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In my experience (admittedly limited to a handful of 2 and 3 star places), a lot of the cost at a starred restaurant is driven by almost neurotic attention to a million tiny details. Individually, those details are almost imperceptible. Taken all together, they result in an overall experience that’s definitely different from even a really nice restaurant. Is it worth it? Maybe once a year. The most memorable meal I ever had cost €11...foie gras and fig flammekuchen with a mixed salad and Belgian beer at a tiny, ancient, riverside cafe in Strasbourg. I have a picture of that meal somewhere...I would honestly choose it over the most expensive meal I’ve ever had at any starred restaurant.
I agree that there are many inexpensive places with great food as well. I treasure these places, and they are part of the great adventure of eating out.
Top ranked restaurants are worth it for a few reasons. That neurotic attention is well described, but it also leads to consistently high quality that is not often found elsewhere. I can think of a restaurant I like in Edinburgh. On a good day, the food is superb. Well worth the price. Other days the food is merely decent. I don’t go often enough to figure out the pattern (I do live 6000 miles away). I have never had a bad meal, but I don’t always get exceptional.
People like different things, people like different experiences, and people have different interpretations of what makes a meal or restaurant "fancy". For some people it's an expensive steakhouse, to others it's a 12-course molecular gastronomy tasting. For many it's probably something else.
I've had really great meals that were expensive and consisted of very small portions. I've had really great cheap meals that left me stuffed. It doesn't have to be an either/or.
This topic comes up a lot and I'm always puzzled by some of the vitrol towards fine dining and molecular gastronomy. If it's not your thing, fine, but really no need to be hostile about it. I've never heard of anyone who has been to a place like Alinea or Noma (including people who have cooked in both) who didn't also love a good taco or bowl of ramen.
This topic comes up a lot and I'm always puzzled by some of the vitrol towards fine dining and molecular gastronomy. If it's not your thing, fine, but really no need to be hostile about it. I've never heard of anyone who has been to a place like Alinea or Noma (including people who have cooked in both) who didn't also love a good taco or bowl of ramen.
I suspect it’s a combination of people preferring to identify as salt of the earth, just good plain folk, and for others it is a matter of economic jealousy.
Spending $100+/person on a meal is extravagant by most standards, and not even an option for many people. Disdaining the idea may be a defense mechanism.
I do agree with you though. While I do love a great gastronomic adventure, I have a favorite food cart in New York, I miss a particular strip mall California-Mexican taco joint from my college days, and I have a soft spot for a good diner breakfast.
I am not a fan of typical fast food like McDonalds, as some other posters are, but that is a personal preference, and I don’t condemn anybody for liking it. They obviously do a lot of things right, as most people eat there regularly.
This was very meditative reading.
As a brief historical trip, when I re united with my mother at 5.5, we lived in dark semi basement with unpainted brick walls and on her salary, when she could buy me milk only maybe once a month. I pretty much grew on mineral water, as it was cheapest to buy. And, basic foods.
I know VALUE of FOOD. I know what being hungry means. And, undernourished. When slice of dark rye bread, even with some mold on the crust, tastes delicious, after you ran outside with buddies for half day and, all you have a home is that bread.
So, yes, this is VERY meditative thread. I wish you all well and never to know, what hunger is. What empty shelves in grocery stores are. What it means to get up at 3am, to be in the first 6 in line to dairy store, that opens at 8am, as only first ten get milk for their children. Or, bread.
Amazing. Also, to be honest, as I cook my own food, so I know what I eat and, my wife is a great cook, I'd never pay someone to make my food. No matter, how little of comodo dragon pineal gland it has in it.
This was very meditative reading.
As a brief historical trip, when I re united with my mother at 5.5, we lived in dark semi basement with unpainted brick walls and on her salary, when she could buy me milk only maybe once a month. I pretty much grew on mineral water, as it was cheapest to buy. And, basic foods.
I know VALUE of FOOD. I know what being hungry means. And, undernourished. When slice of dark rye bread, even with some mold on the crust, tastes delicious, after you ran outside with buddies for half day and, all you have a home is that bread.
So, yes, this is VERY meditative thread. I wish you all well and never to know, what hunger is. What empty shelves in grocery stores are. What it means to get up at 3am, to be in the first 6 in line to dairy store, that opens at 8am, as only first ten get milk for their children. Or, bread.
Amazing. Also, to be honest, as I cook my own food, so I know what I eat and, my wife is a great cook, I'd never pay someone to make my food. No matter, how little of comodo dragon pineal gland it has in it.
Okay.....I don't think anyone is making a reservation 6 weeks out at the French Laundry because they are literally starving though.
One of our best meals in Italy was a small 4-5 table space in someone's home. The city was Stresa, along a part of Lago Maggiore in northern Italy.
I've been to France several times. The best food I had there was in Antibes. I also had what I call the "French Misconnection" in Marseilles, a dish called Andouillette.
We save our money to go to high quality restaurants with great food and service, none of which are French. There are no good Cajun nor Creole restaurants where we live. They would be about as close to a "French" restaurant as we would come.
I live in Lafayette Louisiana. I grew up on gumbo, ettouffee, jambalaya, and boudin.
This topic comes up a lot and I'm always puzzled by some of the vitrol towards fine dining and molecular gastronomy. If it's not your thing, fine, but really no need to be hostile about it. I've never heard of anyone who has been to a place like Alinea or Noma (including people who have cooked in both) who didn't also love a good taco or bowl of ramen.
Alinea was one of our top dining experiences of all time. Nothing short of brilliant. But, as you say, I also love a good $3 taco, if it is prepared well with fresh ingredients.
Those super small plates, a characteristic of "Nouvelle Cuisine" are mostly left back in the 80s and 90s.
True enough that most plates at fancier restaurants are smaller than the plates at family restaurants, but those portions are actually not small, they are normal.
An 8 to 10 ounce steak is normal.
A cup of rice is normal.
A pile of food 4 inches high spilling over the sides of a plate the size of a hubcap is not normal.
I am no snob, though. I go to restaurants that have termendous portions pretty frequently, and some of them are my favorite restaurants. You pretty much can't avoid huge plates at many mom n pop New Mexican restaurants around me. I just structure the rest of my meals for the day around the fact that I am goiung to be served a 3,000 calorie plate of food for dinner.
Those super small plates, a characteristic of "Nouvelle Cuisine" are mostly left back in the 80s and 90s.
True enough that most plates at fancier restaurants are smaller than the plates at family restaurants, but those portions are actually not small, they are normal.
An 8 to 10 ounce steak is normal.
A cup of rice is normal.
A pile of food 4 inches high spilling over the sides of a plate the size of a hubcap is not normal.
I am no snob, though. I go to restaurants that have termendous portions pretty frequently, and some of them are my favorite restaurants. You pretty much can't avoid huge plates at many mom n pop New Mexican restaurants around me. I just structure the rest of my meals for the day around the fact that I am goiung to be served a 3,000 calorie plate of food for dinner.
I remember that nouvelle cuisine crap. One tiny scallop in a gorgeously decorated plate with different sauces but in the end it was one tiny scallop and a baby carrot and I needed to eat something afterwards. A few years after all that, it did change. They went back to serving beautifully plated well made meals.
But after all that, there’s nothing better than a good bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich. Yummy yummy. With avocado.
I remember that nouvelle cuisine crap. One tiny scallop in a gorgeously decorated plate with different sauces but in the end it was one tiny scallop and a baby carrot and I needed to eat something afterwards. A few years after all that, it did change. They went back to serving beautifully plated well made meals.
But after all that, there’s nothing better than a good bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich. Yummy yummy. With avocado.
Restaurant in Varna Bulgaria. Green salad, lentil herb soup, bread, steamed potato balls, stewed pork cubes in a light sauce, and a light pastry sweetened with a drizzle of honey. The salad came first, then the soup, then the main course (bread, potatoes, & pork), and then the desert.
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Solly says — Be nice!
