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Although the mystique and innovation of New York City has dimmed over the last few years -- what was once, as countless New Yorkers have described it to us, a mecca for richly-textured thought and poeples has now revealed itself as simply a large museum city brimming with tell-it-like-it-is-esque reality show contestant types -- the food culture there is as popular as ever. Even the chefs there still think of themselves as rock stars. Which is adorable.
The most recent example? David Chang. A couple of weeks ago, he had the unmitigated gall to criticize the food in Baghdad by the Bay.
When asked about San Francisco, Chang verbally fist-bumped:
Fuckin' every restaurant in San Francisco is just serving figs on a plate. Do something with your food.
Whoa. Talk about cutting the bullshit and being real. Alice Waters just passed out in her polenta.
As intentionally annoying as Chang comes off, he can't be all that bad; he loathes cupcakes. "I hate fuckin' cupcakes," he cursed. (He's right. A cupcake's frosting-to-cake ratio should only be enjoyed by children with underdeveloped palates, or your girlfriend at the peak of her menstruation cycle.) He also (rightfully) calls out Waters on her elite food philosophy, an idea that will never trickle down to the masses.
Chang's terse comments, however, got him in trouble. The Asia Society in San Francisco recently canceled a cookbook signing with Chang over his anti-Frisco comments. Which was a bizarre move on ASSF's end. Of course, his comments might have been taken out of context. Much like all things New York, we're sure it was more complicated than we could possibly imagine.
Update: Over at Eater, Anthony Bourdain admonished Asia Society program director Robert Bullock for silencing Chang's book appearance. Bourdain, shockingly, has a point. Bullock effectively made San Francisco look like the butt-hurt buffoon it sometimes is. (Then again, this is California and this kind of reaction is all too common. If you get all up in our face, we won't go toe-to-toe with you at the nightclub; we'll just have you thrown out of it. Alas.)
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He can shove one of Elizabeth Faulkners (over frosted) fig infused cupcakes right up his infected pee hole.
I don't really care either way, but surely Chang and to a perhaps lesser extent Bourdain must realize that they and their philosophy regarding food and food culture are much closer to Waters than the common man they supposedly speak for, right?
Case in point - I had a really mediocre cheeseburger at a bar downtown for dinner last night, and enjoyed every morsel. Take that foodies!
How many restaurants are just serving figs on a plate? I think CP commonly has fresh fruit as an item, but anywhere else? I eat at plenty of trendy restaurants in the City but have never seen a plate of figs as dessert. Sure figs are part of dishes all over the place, but alone, no.
Isn't there a Fig Burger available at the new Middle Class Burger Hole in Union Square?
I hate to say it, but Chang's kinda right. There is a lot of very good, well executed food, but not much that's very adventurous.
We could, and should be much better represented when it comes to the cutting edge.
This is a good point. We could be more daring with our food here.
Sadly, when a place does try anything inventive, said restaurant or chef is erroneously slammed by critics or newbie foodies as "too LA" or "over-hyped."
Case study: Is this how people feel about Alembic? I think they're pretty great. Nice people, good drinks, food is terrific when it's not (admittedly) being adventurous to a fault. They're usually playing good music too. My only complain with them is their bummer location.
Huh. Sounds like somebody's jealous of our gorgeous local produce.
This makes the criticism sting worse. We are blessed by the access we have to fresh food and it gives us an unfair advantage over most places.
I agree with this too. I saw an esteemed produce section in NYC once. It was mortifying.
Well, I'd have to say the man behind Momofuku has a right to make such a brazen statement - I'm not a foodie (had a burger at Perry's on The Embarcadero - hey, it was only $5.75 (Monday special), for example), but Momofuku's got the goods ... and pricing is down to earth (3-course lunch two Sundays ago cost me $20).
I suppose that's true, if we value fuss, and overproduction, and coked-up angry chefs.
On the other hand, if we presuppose value in simplicity and elegance...
But that's not "cutting edge."
Chang shot Biggie!
West Coast 4eva!
this A-hole's never heard of Chris Cosentino? agree with the 'jealous' comment.
He's right of course. Maybe he overstates it -- it's not not EVERY restaurant in town, but there's way too much "shopping" and not enough cooking in this town. Maybe the fact that we have "gorgeous local produce" is one reason cooks/chefs are unwilling to mess with them too much.
There's a bit too much orthodoxy among the chattering classes here in regards to our food. We have a lot of great, inventive chefs here (Cosentino and Dennis Leary from Canteen come immediately to mind), I just wish we had more places where the menu didn't read like some farmer's market shopping list. I'd rather have a dessert that was a product of the chef/pastry chef's imagination/skill/technique than a "gorgeous" painstakingly sourced peach.
Oh, NYers have always whined about SF, but when did we start caring?
Said best:
It's absolutely shameful that a cultural institution--in a city once famous for its championing of free speech and dissent--would refuse association with what is inarguably an important book over a few ill formed and ill considered hurt feelings. Mr. Bullock suggests that he was concerned that to have continued to host Mr. Chang would have "jeopardized Asia Society's relationship with local chefs." Which is exactly when anyone with principles or a spine would stand firm. Instead, he's made himself and all those who sail within him look ridiculous, reinforcing (unfairly) the worst stereotypes about a great city...
Ah, the revered David Chang and his Momo-fuk-u-too serving the best of worn out Asian fusion cuisine and $16 bowls of ramen. Flavored milk bars? That's what passes for innovation in NYC these days!
Too much frosting? Part of the reason I hate cupcakes is because they don't have enough frosting! I mean, yeah, the main reason is because of their cutesy/trendy nonsense, but their biggest problem is distributing frosting unevenly over the cake layer leaving you with plenty of frostingless bites.
Cake only exists as a conduit for the distribution of frosting. Definitely not so you can ooh and ahh over how cute and tiny they are.
"Alas"? I guess it's wimpy and West Coast to go to a club to drink, dance, and score rather than see some reenactment of the Love Is A Battlefield video.
The guy has the right to his bullshit opinions, but that doesn't mean The Asia Society has to support him. If he hates this place so much, why the hell is he even here? And cutting edge doesn't necessarily mean good. Sometime simple is better - well made charcuterie, Red Hawk cheese with local honey and apples, perfectly ripe tomatoes with fresh pesto.