I don't find it funny to poke fun at anyone who is serious about what they do.

C'mon, lighten up, suzi. It's only food! Some of the tasting menu places have become almost ludicrously divorced from everyday dining.

Even the owners of Atera thought the 2014 Halloween video somebody in Chicago produced that satirized Atera, was funny. They even helped publicize it.

I guess you've never been served a "salad" that consisted of dabs of gels, poufs of foam, two slices of 'compressed' radish and exactly 7 single-leaf microgreens. I won't name the restaurant that served us that as part of a $300/pp tasting menu! Possibly the epitome of what my spouse now calls "frou-frou food", LOL.

It reminded me of an episode of Chopped where the competing chefs are given a basket of ingredients with a ridiculous ringer.

OMG that's funny!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing it. I'm not sure what's better, the cracked in the kitchen and arranged just so eskimo pie or the brûléed snack cake. What makes it especially funny is how beautiful the presentations are of stuff that can be bought (except maybe the pansies) at a convenience store. :)

Given its from a site that worships every hot restaurant or food trend that emerges, I find it perfectly acceptable to inject a bit of self-deprecation into the mix. I especially enjoyed the genoise brulee avec "cream filling" and the espuma of some mystery essence in the last dish.

What was that Dorothy said to Toto? [LOL]

San Francisco is surely as different as OZ. ;)

Grainlady, I enjoyed your post about what might happen to an Eskimo Pie now and growing your microgreens, as I did the video itself.

You remind me, though, about an article I read about a thriving small town in a landscape of ghost towns. Apparently, many years back they decided that it was important to keep their main street and environs looking current and inviting. Not redevelopment--repairs and paint and window boxes type spiffiness of the hundred+ year old buildings. They encouraged tourism, and welcomed new businesses, and have been thriving because they made their dying town into an interesting destination. I also recently saw a profile of a 3-4 star restaurant in small town far from a city, maybe in Texas?, where they were doing European style fine dining. People would travel from the cities to eat there. I've also encountered fine dining in the most out of the way places in the West. All it takes is a chef who wants to live in a small town, and some good word of mouth and advertising, apparently.

A craft brewery with upscale pub food, a locavore general store with a 'net store to de-localify some of their offerings, a cheap grub from scratch place, and a destination fine dining, maybe in cooperation with a bed and breakfast, can be the heart of a reason for food oriented folks to drop money in an town. Add to that a decent antique shop, regional art gallery, interpretive center for the local stories, and you soon have a revitalization that lifts all boats. And it's something that no big box store can undermine.

Last week we were on holiday in a part of France called the Morbihan where a lot of rich people keep boats and expensive houses. One menu we looked at had for a starter : 3 oysters and 3 prawns. We nearly fell over laughing and went to another town for lunch. Things can get so silly!

IC...I don't get it. Was that the name of the dish? Wouldn't three oysters and three prawns be an appropriate starter? Maybe yours are smaller than ours? Or was it the price?

I get it about the laughing and going to another town. I would. If I knew what the joke was.

You don't serve 3 oysters here, you serve at least 6, usually a dozen. A dish of prawns - well you'd expect an aful lot more than 3. The ones here are very small I think compared with what you're used to. It was the meanness that got us. The plate would have been either very empty or there would have been a lot of decoration. EIther way, you'd be hungry. And the place wasn't cheap.

Recently, some people I know were treated a dinner at MASA, a sushi restaurant in NYC.

I can understand some restaurants charge a lot of money because their recipes require very special preparations.

What do you do with sushi? is there such a thing as recipe for sushi? You don't even cook the fish for sushi.

A typical dinner at MASA for one person is about $1,000!!!

Don't worry, MASA is not going out of business soon. Reservation takes about a month.

dcarch

@dcarch. The cost of high grade sushi fish will put just about any protein to shame. But really the omakase menu is likely as complex to prepare as any Molecular cuisine or Classical French menu. I have not eaten there but they appear to have very complex creations with fois gras and Kobe beef. Now is it worth it? People continue to pay those prices for these experiences.

There is a three star Michelin restaurant near our loft. -- the price is close to 1000 per person with the wine flight tax and service. And likewise the place is completely booked. I peered into the kitchen one morning while walking the dog. I saw swarms of staff and piles of copper pots atop a huge Molteni range. I believe they have their own farm where they grow their own produce. Is it worth it? I'll likely not know. I can appreciate a high level of cuisine but that to me is not something I'm comfortable with.

Where you're talking $1000 per head, when it's not a fundraiser, it's still not about the food. The food might be utterly amazing (should be at that price) but it's the entertainment value that people are paying for. The "experience" as Gooster said. Price is also about gatekeeping. You can go egalitarian with a lottery (e.g., world series tickets for the non-subscribers), first come (any wristband line), show the love (best friends, friends, vocal fans, fans, in order, and perhaps a lottery after the list, so tweeting them a lot gets you higher on the list), etc. The other thing you can do when your places are significantly fewer than requests is raise the price until you have superdemand (booked a month out) but still can offer spots to callers that aren't an impossible, unknowable future away. Plus, when you raise the price without over-shrinking the demand, you make more money. The pressure to perform is that much greater, but if you're in a most mistakes are preventable situation, it's not a biggie.

It's not about "worth". It's about supply and demand.

IC, if three of each seems "mean" to you for a starter for one person, I'm sure you have smaller items, or perhaps bigger expectations. Of course we have a lot of people here trying to keep themselves underweight, would would order that starter and a vegetable salad with no dressing, no main or dessert, and call it a big dinner. :) Maybe some of them leaked out to the pleasure craft near that restaurant, and they're just catering to them. :)

Plllog LOL You'd certainly stay thin with 3of each though I've never heard of anyone getting fat eating prawns. It's a popular holiday place - people of all budgets - thousands of people like us, camping. I think the more moneyed people with the big boats eat in more high-end places. Like this gorgeous thalasso hotel

Oooh! That is gorgeous! 'Course, I'd rather camp, if there's shade, than stay in that big a place. It looks like a cruise ship!

It's very beautiful in reality. Hotel Miramar, Port le Crouesty, Arzon. in case you want a better look!. Owned by a Sheik. we had a lovely shady camping space. I love sleeping in a tent. Finished for this year, though, sadly!

I love a good tent too. We have an expedition tent with a good rainfly. In the Summer in the Rockies, there are a lot of storms, but being tucked up dry and watching the shadows drift with the rain, breathing the ionized air, is really wonderful. (I'm sure it's a lovely hotel--just big and no leaf shadows.)

I can't afford to do a lot of the super "fine" dining but love to watch the cooking shows and Chopped is a favorite. The other morning I fixed breakfast and was throwing things together from the fridge. Ended up making some cheese grits and then sauteed applewood smoked bacon bits, mushrooms and onion together. Since my fiancee doesn't like soft yolk I scrambled his egg. The fun part was when I plated and served it to him. I put a nice spoonfull of the grits down with a slight hollow then the bacon mushroom mixture and topped it off with the egg. Garnish with chopped chives. Told him it was a cheese polenta, bacon hash with gentle scrambled egg. He laughed so hard I had to get him water . . . then he said so you made me grits with egg.