To give one an explanation and a reason for the journey that I have just started, it is good to take a quick step back in time. The reason for this trip? Simply to explain that a lot of fun can be gained from ideas that spring up from boredom...
When I first attended college at the University of Rhode Island in the late eighties I resided in the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house. Those who know me now may be quite surprised to know this, but I have become older and hopefully wiser. Those were young and foolish days and that house was as fine a place to be young and foolish.
The house was technically on campus but it was as far away from anything on campus as you could get. It was far enough away so that when most of the guys in the house went home for the weekend, there wasn't much for the skeleton crew of die-hards to do.
One lazy Sunday (I had no cupcakes, cousin), I was sitting around bored watching television when inspiration struck. I thought to myself that I would love to go to the movies. Unfortunately I was flat broke. I thought to myself "who gets to go to the movies for free? Movie Critics!" So the next day, I walked into the main office of the University newspaper The Good Five Cent Cigar and asked if they had a movie critic. I was told that they didn't have one. When I asked if they wanted one, they said "Sure."
A few days later, I went to the local multiplex and explained to the manager who I was and what I wanted to do. He said that whenever I wanted to see a movie, all I had to do was call and I would have a pair of tickets waiting at the box office. I spent the next year taking my friends out to the movies and writing some of the worst reviews imaginable. I couldn't have been happier.
With that in mind, another journey begins...
The Playstation 3 is an outstanding device. Take away the mindless hours of video gaming that it can provide or the way that it plays whatever video files you throw at it via a thumb drive or even its spectacular Blu-Ray capabilities (the latter being my justification for the purchase after buying an HDTV). For this story, the PS3s skill in question is the ability to stream Netflix.
One lazy Sunday I was watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. It was the show's 100th episode and Tony was in Paris. He was hanging out with Joël Robuchon and Eric Ripert among others. If I am remembering correctly, they were discussing where they, chefs, people in the restaurant business, like to get something good to eat. Now this is interesting, As Joël Robuchon operates 12 restaurants with 26 Michelin stars between them and Eric Ripert is no slouch either. Where do these guys go to get something good? They have to know amazing places!
So this got me thinking...
I have lived here in Baltimore for about 4 years now. I am a lot like other people. I find restaurants that I like and I go to them. They usually have food I like, so I end up going back over and over again. The problem is that sometimes that can put you in a terrible rut. Here I am in Baltimore, home to AMAZING world class restaurants, but I have no idea what they are. It also has holes-in-the-wall where you can get food to die for cheap. I don't know where they are either. What I know is where I go. This is no way to eat!
I processed this particular episode and figured out a way to apply it to my dilemma. The premise for this food journey is simple: Ask 2 questions.
To start, I simply pick a restaurant. Upon arrival to the restaurant I ask for the chef to stop by the table. When he or she arrives, after introducing myself and explaining why I am there, I ask which dish on the menu most embodies the chef. Which dish has the most of his or her heart and soul in it. When someone asks which dish personifies him or her, THAT is the one dish. I then order that dish for dinner. For what is a better representation of the core of the restaurant than the dish that has been the most crafted by the chef?
The second question I ask is where he or she, as a chef and someone in the food trade, goes to get an amazing dish. The restaurant can be high-end, or a greasy spoon, just a place where he or she gets one dish that amazes them. That restaurant then becomes the next stop on the trip. And so it goes...
Who is going to know better than a chef. These are people who have spent years in the food business who work with the best ingredients on a daily basis and easily tell good from bad, food or otherwise. They go out to eat just like we do but they have the ability to judge where they go based on what they know as professionals. They can splurge their pay on elite fare and fine linens, or they can throw back drinks after work and head out to find the best late night nosh to fill that grease-seeking cavity that only a 12 hour shift can carve out. Either way, for this project, I am going to use their expertise to work for me; to bring me out of my food shell and show me the best dining experiences - world class through working class, that Baltimore has to offer.
...either that or they'll throw me out on my ass.
Well, that's the introduction. For the record, last night I visited my second restaurant, so I guess that makes this project official. I'll post my experience at restaurant #1 next. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment