the best. Unless, of course, it's something really strange or that doesn't taste anything like you expected, in which case the second bite is better because you know what to expect.
OrbWeaver on 24/8/2006 at 20:36
I don't much care for the poncy cutlery, but the juxtaposition of flavours sounds fascinating. I might try some of his combinations myself (in a somewhat scaled-down fashion, obviously).
Rug Burn Junky on 24/8/2006 at 20:58
Passed this by the first time, but wanted to hit it.
Quote Posted by CyberFish
RBJ, that sounds like a really interesting meal. Not my kind of thing, though. I've had that kind of slightly experimental cookery before and my enjoyment of it was greatly diminished by the fact that it didn't feel like food.
I think GBM touched on this in the thread on the temp forums. It's easy to slide from this into abject pretension, and do it just for the process's sake, losing sight of the end goal of making good food. That was actually my biggest fear going in to this. Things would be too processed and out there, and it would be more science fair than food. But I never got that impression while I was eating, much to my relief.
Quote:
Funnily enough, I had one of the best meals of my life quite recently. Nothing complicated, just very rare steak and a little steamed asparagus and pak choi. However, it seems that going without cutlery does wonders for the experience of eating rare steak.
I can actually do nothing but agree with this sentiment (actually, I'm pretty much of the opinion that there are few things in this world as good as rare steak).
Printer's Devil on 24/8/2006 at 21:56
Quote Posted by ignatios
Instead of merely looking at the pictures, you could also try
reading the thread.
It
would answer a lot of questions and strangle pointless arguments, wouldn't it?
Phydeaux on 25/8/2006 at 02:29
Quote Posted by Rug Burn Junky
Don't bother. Uno's tastes just as shitty in Chicago as it does everywhere else.
Really? I haven't been in Chicago for like 13 years, guess they've gone downhill.
