An open letter to Atlanta chefs
Dear Atlanta chefs,
I write this letter with respect and admiration and, in some instances, love for all the hard work you do. But I have to deliver a tough message, and it is this: You need to up your game.
Four months ago I started dining out again as a restaurant critic for this newspaper after a five-year hiatus. I haven’t hit every major restaurant yet but have been to enough to witness a real change from my last go-round at this job. The standards aren’t what they used to be.
The economy hasn’t been nice to the restaurant community. In particular, the decimation of the top tier — the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton Buckhead, Seeger’s, Joel — means fewer young chefs get the kind of exacting, old-school European training they need to run their own kitchens.
This May, thousands of visitors are going to descend on our city for the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, and they will be eager to see the vibrant, exciting contemporary Southern cooking that we’re known for. Let’s show it to them. But first, consider these 10 requests — pleas, really — that will make Atlanta a better place to chow down.
1. Please work on your execution: Set high standards, train your cooks well, and if you don’t yet trust them to execute the food as well as you do, don’t leave the kitchen. I can’t tell you how many good restaurants have served me limp salad greens, pan-fried fish without crisp skin, steaks without sear and seasoning that is all over the place.
2. Dazzle us with your finesse: People go out to restaurants to eat the kinds of dishes they can’t make at home. We want to marvel at how you cut that amazingly tender braised short rib into such a perfect square or how you coaxed that infinitely velvety texture from a parsnip.
3. Think about our health: When I look to the stars, it appears the heavenly body that brought us this Age of Meat is in retrograde. People are starting — gingerly — to speak of vegetables and sensible eating again. But the “gluttony-is-good” ethos just won’t go away. Pork fat and bacon are delicious — even more so in moderation. I hate that feeling of going home clutching my stomach, even after leaving half the food on my plate.
4. Show some wit: Each dish should be a story well told, even if it’s one that has been told many times before. Maybe you are making a beet and goat cheese salad, or macaroni and cheese. Instead of cutting the beets into wedges, you might sliver them into carpaccio rounds. And with so many La Brea truffle oil pit versions of mac and cheese around town, wouldn’t it be fun to envision one that is surpassingly light and delicate?
5. Don’t be afraid of sauce: I don’t miss the days of sticky and overly salty reduction sauces with meat and wading pools of butter with fish. But I do long for dishes with a small pool of sauce bridging the flavors of protein and garnish — those bites of food that register on the palate as three-part harmony. These days I see many dishes that are damp and greasy with butter, but none have that one perfect spoonful of beurre blanc that clings to a perfectly warmed plate and resonates with the flavors of shallot and wine.
6. Be casual in the right way: I’ve eaten a lot of simple down-home food from gorgeous plates in design meccas of urban rusticity in this city. Now I’d like to eat an amazing plate of thoughtful food in a crappy little room with mismatched chairs and plates. Don’t set the stage for casual; just be casual and cook like there’s no tomorrow.
7. Work toward the new fusion: Atlanta is one of the country’s best cities for new immigrant cooking. Our mainstream restaurants need to better reflect the reality of today’s multiethnic South. Have you heard of the Indian vegetable called drumstick? It can be as delicious as artichokes. Have you tried mashing boniato sweet potatoes, which are as white as clouds? Have you ever tried a sprig of fresh fenugreek at the DeKalb Farmers Market? Might you consider trying local goat for a winter special? If you like to go to Korean joints on Buford Highway, do you ever think about how to incorporate those flavors (chile, garlic, sugar, fermented vegetables) to a smart, wine-friendly dining sensibility?
8. Make one thing really well: This whole food truck mania is not about the pleasures of diesel fumes and plastic forks. It’s about young cooks who make brilliant pizza, or serious ice cream, or bizarrely original tacos. Every chef needs a signature dish that is all hers or his, a lure to the restaurant, a mouthful of nothing-else-like-it that diners dream of days later.
9. Surprise us: I recently went to a restaurant I really like and have to say my heart sank a bit when the waitress said the soup special was butternut squash. What’s special about that? Everyone makes it. Is anyone trying a cream of turnip, or kohlrabi, or escarole, or carrot with cumin, or Sea Island red pea with country ham, or wild lamb’s quarters with black cardamom and ginger, or …
10. Finally, show us your unique POV: I know many of your customers want a burger, or a steak, or the same sorry dish you’ve been making for 10 years and, well, sure: The customer’s always right. But you went into this line of work to show us who you are as a chef. Show me something that you, personally, in your most uncompromising state of mind, want to eat. Try and advance the agenda. This city needs you more than ever.
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251 comments Add your comment
Bette Harrison
January 18th, 2011
9:35 am
From @Hcat: Honey, you are one bitter wench. Maybe you need to go back to your meth-smoking roots in the kitchen.
Honey, MY drug of choice is NOT meth.
Chip Shoulder
January 18th, 2011
9:36 am
Point 11:
Wouldn’t it be great to see a chef throw caution to the wind and close a neighborhood restaurant featuring solid, reasonably priced, creative bistro fare in order to focus his or her efforts on an upscale burger joint?
Rick Day
January 18th, 2011
9:40 am
As the owner of a restaurant in Midtown Atlanta, I’d respond to the critic with a simple: YOU REPRESENT EVERYTHING THAT IS PRETENTIOUS ABOUT DINING OUT.
If you don’t think our fennelgreek is fresh enough, then OPEN A DAMN RESTAURANT yourself.
Needs more sauce? YOU NEED MORE SAUCE. uppity=you
LawDawg
January 18th, 2011
9:47 am
I guess being a food critic is not as good a job as I thought, what with all the terrible food you are subjected to (woe is me). Here is an idea: avoid bad restaurants and go to the good ones. Within the last month, I have had fantastic meals at Abbatoire, Holeman and Finch, Kyma, and Bistro Niko. And, really, Joel was that big a loss?
LawDawg
January 18th, 2011
9:47 am
Oh, and JCT Kitchen, which seems to hit almost all of your points.
Vanilla Latte
January 18th, 2011
10:10 am
Dear Chef,
It’s simple…if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen! Shut up and COOK…(with love, passion and conviction) and we’ll taste it in your food. That is all.
S/N …..THANK YOU Mr. Food Critic (*muah-muah*)…BRAVO!!!!
Jed
January 18th, 2011
10:48 am
BURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Andy
January 18th, 2011
10:55 am
John, if the point of your critique is to start a discussion on the state of the restaurant industry. Good job. Clearly, reading the comments there’s lots of strong feeling on both sides. I don’t really have a problem with the sentiment of the review. But I would like to take issue with the specifics.
Is it right to generalize to this degree? All Atlanta chefs? Really? 4 months, 13 weeks, 3 or 4 restaurants a week. So what’s your sample, 50 or 60 restaurants, maybe a 100 meals? So you can really give a state of the business review? Zagat’s Atlanta review has 700+ restaurants. That’s a lot of places and dishes you haven’t considered.
Sure there is lack of execution and finesse, nobody is perfect. I know there are plenty of places with high standards and good training that shoot for constant improvement with their food and service. To think otherwise is ridiculous.
Most if not all restaurants have incorporated healthy choices into their menus. Could there be more, sure. That being said, menus of successful restaurants reflex what people will buy and not what they won’t. If guest demand healthier choices chefs and restaurateur will offer them. If you eat so much you’re uncomfortable, pretty sure that’s on you, not the chef. Eat less, have the leftovers for lunch. Some folks might consider that a good value.
If I hear one more expert carry on about “the narrative” of this or that I think I’ll lose my mind. Will the beets tell a better story in rounds as opposed to wedges, I doubt it. Technique, ingredients, presentation, seasoning, this is what make a dish special. Is the story better with poorly prepared fresh local organic beets and local goat cheese, as a opposed perfectly executed fresh beets and goat cheese from Sysco?
Sauce? Atlanta………the city that can’t make a sauce. Not sure if this is puerile, maybe. Or perhaps some of that wit food critics break out from time to time to tell their “story”. Maybe those out of town chefs at the Food and Wine Fest will show us how to make a passable beurre blanc.
Make one thing really well? Or maybe take a risk with with ingredients that you and your guest may not be familiar with? Tough questions. How about execute what ever your serving, well! People want choices, and they want the choices they want. If it’s butternut squash soup, so be it. There’s room for creativity, but you better know your guests. People vote everyday at restaurants on what they want, with their wallets, and chef and owners ignore them at their own risk.
It’s great to have a POV. If you’ve been serving the same “sorry” dish for 10 years, maybe you’re doing something right. Might even be your signature dish. I’m sure there are dishes that chefs are tired of serving, but their guest demand them, so you better leave it on the menu. The POV that is important in this economy, is staying in business, turning a profit, and keeping folks coming back. If you as a chef are in a position to experiment, be super creative, introduce your guest to new ingredients, you are in the minority and in a great situation. When high profile chefs choose to close cutting edge restaurant or not to open fine dining places, and decide to do upscale burger joints instead, there’s a POV there too.
Nothing wrong with much of you criticism, but I think you’re missing a big part of the picture. 5 years ago, there was lots of money, restaurant companies were growing, owners and customers had money to spend. It was a very different environment. Now restaurants have been struggling for several years. Chefs have been asked to do more with less. Less expensive ingredients, less employees, less sales. Less everything except hours worked and places closes. The problems in the industry is not a surprise to me. Hopefully times are getting better. I imagine they are. But there are changes that may be permanent. Is the demand going to be there in fine dining that we’ve seen in the past? I don’t think so, but hopefully the shake up will improve the food and service of the restaurants that make it. It is already making chefs think about ways to offer creative, less expensive, delicious options. That is already happening, and might even be worth writing about. Can Atlanta restaurants improve? Of course. Are they as bad as you think? No way.
EveO
January 18th, 2011
11:01 am
Thanks for writing this, John. I consider myself a “foodie” and I completely agree that the culinary vibe in Atlanta has gotten a little stale. For a few months, I have been mourning the loss of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton… truth be told, I only ate there once just before they closed. However, I consider that dinner to be one of the culinary highlights of my life so far. Either the diners have changed, or the economy has had a great effect on the changing of the industry. I don’t think these suggestions were arrogant. Rather, it is a plea for chefs and their staffs to deliver the best food and service in the South — something we are known for. Chefs, take on the challenge! Diners will be ready to support you.
M'Karyl
January 18th, 2011
11:38 am
Indeed…this is so true. I used to wait tables in the ATL during the late 80’s and early 90’s…there were mos def some great places to not only work back then, but to eat at as well. I most especially remember the chef at Van Buren’s in Buckhead. Will was the bomb…a lot like what John mentioned as missing today in the ATL eatery market…mayne, what I would do to be able to eat his cuisine today…indeed.
notaguy
January 18th, 2011
11:42 am
Dear Restaurant Managers:
* The servers need to start treating their guests properly and address females as ladies and males as gentlemen.
* make sure your employees STOP calling everyone “guys”
* Ladies really enjoy going out to eat AND being treated like a lady….Make it Happen!
blurp
January 18th, 2011
11:51 am
i eat cause i’m fat and i’m fat cause i eat
Gurgaon
January 18th, 2011
11:53 am
Open letter to John Kessler: Stop taking five years off from reviewing restaurants.
Jim Warren
January 18th, 2011
12:06 pm
Well, I would just appreciate menus where the font size is actually readable with sufficient lighting to read it. Mood lighting that makes it impossible to see a menu puts this customer in a bad “mood”.
Oh…and PLEASE stop putting bell pepper in EVERYTHING and not listing it in the ingredients. Many are very allergic to bell peppers. My partner is tiring of sending things back because bells have been placed “in the mix” for “color”.
Intown
January 18th, 2011
12:26 pm
The Chef vs. the Critic: folks, you don’t need to attack Kessler for stating his opinion. He does what food critics do. He critques restaurants. He can’t do his job without you. And your customers use critics as a reference point to decide where to spend their money. It has been that way for as long as there have been newspapers and restaurants. Deal with it.
Ronnie Reagan
January 18th, 2011
12:40 pm
Only two spoons to the food critic! He could have done a better job pointing out the problems & been more positive about what things are being done well!
Glenn
January 18th, 2011
12:50 pm
Allie Foster
January 17th, 2011
10:20 am
Unfortunately, Atlanta has the WORST restaurants in America! I continually shake my head in disbelief when dining out at the local “hot” fine dining restaurant – Perhaps these hubris fools should take a week or two and visit true 5 Star dining in say Paris, NYC, SF????
———————————————–
Well Allie, your credibility fails when you incorrectly use “hubris”. HUBRIS is a NOUN not an adjective. I’m sure you’ve travelled to Paris quite often. Braggers never exaggerate or self aggrandize. I’m glad I never asked you out.
Roekest
January 18th, 2011
12:56 pm
Those who can, do; Those who can’t, critique.
Cekker
January 18th, 2011
12:59 pm
Dear John,
All these suggestions and not a single word about price?
Really?
I guess that’s what dining on an expense account does to your common sense.
Just an Everyday Folk
January 18th, 2011
1:19 pm
Atlanta needs more onion rings. Damn good onion rings.
EX-Chef
January 18th, 2011
1:24 pm
Through all the comments, most are true and most are also wrong. Atlanta has had and hs good chefs and good restaurants. Buford highway is a good source for diverse eating choices. I had worked in several restaurants and hotels in Atlanta for over 20 years. The business is a business. There to make money. The staff of most kitchens is a Chef and a Sous chef and a bunch of cooks. The majority of those cooks are Mexicans, untrained in the true and fine nuances of Culinary Arts. Most restaurants here are chains of garbage. The vegetable issue? Well , mostly par cooked then microwaved to toxicity, or boiled to death, and being called “blanched” or steamed. Most restaurants here employ staff they can over work and underpay. All the great cooks and chefs I worked with have either left the state or gone into another career, like myself. Quality food is not cheap to purchase, but if it is not some fad food or the latest “exotic” find then it can be obtained reasonably. The point is this. If the food is not good, demand better or do not eat at the restaurant. You are paying for it, get what you want. The other issue is, not everyone understands good food or was even raised eating good food. John Kessler is absolutely correct in his statement about a restaurant that serves good food on mismatched plates etc.. Good letter though, but people need to know before they speak as though they do. Yes, there have been losses of chefs here, but, life goes on.
globeflyer
January 18th, 2011
1:34 pm
One thing to keep in mind is that with restaurants, even more so than other businesses, the marketplace speaks loudly. If the food is not good, it won’t last. The margins are so small in the food business that only the good/popular survive. If a place doesn’t suit your taste, but has been there for long while, accept that your taste is not the same as their regular’s and go somewhere else!
Frank
January 18th, 2011
1:37 pm
Chef-owners/restaurateurs reveled in a good review but scream bloody murder in a poor review. Local rag critics have been reduced lower than the average Yelper by the industry. No better example of this is the flagrant use of 5 star Yelp reviews by restaurants or some PR junk mail, posting it everywhere from Twitter to Facebook. If the authority on all things culinary stem from a bunch of kids’ palate on Yelp whom recently gave Arby’s a glowing review as well, then there is no hope for Atlanta’s food industry.
All these industry people whining and complaining about some critic’s overall opinion is as productive as a Top Chef contestant. See how far restaurants get without coverage from local rags. If you think Yelp, some dinky PR group or some wet behind the ears food blogger will gain you wider publicity and more business, think again.
Restaurants need critics whether we like it or not. If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen and the business. You’re obviously not that good of a cook or a businessman. If all you’re sending out is garbage, the sanitation dept is hiring.
Vidalia Jones
January 18th, 2011
2:01 pm
AMEN to more onion rings! And GOOD ones like Everday Folks says. You want a good meal….go to your aunts, friends and grandmothers. Or learn to cook it yourself. Go to a restaurant when you want to meet friends or for business. All’s you are doing at a restaurant is renting the table’s floor space to eat. What do you think the food cost is for 150.00 meal? Me: I would like a 30.00 steak. Waiter: Sure, but the table rental is 78.00 plus 500 percent wine markup. Going to a popular or well reviewed restaurant expecting to be wowed is not a very realistic expectation anymore than expecting your blind date to be Jennifer Anniston and Snooki shows up. Pass the onion rings!!!
Foodgeek
January 18th, 2011
2:10 pm
Great article, Kess. The only thing different I have to add is that I actually welcome the death of “fine dining,” which customers are leaving in droves because not only can they not afford it, but more and more they realize that there isn’t a steak in the world that is worth $50.I wish we could see the end of expense account dining, too, but until congress gets a reality check, that’s not going to happen any time soon. Too bad.
Keep up the good work, as always.
Foodgeek
January 18th, 2011
2:12 pm
@Frank: Thank you for spelling “palate” correctly.
An open letter to Atlanta diners from a chef | Food and More with John Kessler
January 18th, 2011
2:30 pm
[...] I published my open letter to Atlanta chefs, asking them to up their game. While there are some amazing chefs here making memorable food, I [...]
Jack
January 18th, 2011
4:44 pm
Some good discussion, all the insults and bickering aside.
I agree with a lot of the article–I would like to see more dining options–both fine dining and places with unique ethnic food in Atlanta. Particularly within the city. I shouldn’t have to go outside the perimeter to find good ethnic food and so on.
With most cities, especially in the north east or west coast, a benefit to living in the city (on top of not hassling with traffic as much) is having a world of dining and culture at your finger tips. Atlanta’s a bit lacking in that front that the larger and more cosmopolitan cities out there.
And it’s a shame that there doesn’t seem to be more effort to get more dining options out there along side all the great southern food/comfort food/bbq joints etc. Which is why I think some have over-reacted to the article–wanting more dining options of the type Kessler rights about doesn’t mean wanting them instead of everything else! Variety is the spice of life.
Finally, the other comments I dislike are those that show fear of taking chances on new food for fear of not liking it and wasting money etc. Life is pretty boring if you stay in your comfort zone and never take chances. And I understand that some just can’t afford fine dining, and can’t afford to buy a meal they may not like and then have to get something else etc.
But for those who can afford it, branch out and take some chances! Life’s much more exciting if you’re adventurous and always trying new things and finding out what you like and dislike as often as possible!
Food Localist
January 18th, 2011
5:12 pm
Really surpised at the number of people that have actually taken Johns post serious. Atlanta is full of great food. John is one person voicing his singular opinion looking to get a rise out out of anyone that reads this. He’s not in this for his own charity, it’s his job to polarize people and places. What really matters is the person who supports their local restaurants, and what they think of it’s quality/service/atmosphere. That’s what keeps your favorite places alive and well. I’m making an investment in the lives of the servers, dish washers, chefs etc of the eateries I love. My favorite places are of my own palate and opinion. Everyone is a walking billboard for their favorite places, so when restaurants succeed at balancing flavor and price folks will come. Restaurants like Local Three, 4th & Swift, Abattoir, Miller Union, Rosebud, etc will continue to produce great food for folks that get what they do and are willing and passionate to support them long after the AJC shuts the printing presses down.
Bette Harrison
January 18th, 2011
5:55 pm
What he said.
Lobsterfest
January 18th, 2011
5:58 pm
I travel a lot so I am lucky to dine all over the USA. For our size Atlanta isn’t so bad. We will never compete with NYC, LA or SFO, there just isn’t enough money here to support the level of fine dining you will find there. Our food choices are much better than in places like Dallas, Washington or Tampa for example. We have great ethnic food and good dive resturants. I have never had a bad meal at Aria, it has been here for maybe 10 years. MF Sushi is as good as Nobu in Maimi where I dined recently. It could be a lot worse……
John Kessler
January 18th, 2011
6:15 pm
Well stated, Lobsterfest. And I agree with you. My point is that we have what it takes to tighten up and aim higher — not for super trendy or expensive restaurants, but for ones that show real personality in more modest ways. I’ve mentioned a number of these chefs and placesbefore, but a few that come to mind:
Nick Rutherford at the Porter Beer Bar, who does some killer specials along with his bar menu
Todd Ginsberg at Bocado, who makes a ton of burgers, but cooks with as much finesse as anyone in the city
Billy Allin at Cakes & Ale, who lets the market and seasons dictate in a really personalized way
Hector Santiago at Pura Vida Tapas and Super Pan Latino Sandwich Shop, whose larder is stocked to teach diners about Latin ingredients
Kevin Gillespie at Woodfire Grill, a true talent despite that whatchamacallit TV show he was on
Others I don’t know as well but seem to cook with a real POV:
Ron Eyester at Rosebud
Robert Phelan at Holy Taco
Jay Swift at Fourth & Swift
and both lists go on…
Jason
January 18th, 2011
6:35 pm
Atlanta won’t have any culture until enough people move here and bring it with them. This is really about what the market supports (mediocre food)!
AtlantaFoodie
January 18th, 2011
8:07 pm
Eater followed this story. I think Kessler is for the most part on point. I want something different. I want something that isn’t all about “farm to table”. It’s all starting to feel the same.
http://eater.com/archives/2011/01/18/restaurant-critics-now-dissatisfied-with-entire-cities.php
rebelliousrose
January 19th, 2011
12:20 am
Well said.
Mongo
January 19th, 2011
8:32 am
Mongo dont care if every overpriced, yuppie hang out, cutting edge slop house resturant in the country shuts down. Mongo can cook his own food and not have to worry about some so-called chef stiring the pot with one hand and picking is nose or scratching his nutts with the other hand. The more idiots that have a chance to be around the food and handle it the greater the chance of someone adding some extra seasoning to it by flicking a booger in your fancy meal.
Mongo
January 19th, 2011
8:34 am
Mongo Knows. Oh and one more thing, YANKEES SUCK.
Reality
January 19th, 2011
9:07 am
@LawDawg: Strike out at OCI?
Love food
January 19th, 2011
10:12 am
Just flew to NY to eat at Soto. He once again reminded me of why he is simply the best sushi chef Atlanta ever had. People here were not patient and did not like his prices or attitude. NY is a better environment for him. Atlanta has no one to blame but the patrons for the quality of food currently available. When MF can survive in Atlanta but Soto leaves to go to NY you know there is something wrong with the city. People here seem to be dazzled by fish tanks and fancy lights and hip bars. It is more about what is hot than what is good. Some of the critics are to blame for that as well. The quality of the food and its preparation is not important. They want to be seated now and get there drinks and food. I miss Soto. I miss the Ritz. Atlanta has some great things that keep me here. The food is not one of them.
Love food
January 19th, 2011
10:19 am
For those who complain about the mark up on Alcohol, maybe they should ask their local owner how much the annual fee is for a liquor license. One place I went to recently spent almost 10,000 dollars for the privilage fo serving alcohol to its patrons. The next time you get pissy about a bottle of whine, just remember how much they have to pay the county each year to be able to have that bottle available to you. There is a huge cost to the business. It is also a high risk short window business.
Atlanta’s Outspoken Epicureans | Westside Provisions District
January 19th, 2011
3:54 pm
[...] are debating whether Atlanta’s got game. Last Monday, critic John Kessler published an open letter in the AJC suggesting 10 ways Atlanta chefs need to sharpen their sautés. Today, Creative [...]
Barman
January 19th, 2011
8:28 pm
John why don’t you and your inexperienced, underpaid, we need someone to do reviews anyways, cohorts open a restaurant yourselves and see how you all do! We could all review, blog, or just choose not to return after you have the same problems the restaurants you review have! OH! If you all could run a successful profitable restaurant you all would! Please do Atlanta a favor and please eat at the restaurants you like!
Chef Pierre Van Thrat
January 20th, 2011
4:23 am
Go to el Bulli in Spain first before you critique food and chefs period!
Chef vs. Critic: Internet Food Fight | Atlanta Cuisine
January 20th, 2011
11:45 am
[...] of Rosebud and Angry Chef blogger for Creative Loafing. It all started Monday when Kessler posted an open letter to all chefs in [...]
rt
January 21st, 2011
12:37 am
This article is obviously written by someone who has never worked in the restaurant industry, because if they had they would know what it is like to have to answer to a higher power. I know of very few chefs that have the opportunity or financial backing to be able to accomplish this. Especially in the economy that the average american lives in, when we as a people are looking for the most bang for our buck. How are we supposed to create an optimum food cost while meeting the bottom line while also impressing every single consumer that crosses our path. While the only restaurants that are surviving are the ones that are consistent and are full because of the fact that people go there because they know what they are going to get.
Kevin O.
January 21st, 2011
4:01 am
Hello Atlanta, Pardon me for being “Tardy to the Party” as it were. I’ve been working in the kitchen. I am a chef. I am an Atlanta native yes, all my life, I am in the Rest. Business, I grew up in the Rest. Business, my parents were in the business.
In response to Mr. Kessler’s article (and proposal), my recourse to his comments are arriving a bit earlier than I anticipated but welcomed all the same, and I would like to say for the record………
Let the Gastro Renaissance begin,
In Atlanta our whole, as modern food culture insists in many fields, is not merely the sum of all its parts, but the result of a unique arrangement and interrelation of the parts that have brought about a new “entity”.
Prior to knowing what “entity” is ahead, let us first glance back at overall food history. For Escoffier the “entity” was a “general confusion” of Careme’s old menus, to which he washed away the nuances and counter-intuitive process to reveal some of the finest techniques in classical French cuisine. Though Careme was not forgotten but appreciated for his complex and thoughtful ideas to food. Once Escoffier refined his thinking and executed new thoughts and techniques, food became more approachable and appreciated all over the world. Only through the success and through the failures of culinary pioneers like these, are we able to truly take pleasure in the fruits of any chef’s dedication to food. The city of Atlanta, though quite large has always been bequeathed a small, well suited, high society, restaurant scene, let’s begin in the late 70’s with The Abbey, Nikolai’s Roof, Lark and Dove moving from the days when Panos & Paul, and Buckhead Life had their shot at high society food cents and sense, while leaving it a bit bedazzled it then grew through Rays on the River (big props for anyone that successful , that close to the OTP; of course it was just called the perimeter then), and Canoe, Some other scattered Steakhouse’s with atmosphere throughout , and then an interesting “trend” happened. Another new “entity” shattered the food landscape of our fair city, Annie Q. happened, shortly followed by Linton, and some important others. An “entity” of using the finest local ingredients happened, the need to revisit how we were sustaining ourselves in America both in restaurants and at home. We discovered that the best food is the food grown locally (a conversation for another time). Local-ism and sustainability, a paramount food “entity” now set in stone, brought on by Chez Panisse in the early 70’s, becoming less of a selling point at restaurants and more of an educated consumer’s credence prior to purchasing, an expectation, if you will.
Bring on the 2000 and the need to exceed in both food and the housing market, somewhat of a double entendre, much like the faux housing market was succeeding, the restaurants and chefs began to feel a bit overzealous about their proper utilization of food. As the High-end Restaurants and Chefs in Atlanta begins to feel secure about its abundance of financial freedom, chefs with poor business decisions begin to spend more and forget the most important aspect of running a restaurant, food costs and details. Just as the city became comfortable spending, their tech bubble dividends and home flipping, copious amounts of cash at Seeger’s and Joel, the market as we knew it, took a firm and bitter nose dive, causing any chef or restaurant owner to dance , and dance well. Meaning if you could not reinvent yourself or your menu to compete for the small percentage of restaurant goers in the city, you were out, done, closed for business. Watching failed fine dining restaurants and Chefs, consequently caused any practical efforts at fine dining in this city to come to a screeching halt. Bravo to the ones that made it and they know who they are. In short, and in much fewer words, this brings us to our current culinary landscape.
Now that the history lesson is over, as we approach 2011, there is more exposure, excitement, and intensity in food than there has ever been in the history of the world. Whether you make haute cuisine or hot dogs, food in modern culture is bigger than everything, music, movies, and even the paparazzi efforts to make the lost and talentless “actors” as important, has failed to make a bigger impact in today’s world than food.
Blame it on the economy, closed kitchens, or the excitement of cooking at home, but any way you slice it we are on the verge of a very exciting “entity” in restaurants here in The “New South” A Gastronomy Renaissance, if you will. Fine Dining is not dead; it’s just taking a long winter nap. Stay tuned, it may take a year or two but you will see a return of fine dining like you’ve never seen before in the city of Atlanta. Fine Dining with a vengeance, like a hibernating Grizzly ready to eat, you will see its return (It will be strong). In the meantime, the loss of excessive opulence and over eager purchasing should be pressing chefs to dial into their training. Learning how to make the most of the very least, always striving to understand the details of balance and taste, and where the food is coming from. True pressure exists to offer more and better food even though you may have less to work with. There is an effort to slim the herds of restaurants that are weak and afraid to step up to the new bar, to become the next “entity” in our craft. Thus giving all chefs just cause and justified reason to spend more time in their kitchens, hours and hours, testing, learning and tasting for the educated Atlanta diner. This raised bar and new “entity” celebrates artisans, farmers, butchers, chefs, mixologists, and craftsmen to fully take part in the opportunity to develop food culture in this city to its finest point ever. I applaud you for doing so!
Let’s not forget to outline the expectations for the educators and teachers in food. Lest we forget the food city that Charleston is now because of the food education? These individuals must work just as hard, to expect nothing but the best from the students they are teaching. To consistently let them know how hard it is and what they should expect. Let the students not be fooled, they must know that this is an industry of hard, disciplined, gluttony. It is long hours with little pay, no time for friends, family or fun. The beauty of this industry is simply, to do what we love for a living and to do it well.
Atlanta, quit your squabbling, whether you want it or not we are a contender as one of the fine food cities in the world, and if we aren’t yet, that should only make you excited for the things to come! As you search for the new “entity”, the Gastronomy Renaissance, educate yourselves, be hard on the restaurants, the Chefs I know are ready for you, and they will be set apart from the mindless mouth breather, non-detailed establishments you might have mentioned in some of your rants. Look for it in their food, their flavors, their techniques; their passion should be in everything they do. Watch for the details! Ask for things done the right way. If they aren’t good enough, keep pushing to make them better. As a city, when you go out to eat, think about where we’ve been, where we are, and what we have to look forward to. Expect the best and if you don’t get it, ask again! Raise the bar Atlanta! I for one will be ready for you, and with time; will have my “entity” for you in the future. Stay Hungry.
In Good Taste
It’s Cheesy Link Friday! «
January 21st, 2011
8:06 am
[...] food critic penned this open letter to Atlanta chefs. Read a couple of responses here and here. [...]
Jason
January 21st, 2011
2:55 pm
Atlanta is not a contender for anything except for “worst traffic”. Please stop with all of this whiny BS about how Atlanta is so progressive and so comparable to similarly sized cities. This market won’t support a real-live good value eating scene, probably because Ga is a cultural wasteland.
NPZY
January 21st, 2011
3:51 pm
Maybe you should try reviewing Atlanta restaurants from the perspective of who and what they actually ARE instead of what you wish they were..? If you want NY and LA type dining so bad then why don’t you move there. This is the dirty south ATL! We do things our way and it is what makes our city beautiful and unique. Let NY and LA be NY and LA. Thats like saying all bands should try to sound more like the Beetles or Led Zeppelin. Been there, done that. Our city is moving FORWARD and you can either get on board, or get out of the way! And if you cant see the awesomeness in what is going on in our city then maybe YOU are the one who doesn’t get it sir.
Jason
January 21st, 2011
5:31 pm
So basically fat cat slumlords rent any usable restaurant space out for ungodly amounts of money which destroys already razor thin profit margins which encourages a general trend away from quality which makes all of atlanta’s food basically suck AND explains all of these posters defending these places (cause they don’t want to lose renters). Cmon Gov. Deal help this situation out and help our economy out in the process!