 5/10 Good --- www.gothamist.com http://gothamist.com/food/index.xml
Friday, September 19, 2008 --- 63 days ago http://gothamist.com/2008/09/17/course_this_achatz_responds_to_bour.php
 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." ... |
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Anytime
