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Yesterday, chef Grant Achatz of Alinea was slated to deliver a presentation on his eclectic serving implements (the antiplate, tripod, and squid) at the StarChefs ICC. First, however, he had a few words in response to “something that came up with a group of gentlemen,” referring to Anthony Bourdain and English chef Marco Pierre White’s controversial Sunday night panel.
White claimed that 18 course (or more) tasting menus consisting (sometimes) of nontraditional food are injurious to some authentic ideal of cooking, and that a meal with an amuse guele, two courses, and pudding would suffice, thank you. (Frank Bruni also has a problem with tasting menus). “If what I do is pointless, then maybe what Wylie does, what Andoni does, what Jean Georges does, what Charlie Trotter does - maybe it's all pointless,” Achatz said, pacing the stage restlessly.
Achatz, who was the subject of a sprawling New Yorker profile in June, offered a response to his fellow chefs’ dislike for tasting menus, but also to his cooking, sometimes called molecular, sometimes called techno-emotional. “It’s cooking by numbers,” White said on Sunday, seemingly contradicting his previous kind words about Achatz’s cooking. Achatz said that "eating a ripe tomato sprinkled with salt can be a profound emotional experience," but that "there’s room in cooking for more than a piece of fish, roasted on the bone with salt, a squeeze of lemon juice, and olive oil."
By way of example, he shared photos of his food at Alinea. One series of “functional centerpieces” featured a thin slice of wagyu beef, frozen in liquid nitrogen, and suspended from a steel wire at the table. Guests enjoy it visually as they’re served their first few courses, not knowing what it’s for exactly and anticipating its involvement with the meal. Within 27 minutes, the meat melts and turns bright red; when the 5th course arrives- a roasted matsutake mushroom with vinaigrette- the server drapes the raw wagyu on top. Case in point: nothing at Alinea is pointless, not even the centerpiece.
Achatz addressed the perception of chefs who make untraditional food as absent-minded, mad professors with blowout, unkempt hair. “We don't take ourselves too seriously,” he said, “we know it's weird to serve food on something that’s growing” (a slide of a course served on a patch on live greens popped up) “it’s supposed to be fun.” He admitted that some guests refuse to lean forward at a four star restaurant to eat something without their hands as it dangles off an antennae in front of them, “it’s embarrassing, it’s challenging, it’s unexpected. But when is pushing people to think a bad thing?”
“The theme of this congress is the responsibility of a chef,” Achatz concluded, “and the responsibility of a chef is to do everything with purpose.” The audience, including fellow chefs Wylie Dufresne, Johnny Iuzzini, George Mendes, and Franklin Becker, among others, stood up and clapped.
Photo: Achatz taking a question from the audience at StarChefs.
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“We don't take ourselves too seriously”
ha!!
Who cares about any of this shit??
Just make me a grilled cheese sandwich and shut up.
Who the hell cares. They all seem like a bunch of whiney snobs. Now let me get back to my roast beef, roast potatoes, garlic string beans and I'll be happy.
Seriously, #1. Obviously the guy takes himself too seriously. I see the value in molecular gastronomy if it develops new techniques, flavors, textures that wouldn't be possible otherwise. I mean, someone developed the convoluted techniques to produce bread, souffles, sous-vide, etc, so there must be places to go. But to leave a piece of wagyu beef on the table to defrost when the same dish could have been prepared traditionally is showmanship where it's not needed nor wanted. Especially since the finished dish is not anything new or exciting.
And I don't think you have to push americans to think about eating with their hands, without their hands, with their feet. We are slobs after all.
Unfortunately the ultra chic is being rebelled against. This happens all the time. The 80's minimalist craze gave way to the 90's epically large portions craze and back again.
However achatz should not be dismissed as a mere trend. His meals are something completely out of the ordinary. It's a special experience and just because it's been copied doesn't mean that the real thing should be brushed aside in the name of being "in".
These guys should go to Alinea before they critique him.
The good times are over and with them are the pretentious restaurants and cooking.
"Who cares?," ask the commenters that took the time to scan the article and comment...ha.
Pretty sure Achatz wasn't talking to you wankers one-on-one on the telephone from inside a bathtub of Champagne. Jesus, he was talking to a bunch of cooks and people who work in the restaurant industry to whom all this stuff is important.
Big ups Achatz for making a statement. Respect.
He's a dingleberry. A smart dingleberry, but a dingleberry all the same.
Nothing like a good ole chef catfight.
Oh, I hear ya, eating a ripe tomato with salt gets me very emotional. I put on my Rites of Spring record, slowly savor that tomato with salt, and have a cry.
White is desperate to make it in the US. He is so jealous of Gordon Ramsay. All he does in the British press is diss Ramsay at every opportunity. Apparently, on the flight over to New York for this convention, he approached Ramsay and made up their lengthy feud. He has also acquired an American girlfriend who he is taking to the Emmys on Sunday - presumably hoping that Americans will be impressed that he has teamed up with a native New Yorker. When he has appeared on the 'Today' programme, it is sickening to watch him trying to be so swarmy and nice because that is not what he is like in real life in Britain.