tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406252458975415348.post5860264692230095571..comments2022-11-09T06:57:27.904-08:00Comments on Eating Every Day: First-rateCharles Sherehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406252458975415348.post-86941086719974622752011-06-19T12:04:45.149-07:002011-06-19T12:04:45.149-07:00In fact, not me, but Curtis Faville said, and I po...<em>In fact, not me, but Curtis Faville said, and I post it here because I accidentally deleted it before approving it — well, anyway:</em><br /><br />Night before last, we had our first dinner at Eve's, a narrow, but stylish little French-American place on the south side of University Avenue between Bonita and Milvia in Berkeley. <br /><br />The interior design was cool. The seats were a bit cramped. The kitchen occupied the back third of the place. <br /><br />The fare was typical '80's pretentious, with tiny portions, little droplets of sauce, sprinkled artistically around the very white, largish, plates. The white wine was very nice--and not over-chilled. The dishes were skimpy, but the tastes were very subtle, not too piquant. Presentation seemed 65% of the deal. ($141 tab for two before tip) <br /><br />Afterward, not feeling particularly "sated" we thought casually about how we'd rate such a place today. It's been in existence for about two years, and the couple (both cooks) who started it, saved for several years, then spent their "residential down-payment" for a home, to start the restaurant. <br /><br />It reminded me a little of Cinq--a place in Corte Madera--now closed--which was very tiny and very stylish. But even there, the portions were generous, and one didn't have the impression of being snookered.<br /><br />Very good restaurants may have a certain short life, the result of a young chef or couple or partnership experimenting early in their career(s), then moving on or giving up the idea after a scuttled attempt. <br /><br />Thank god for them. They're the lifeblood of gastronomy!Charles Sherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406252458975415348.post-1349842964410554482011-06-16T00:35:06.734-07:002011-06-16T00:35:06.734-07:00To your first paragraph: if it's clear what...<em>To your first paragraph: if it's clear what's being graded — result, not effort — no problem. Though just being that "good" implies a degree of preparation focus and discipline not always apparent (especially to the co-students getting lesser grades!): cf. Whistler: "No: for the lifetime of preparation" (or words to that effect).<br /><br />To your second: you may have something here; I may have begun over-valuing plain excellence at the expense of worked excellence. I prefer Romanesque to Baroque, Modernist to postModern.<br /><br />To your third, ignoring the last six words: yes, there's an implicit irony in any pursuit of knowledge, any desire to extend experience. Consideration, analysis of the new gains, develops intellectual tools and methods of increasingly finer grain; this tends toward triviality, pointlessness (excuse the unintended pun), which is itself baroque. I'm painfully aware of this; it </em>is <em>sad; but I hope it's merely inevitable, not pretentious.<br /><br />To your fourth paragraph, amen!</em>Charles Sherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406252458975415348.post-47236928027569474732011-06-15T15:15:21.054-07:002011-06-15T15:15:21.054-07:00Too much here to respond to quickly: I'll get ...<em>Too much here to respond to quickly: I'll get to you when I can. I was as surprised as you.</em>Charles Sherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10480432901356490235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4406252458975415348.post-74447878154083948412011-06-15T10:40:15.852-07:002011-06-15T10:40:15.852-07:00One is hard put to explain your reaction here.
Is...One is hard put to explain your reaction here.<br /><br />Is this some kind of reverse snobbery?<br /><br />When I was teaching, I took special delight in rewarding the efforts of very good students, even when it was perfectly clear that they hadn't spend half the effort in completing a task, as their less qualified contemporaries. it seemed to me the perfect demonstration of fairness and impartiality.<br /><br />Perhaps you've grown too accustomed to the best, and have begun to assign a certain cachet to "peasant" or "indigenous" or "riparian" fare, out of proportion to its actual manifestation. <br /><br />Whatever. Or perhaps your crusade to experience the utmost in gastronomic possibility has finally exceeded your first intentions--? Is aspiration to the highest echelon just a sad show of pretense?<br /><br />Anyway, nice to see this place is still functioning. We should all be grateful when a good restaurant stays afloat. Here, the margin seems increasingly slim, and even the best of intentions may flounder on inadequate resources.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.com