That’s what my informants are telling me, many of whom had fun visiting
places they’d never been to before. Ah, the allure of the prix fixe meal.
Maybe it should become a fixture on menus from now on.
At any rate, I heard great things about so many restaurants. Friends gushed about how much they enjoyed going up to Hollins House, a place they hadn’t visited before. Others said they always thought of Clouds as simply a popular watering hole, but were delighted by how great the food was. Gabriella was so popular they began running out of some items….
Oswald was packed, and so was Soif where I broke ranks and ordered from the regular menu. Here’s a gorgeous albacore tartare I had as a starter – really almost a meal unto itself. Then I had duck, while my dinner partner enjoyed a beautiful plate of triptip sliced over fingerling potatoes, one of the prix fixe choices.
It was all lots of fun – in fact, many places weren’t actually prepared to handle all the traffic that came in during that first week in October.
Hopefully, it will renew our interest in favorite foods and favorite restaurants again.
Christina;
I’m glad you posted this success story, and have a few comments. At O’mei we didn’t participate because we didn’t hear about it until the day it started. Day late and dollar short … again … damn! No problem: our regular menu offers this sort of deal on a daily basis … albeit in the Chinese mode rather than the European American mode of most of the participating restaurants. I’m very happy this was a success for all, and even more happy that some places are considering making this a year-around thing.
This success story should be a wake-up call for local restaurants featuring meals based in the European American culinary tradition. In my opinion, too many of this type of restaurant have “trendified” themselves out on a limb. Of course, that’s just my opinion. Others may differ.
In my opinion, there is too much emphasis on the media-generated “cutting edge” aspect of dining. Many cooks and restaurateurs seem to have forgotten that excellence can also be achieved by cooking satisfying but “not-too-trendy” meals rooted in their culinary tradition. Many customers have neither the taste nor the pocketbook for “cutting edge” meals on a regular basis. In my experience this “problem” appears mostly in places serving food based on the European American tradition. Why is this the case? Why shouldn’t it be possible to serve excellent food on a daily basis for even less than $20/person? Will the cooks and restauranteurs rise to this challenge? Let’s get back to some basics and make good meals in the European American tradition affordable for a lot more people on a regular basis.
I realize your blog posts and reviews emphasize the “trendy” aspects of the establishments you highlight. Yup, those dishes are beautiful and excellent, no doubt. But it almost seems that the nature of media is dictating what’s depicted. Many excellent “real meals” aren’t so photogenic as your choices … and not usually a subject for the verbiage “foodies” love to use in reviews … but they sure can be pleasing to diners who eat them! And more affordable too.
While I have no problem with “trendiness” being ONE ASPECT of a given menu, I think over-emphasizing this aspect short changes the “everyday meal” segment of the menu. In my experience, restaurants based in the European American culinary tradition seem to cross this line into “over-trendiness” the most easily. I don’t know why that is the case. It shouldn’t have to be that way.
Just imagine what it would be like for all the restaurants whose menus represent the European American culinary heritage to have a wide range of meal pricing every day they’re open! Cooks who know their craft should be able to dig into their culinary heritage and find all sorts of excellent dishes that don’t cost an arm and a leg. A key element to making affordable excellence an everyday event is for cooks and chefs to use ORDINARY ingredients that don’t cost too much. It’s always been a part of my food philosophy that a “real cook” should be able to take very mundane ingredients and turn them into something nutritious, satisfying and entertaining. Essentially, it’s our “magic” … it’s what we’re supposed to know how to do if we call ourselves cooks.
While a cook may reserve a part of his craft for playing on the “cutting edge”, he should maintain a firm grounding in providing good, affordable everyday meals based on the “canon” of the culinary tradition he represents.
Christina, I look forward to more columns from you encouraging local restauranteurs and cooks to focus on AFFORDABLE EVERYDAY EXCELLENCE. Too much focus on the “cutting edge” is a media-generated distortion of what a real culinary culture is all about. Soul-satisfying food in the European-American tradition doesn’t have to be unaffordable to us “regular folks”! Chefs … you’ve just been challenged. I look forward to the results.
Funny rant on behalf of the “common folk” coming from the man who spearheaded a movement to deny “workers”in Santa Cruz County a living “wage” and tacked a “surcharge” onto his already overpriced “food.”
Christina – first of all, I want to thank you so very much for sharing your emotional experience today. i have been having some of those same feelings and the death of youth in any way is a loss to us all that is a shame on our culture. I work to maintain HOPE for the future and faith that we will all find our better selves to offer to our community. Thank you for your humanity and for all you do. Thank you for your website. You make my world better.
Now, Roger- that was quite a lengthy ‘comment’. I want to disagree with you about the “magic’ being present only in simple ‘everyday’ meals. As a person who loves food, cooking, eating out, and reading about food, I find nothing to dis about ‘cutting edge’ food. That is part of the excitement of eating out. It gives us ‘simple’ cooks ideas and surprises. It is part of the reason I eat out! And one comment about Omei – while I love Chinese food and it’s simple ingriedients, I have 2 kids and cannot afford to eat there except rarely. You make good food, but it costs the same as, or sometimes more than, the “cutting edge” meals we usually enjoy when we go out.
Thanks for cooking, and commenting everyone.
kprestridge — you’re cracking me up. Where do you get your story about a “movement” to deny workers a living wage? Funny that the guy you say “spearheaded” whatever it is you’re referring to has no knowledge of any such thing.
As for the Service Charge — it was done for the precise reason of providing a better wage for the cooks at O’mei. We can’t pay more w/o charging more. I’ve never felt that the people who make the food should be condemned to earn 1/2 or less of the wages of those who carry the food to the table.
The whole function of the Service Charge was to address that issue. Sadly, it didn’t work out as expected.
As for the “over-priced” food at O’mei … have you ever wondered why we’re more expensive than most Chinese places ??? Have you ever asked ??? Are you interested in knowing, or do you just prefer the feel of throwing “stuff” through the zoo bars?
One of many reasons O’mei costs more is, unlike most of our “competition”, we pay our employees legally and we also pay all of our taxes. There are many more reasons. “Roger getting rich” is certainly not one of them.
I’ve wanted to discuss this stuff with locals for years, but have never had a platform. We’ll have a new website up in about a month, and it’ll be a blog site where we can talk about my favorite topic: The intersection of cuisine – culture – politics – life. The URL will be http://www.omeichow.com. Nothing there yet, but check back.
Erica — Thanks for the comments. I agree with what you said about Christina’s 10/17 essay. But I don’t think you understood what I was getting at in my “essay”. I probably still have a lot to learn in the communication department.
My point was not that any “magic” is “only present” in everyday meals, but that many restaurants seem to be missing a whole dimension of the “regular food” in their chosen culinary tradition. Of course they should have the cutting edge stuff represented! But what about the people who want to go out and have, let’s say, a well-cooked French-based meal and don’t want to spend $50+/head? In France many places seem to be capable of real French food at “normal” prices so why can’t we have some of that here as well?
Yes O’mei costs more than most Chinese restaurants. See what I said above about that. But I will disagree that we’re as expensive as those “cutting edge” places. Our average per-person ticket has held at a constant $4-$5 less than the Restaurant Week deal of $25/head. And that’s including beverages/appetizers/desserts/everything. As for the “simple ingredients” in “Chinese food” … love to take you on a tour of our “simple ingredient” supply sometime! Let’s just say there’s not much that’s “simple” about juggling over 100 menu items with many ingredients not easily sourced. This is part of what makes us what we are, and also more expensive.
Erica, I too am grateful for comments. The tone of my first comment was a bit “rough” because I’d really like there to be more in-depth discussions of these issues. And not about my restaurant … about the whole so-called “culinary culture” of our area, it’s problems, their source, and some solutions. But I don’t feel good about using Christina’s blog to do this. Check into http://www.omeichow.com in a few months and we can talk more!