Like being only cool fashion-forward kid who wears jeans a certain way and then suddenly see it copped not only by your neighbors, but by the Gap to bring to the kids in Peoria, the Daily News looks at chefs who have felt the burn when
dishes that they have created are copied with nary a glance backward, but more of a middle finger backward, it seems. One dish to be mercilessly imitated: Daniel Boulud's foie-gras, short rib, and truffles stuffed sirloin burger, the DB burger at DB Bistro Moderne.
Douglas Rodriguez of Ola says: "There's no code of ethics or honor" among chefs. "It's the dirtiest, most back-stabbing business. You get stabbed by ex-employees. People steal people. People steal ideas. People steal dishes. That's the way it is." And Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 says, "The whole process of learning this skill is about copying before you can create," though he finds "flat-out ripping off" disgraceful.
The article also discusses five dishes that launched a thousand imitators: Miso-glazed black cod (Nobu Matsuhisa); High-rise food (credited to Alfred Portale), Potato-wrapped sea bass (Daniel Boulud), Turbot with comte crust (Jacques Qualin), and tableside guacamole (Rosa Mexicano). Tableside guacamole is a dish that Gothamist is thrilled to have been adapted in many other places but thinks it's just not in enough. There's no such thing as too much guacamole, and we love seeing the molcajete being filled with avocado, cilantro, onions, and tomato.
