By official foodie standards, street foods are a mere Food Network hit away from being pronounced a fine-dining phenomenon. We already have big-name chefs spotlighting simple boulevard fare in Los Angeles (Susan Fenniger, at Street), Chicago (Rick Bayless at Xoco), New York (David Chang at Momofuku Ssam Bar, Zakary Pelaccio with his vegetable and pork buns at Fatty crab), and even Boston (Ming Tsai with his “bing” street dumplings at Blue Ginger.)
C’mon, San Francisco and Minneapolis, you need to get with it.
Otherwise you’re going to be left in the road dust from one of the more sensible trends to hit high-end dining in some time. Flavorful fare that’s inexpensive, a great complement to drinks, and likely at its best in an informal setting—I’m starting to tear up over here.
No doubt more momentum was added this morning with the news that Paul Kahan, the talent behind Chicago’s The Publican and Blackbird, will unveil his entry, Big Star, within the next few months (Kahan gets extra credit for naming the place after one of the greatest bands of all time; I’ll wear a sandwich board and hawk the place myself if he involves Alex Chilton in the publicity).
But the real sonic boom may well come next month, when the Culinary Institute of America devotes its annual foodie fest, the Worlds of Flavor conference in Napa Valley, to street foods. The culinary Harvard’s Greystone campus, one of the most advanced cooking facilities in the world, will focus on the simple fares of Latin, Asian and European marketplaces. Is there any doubt the trend is building to gale force?
Speaking as a consumer who always preferred casual over haute, I view this current right up there with the spread of electricity and the invention of the electric guitar. For the smokey delight of some unfamiliar protein or vegetable, cooked over flame or in some similarly simple fashion to deliver flavor, this is world-changing. It’s also the perfect antidote to molecular gastronomy, or what I tend to view as good eating’s NASA Period.
I may even have to celebrate by heading out to Queens for some real street food. Unlike the high-end variety now sweeping the market, it comes with the added thrill of a food-safety roll of the dice.
But have you tried that roasted ears of corn slathered with mayo and cheese--all for two or three bucks?
Showing posts with label celebrity chefs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celebrity chefs. Show all posts
Monday, October 12, 2009
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Trying to cook up the next Restaurant Week
Zagat is rallying 17 of New York’s most worshipped chefs for an off-beat promotion that one coordinator likened to Restaurant Week, the business booster now used by restaurants from coast to coast.
Stanley Lobel, the Babe Ruth of butchers, said the Vintage Dinner Series could give a lasting lift to the bottom lines of restaurants everywhere by teaching the public to eat low-cost meats that haven’t been seen in kitchens for 100 years.
The promotion calls for a series of banquets featuring dishes, drinks and cocktails from the 19th century. Various signatures of that age will be served—apparently in copious quantities—at the participating restaurants on different nights from Jan. 12 through March 25.
“Each restaurant will hold its own banquet inspired by the 19th century,” with menus varying from feast to feast, explained Tim Zagat, co-publisher of the merlot-colored bibles of sport dining. Seating will be limited, and participants will be charged an all-inclusive price consistent with the host restaurant’s regular menu prices. Translation: Something stratospheric for Per Se, where a normal meal costs the equivalent of a Caribbean vacation, but only skyscraper high at a place like Le Bernardin, chef Eric Ripert’s celebrated outpost.
Lobel, who helped Zagat hatch the idea, cited such banquet menu possibilities as a stuffed calf’s heart. “We all know that’s a round piece of meat that looks like a heart,” explained Lobel, whose family runs Lobel’s of New York, the DeBeers of proteins. But, he conjectured, what if it was stuffed and baked into something delicious? “The cost on that is extremely reasonable and can be given away at a very attractive price.”
“We’re going to see unusual cuts of beef and lamb that are going to be a lot more economical,” he said. “I think that’s going to trickle down to all restaurants.”
He also cited beef liver as a Gilded Age favorite—“not calf’s liver, which is what you usually see. I’m talking beef liver, baked, finished off on the grill so there’s a charred outside, topped with my favorite spice, garlic.”
In addition, “one of the things I’m going to ask the chefs to look into is the blood of the animal,” he said, noting that it was used as “a healer” during the 1800s. He explained that the chefs may want to use it “as gravies, as dippings, as sauces.”
“We’re going to have some meals we haven’t seen in 100 years,” said Zagat. He noted such possible components as game, or, on the drinks side, punches and vintage cocktails. In addition, the banquets might resurrect the sort of presentation showmanship that dazzled Diamond Jim Brady—wows like Cherries Jubilee.
Zagat said the Vintage promotion was conceived as a way of bringing back classic dishes “that have disappeared from American culture.
“This is not just to have a series of parties,” he said. “This is to bring back a lot of what we have lost.”
Lobel, who is working with the chefs to craft authentic 1800s menus, was more straightforward about the potential business payback. “The last time the restaurant industry got a kick was Restaurant Week a few years ago,” he said.
Actually, Restaurant Week began more than a few years ago. A number of restaurants in the city decided in the 1980s to give their lunch traffic a boost during the heat of summer by all offering three-course meals for a price base don the year--$19.88, $19.89, etc. It’s now held twice a year in New York, in winter as well as summer, and has been copied by restaurateurs from coast to coast.
As part of the Vintage Dinner Series, participating restaurants will be asked to donate one table to a charity of their choice. Presumably the seats will be auctioned off or someone be used as a money-raising prize.
Zagat said reservations for the dinners would be handled individually by each place. “I think a lot of the restaurants will be sold out by the end of the day,” he said.
The participating chefs include such marquee-topping stars as Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich of Del Posto, Thomas Keller of Per Se, Alain Ducasse of Adour, Charlie Palmer of Aureole, David Bouley of Bouley, Tom Valenti of Ouest and David Barber of Blue Hill. The complete list is available at Zagat’s web page for New York restaurants.
Stanley Lobel, the Babe Ruth of butchers, said the Vintage Dinner Series could give a lasting lift to the bottom lines of restaurants everywhere by teaching the public to eat low-cost meats that haven’t been seen in kitchens for 100 years.
The promotion calls for a series of banquets featuring dishes, drinks and cocktails from the 19th century. Various signatures of that age will be served—apparently in copious quantities—at the participating restaurants on different nights from Jan. 12 through March 25.
“Each restaurant will hold its own banquet inspired by the 19th century,” with menus varying from feast to feast, explained Tim Zagat, co-publisher of the merlot-colored bibles of sport dining. Seating will be limited, and participants will be charged an all-inclusive price consistent with the host restaurant’s regular menu prices. Translation: Something stratospheric for Per Se, where a normal meal costs the equivalent of a Caribbean vacation, but only skyscraper high at a place like Le Bernardin, chef Eric Ripert’s celebrated outpost.
Lobel, who helped Zagat hatch the idea, cited such banquet menu possibilities as a stuffed calf’s heart. “We all know that’s a round piece of meat that looks like a heart,” explained Lobel, whose family runs Lobel’s of New York, the DeBeers of proteins. But, he conjectured, what if it was stuffed and baked into something delicious? “The cost on that is extremely reasonable and can be given away at a very attractive price.”
“We’re going to see unusual cuts of beef and lamb that are going to be a lot more economical,” he said. “I think that’s going to trickle down to all restaurants.”
He also cited beef liver as a Gilded Age favorite—“not calf’s liver, which is what you usually see. I’m talking beef liver, baked, finished off on the grill so there’s a charred outside, topped with my favorite spice, garlic.”
In addition, “one of the things I’m going to ask the chefs to look into is the blood of the animal,” he said, noting that it was used as “a healer” during the 1800s. He explained that the chefs may want to use it “as gravies, as dippings, as sauces.”
“We’re going to have some meals we haven’t seen in 100 years,” said Zagat. He noted such possible components as game, or, on the drinks side, punches and vintage cocktails. In addition, the banquets might resurrect the sort of presentation showmanship that dazzled Diamond Jim Brady—wows like Cherries Jubilee.
Zagat said the Vintage promotion was conceived as a way of bringing back classic dishes “that have disappeared from American culture.
“This is not just to have a series of parties,” he said. “This is to bring back a lot of what we have lost.”
Lobel, who is working with the chefs to craft authentic 1800s menus, was more straightforward about the potential business payback. “The last time the restaurant industry got a kick was Restaurant Week a few years ago,” he said.
Actually, Restaurant Week began more than a few years ago. A number of restaurants in the city decided in the 1980s to give their lunch traffic a boost during the heat of summer by all offering three-course meals for a price base don the year--$19.88, $19.89, etc. It’s now held twice a year in New York, in winter as well as summer, and has been copied by restaurateurs from coast to coast.
As part of the Vintage Dinner Series, participating restaurants will be asked to donate one table to a charity of their choice. Presumably the seats will be auctioned off or someone be used as a money-raising prize.
Zagat said reservations for the dinners would be handled individually by each place. “I think a lot of the restaurants will be sold out by the end of the day,” he said.
The participating chefs include such marquee-topping stars as Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich of Del Posto, Thomas Keller of Per Se, Alain Ducasse of Adour, Charlie Palmer of Aureole, David Bouley of Bouley, Tom Valenti of Ouest and David Barber of Blue Hill. The complete list is available at Zagat’s web page for New York restaurants.
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