Today in the New York Times, Frank Bruni reviews [Momofuku Ko](http://www.momofuku.com/ko/default.asp):
> 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.â€
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?
I also prefer to have no choice or is it I prefer to have the chef choose? Same dif. It’s sort of along the lines of why I’m in a book club: it gets me to read books I wouldn’t necessarily choose for myself and might end up loving. Having the chef choose gets me to try things I might not ever choose to try.
I want a chef to choose books for me to read.
i want in on the chef book club.
for me, if the chef/restaurant/food/server is truly great, i love the no-choice thing, or being able to say “…and whatever wine you think would be best with that,” and trusting that the people who KNOW will lead me in happy directions.
if the greatness of a place lies elsewhere, then i like to steer. adorable boutiquey restaurant where the entire staff of three waiters all know my name and that i love game? by all means, i will sit back and enjoy the ride. family style grill down the street with the best seafood i’ve ever had where i once ordered a glass of “whatever white wine’s open,” and got white zinfandel? then i’ll drive.
With a great chef, the best meal will always be chosen by the chef – they have the most knowledge about the ingredients they’re using.
One of my favorite restaurants here in Seattle (Art of the Table) offers no choices whatsoever, though they do accommodate food allergies, etc.
I like set menus, when they’re attached to a particular personality – either a chef’s or a restaurant’s. I like getting to know people through food, seeing what stories they’ll tell me.
If I have no feel for there being a story somewhere, I like to choose.
Also, my body tends to know what category of food it wants at any given meal – protein (meat? fish? other?), pasta, lots and lots of vegetable matter. If I’m feeling particularly strongly about that, a fixed menu is a shot in the dark.
(waves Hello again!)
Ok, I choose “War and Peace”. I’ll expect a report on my desk in two weeks.
God yes. Every night at home is a battle of who can out-indecisive-who during the “What do you want for dinner?” “I don’t care.” “Well pick something.” “You pick something.” It doesn’t help that she was brought up with Keller’s idea of “Not having to decide is luxury,” while I was brought up to hear “You decide for me” as “If you really loved me, you would be able to read my mind and know what I want without me telling you.” (Thanks mom).
That said, as a diabetic and a guy who can’t stand seafood, I’d be really squeamish about the possibility of going out to dinner and being served a big bowl of fish over rice.
Hey, how’s this for a compromise: Instead of either choice or no choice, they just bring you a menu and you cross off the things you don’t want.
Me? i just want to try Keller’s gluten-free fried chicken!
And Danny would like everyone to read South Park and Philosophy, in which 22 esteemed philosophers tease out the meaning of modern pop culture by watching episodes of South Park.
(Do we really want chefs choosing the books?)
I think we want Danny choosing the books, not Neil.
mamster, have you been to Pasta Freska on Westlake? Great non-menu restaurant. They will work around allergies, but dislikes they’ll try to convince you to try something. Back when I was dating, it was my go-to for first or second dates, because, if a girl couldn’t handle the whole ‘no menu’ concept, she wasn’t for me. Thankfully, the wife loves it.
Does everyone get the same thing on a given night, John, either at the same table or restaurant-wide?
How can such a simple question have such a complex answer….
Well, on the one hand, everyone at the table may not necessarily receive the same dish. They’ll generally do a gender specific dish, but otherwise, excepting food allergies, everyone at the table gets the same food. Well, excepting food aversions too. If you skip a dish because you really really don’t like something, you’ll usually get something different. Our last big dinner there, a couple people didn’t want to go the fish route and got an extra pasta dish.
Restaurant wise, I think it varies. They seem to cook as the evening rolls, so they may change out dishes along the way, sometimes using their gas grill too.
Dessert, otoh, is the one failing. It isn’t awful, but it’s very.. well, alot of it is very costco-y. But not all of it. =) It doesn’t help that I’m not a big fan of tiramisu or spumoni.
i’ve never been to a restaurant where i have no choice, but i would love to. the removal of all the stress associated with “what do i want” would totally be worth the price of admission.
@michelle: Another good option, assuming you like sushi (and, depending upon the restaurant, a big wallet), is omakase.