Bad Science or Bad Cooking?

Several days ago a rather snarky review, "When Bad Science Meets Good Food," of a Buenos Aires restaurant, La Vineria de Gualterio Bolivar, appeared on the Atlantic Food Channel website. La Vineria's chef, Alejandro Dijilio, is one of the ever-increasing number of chefs who have a stage at El Bulli on their resume and have gone out to colonize the world with their own versions of contemporary cooking (or, as it's more frequently, if inaccurately, called, "molecular gastronomy"). I've not been to the restaurant, so I can't say whether the food is good, bad or indifferent. But what I found objectionable was the tone of the review, which seemed to criticize not so much the food, or the execution, but rather the entire genre of "molecular gastronomy," as if it - and not bad cooking - were to blame for a dissatisfying meal.

Indeed, the review starts off:

Behold, the Molecular Gastronomist! Marvel as he whips, gels, foams, and deconstructs your food, much as he would his own hair. Admire his sullen expression as he leans over, tweezers in hand, to artfully apply grains of black pepper and dehydrated orange peel to your spoonful of Jellied Olive Oil and White Truffle Powder. And soldier on when you realize that all you are eating, really, is a slightly-gelatinous bit of olive oil, whose concentration mutes all the other flavors around it, and reminds you of forced dosages of cough medicine as a child.

After much more of the same snarkiness (in which the chef is dubbed "McG", the author claims that "every McG must have at least fourteen thousand courses on their menu," etc.), the author concludes with a question:

Why can't more chefs just serve food that is simply comforting, and comfortingly simple? Not all of you are meant to paint a canvas on the plate.

To which I responded with a question of my own:

Why is this about "molecular gastronomy" and not about bad cooking? There are plenty of lousy restaurants making "traditional" food, but the reaction when someone experiences one is not "Why aren't they using an immersion circulator and a pacojet?"

Bad execution is just that, and there is no culinary genre that is immune to it. The lesson, if there is one, is that a stage at El Bulli (or any other highly regarded restaurant) does not of itself make someone a great chef - a lesson I've seen demonstrated several times.

The author has now responded, and perhaps we're not so far off after all. He now says:

What concerns me is chefs diving into "molecular gastronomy" and ignoring what they do well. I have nothing against the movement. ... But there is a fad as well, a bandwagon of McGs, and it is unfortunate to see a good chef hop on it without seeming to realize where he's going.

No doubt, contemporary techniques and ingredients will not improve a chef that doesn't have solid fundamentals. In addition, a chef without a clear vision, and the talent to realize it, will rarely create a great meal regardless of the genre in which they choose to operate. But I think it's crucial to distinguish these individual failures from the genre itself. If I have a bad bowl of pasta, I don't castigate the entire body of Italian cuisine. And if I have a bad meal from someone working in the arena of "molecular gastronomy" - it's just bad cooking.

James Beard Journalism Awards Announced

Several weeks ago I listed the nominees in the media and journalism categories for the James Beard Awards, with links to the nominees' writings in Part I, Part II, and Part III here. The winners have now been announced and you can see the list here, so I won't regurgitate it all over again. Just a couple thoughts:

• Swine flu or no, it was the year of the pig, with multiple porcine stories winning awards: The Pope of Pork by Kristen Hinman, Riverfront Times, and High on the Hairy Hogs: Super-Succulent Imports are Everything U.S. Pork Isn't by Rebekah Denn, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.


• Monica Eng and Phil Vettel wuz robbed. I thought their piece in the Chicago Tribune on Michael Carlson of Schwa restuarant was just a fantastic and fascinating read. The story that won the category, Sushi Bullies in the WSJ, I thought was sort of goofy. Even more disappointing in light of news that Monica Eng is being moved by the Trib off the food beat.

Book awards and chef / restaurant awards are just getting started tonight. Any predictions?

Edited to add: a complete shutout for South Florida tonight in the chef/restaurant awards. Michael Schwartz of Michael's Genuine Food & Drink, Douglas Rodriguez of Ola, Zach Bell of Café Boulud all bypassed for John Currence of City Grocery in Oxford, Mississippi in the Best Chef: South category. Hmph. Go figure.

Get Rich Quick!

Or maybe not. The 2008 StarChefs.com Salary Survey is a detailed and intriguing look at the economics of the restaurant business for those in the kitchen. The quick take-aways:

• Salaries for executive chefs are down (3.5% from last year), averaging $74,869.
• Salaries for pastry chefs are way down (13%), averaging $46,228 - guess we're all skipping desssert more often.
• Sous chef salaries are actually going up (5% from last year), averaging $44,205.
• Miami is the place to be. Executive chef salaries in Miami, at an average of $90K+, are higher than any other city noted in the survey, including NY, LA, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago.
• Doing a stage in a working kitchen (especially one outside the U.S.) may be a better investment than culinary school. While culinary school grads actually make less on average than their uneducated brethren (just kidding!), chefs who have worked outside the U.S. make nearly 20% more than their peers who have never ventured abroad.
• Maybe not getting rich so quick after all - executive chefs with 5-8 years of experience are not getting close to that $75K average, instead their average salary is $52,579. It's only those with 13+ years of experience that are making in the $75K range.
• Kitchens are still, by and large, sausage fests. 78% of the 1,000+ survey respondents were men, and male exec chefs are earning nearly $15K more than women.
• Slackers need not apply. Most culinary professionals are working 9-11 hours a day and 50+ hours a week, with more than 16% working 65+ hours a week.