Ko for it
Today in the New York Times, Frank Bruni reviews Momofuku Ko:
There’s no hard liquor, no tea, no regular coffee and above all no choice. You eat dishes of Ko’s choosing in the order it chooses, and most everybody around you is having roughly the same meal.
Last week, the Times visited Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc:
If you are someone who must have the sauce on the side or who spurns butter in that sauce, Ad Hoc may not be for you. If you have food allergies or aversions, staff members will try to please you. (They once improvised a gluten-free fried chicken on the spot, and they’ll gladly give your child plain pasta if that’s all he’ll eat.) But this dining experience is an exercise in giving up control. You don’t choose, they do. That’s the game.
“For most people, the definition of luxury is multiple choices,” Mr. Keller said. “But if I don’t have to make a choice, if I’m taken care of and everything’s great, to me, that’s luxury.”
Neither Momofuku Ko nor Ad Hoc is blazing new ground here, of course. Chez Panisse has been serving a set menu since day one. Here’s tonight’s menu, for example:
- Venetian-style fried sand dab with sweet-and-sour spring onions
- Green pappardelle noodles with spinach, ricotta, and wild mushrooms
- Spit-roasted Laughing Stock Farm pork loin with fennel gratin and mashed fava beans
- Frozen almond cassata with Meyer lemon confit
Coincidentally, that’s exactly what I’m making for dinner at home tonight. Just kidding.
Anyway, I’m with Keller. When I go out to eat, I prefer no choice. Deciding what to have for dinner is something I have to do at home almost every day. I don’t enjoy it. (I like the cooking and eating part just fine.) How about you?