GQ magazine has a recent, controversial article from respected food writer Alan Richman that’s worth taking note of.
In his introduction, Richman reckons that something has gone wrong in restaurant kitchens lately.
“Suddenly, a new breed of chefs seems to have decided that they should be cooking not for your pleasure but for their own.”
“In this competitive, male-dominated school of cooking, the dishes that customers are served may be highly inventive and intelligent, but too often they are more self-indulgent than inspired. The result? Restaurants where the only person who needs to be pleased is never you, just the chef.”
Richman describes the work of some chefs as intellectual, yet at the same time often thoughtless. “It goes directly from mind to plate, straddling the line between the creative and the self-indulgent…”
At Trois Mec in Los Angeles, Richman ate grilled cabbage, bone marrow flan, smoked almond milk crème anglaise, and a cured egg. :Together, on one plate,” he says. He wasn’t impressed.
At Odd Duck in Austin, he ate “boudin-infused grits, an ice-cold pickled shrimp, grilled olives, and a fried pork rind. Together, on one plate.” Again, not impressed.
He admitted than one dish he was served was among the tastiest he had eaten all year. “The other was absolutely the worst.”
It is a provocative read and definitely worth the effort, especially for the list: 9 signs you’re dining on Egotarian Cuisine.
For more information see – http://www.gq.com/life/food/201403/alan-richman-egotarian-cuisine
