Terry Pulliam Burd wrote:
>
> Okay, we've had our "Food Snobs" thread, but tonight's dinner at the
> Salt Creek Grill on PCH in Dana Point CA made me think of the number
> of truly awful (to me) menu offerings there are here in SoCal and, I
> suspect, elsewhere. Why does a chef take a pretty simple, nice idea
> for a dish and torque it into a ridiculous parody of the original
> dish? The DH ordered a barbecued pork sandwich that was "Upscaled" to
> the point of inedibility. After being offered a taste from a DH who
> was making faces, I couldn't identify half the ingredients, but can
> testify that they don't belong in barbecue. I had a Caesar salad with
> chicken, but the chicken had something on it that clashed horribly
> with the Caesar dressing and the Asiago cheese they used instead of
> Parmesan was way too strong. If you look at their online menu, it
> looks pretty tame, but their online menu doesn't show the more goofy
> concoctions. I see this time and again where a chef, in an attempt to
> be creative and have a "signature dish" just goes way over the top and
> uses "wasabi remoulade," "Cajun spices drizzled with a
> ginger soy wasabi ," "confetti of beurre blanc with blah blah blah."
> Macaroni and cheese can be presented with a dizzying array of spices
> and be presented as "pasta il formaggio con blah blah blah spices." Ya
> just never know when you're going to get sideswiped by some chef's bad
> idea. I guess everyone's mileage varies as to taste, but some
> "creations" should have stayed on the drawing board, IMHO.

This is exactly why I have no interest in watching any
of those Iron Chef things. I saw one and thought it was
incredibly stupid.

I'm afraid there's such a thing as being *too* creative.
I see it in the other arts as well as cooking.

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?