On the topic of creative chefs, we posted earlier this week on Bites that Tayst will host Movie Night on Nov. 29 at 6:30 p.m. $85 gets you a creative take on classic movie snacks:

Twizzlers (a licorice-tinged salad with lobster, orange, dried strawberries, pomegranate seeds, cauliflower, fennel and anise sarsaparilla froth); popcorn (tuna dusted with curry-and-herb popcorn); Jujyfruits (lemon-lime-cured duck breast with cherry ravioli, candied violets and lilac reduction); and Raisinets (cocoa-rubbed venison stuffed with raisins, celeriac gratin and spiced mole).

Call 383-1953 for reservations.

Jeremy and others--who do you consider to be among the most creative chefs in town?

I guess the ability to make the ordinary extraordinary, and the extraordinary seem common place.

laura from ombi

ElZ -- v. poetic. I like that.

Z's a total crowd pleaser... if he ever leaves Bites for another blog we will be a mere shadow of ourselves.

Claudia -- Don't even say that. There can be no defections.

I will refrain from my votes do to conflict of interest.

Elz, I like that but isn't that a chefs responsibility. That can be done with recreated dishes executed perfectly. A chefs job, among many other things, is to make roast chicken and mashed potatoes so good that you leave going I could never do that and feel comfortable paying three times as much then what it would cost to do at home.
That doesn't mean they're creative.

Their is a big difference between execution and creativity. One can exist alone the other can not.

Lets really stir things up. Two of the greatest chefs of our generation
Thomas Keller
Ferran Adria
One of these is exceptionally creative and the other is not

Is there a point at which food is no longer food?

While I do think there is a point where food crosses over into the realm of art, I don't see that it necessarily ceases being food at that point. Certainly not if it's well executed.

#3 - which is why i'm going to see ruhlman tonight and buying his book, the elements of cooking. it's all about just that. correct execution and fine ingredients = greatness.

the whole chemistry of cooking as in sean brock's food http://seanbrock.wordpress.com/ - or chadzilla at http://chadzilla.typepad.com/chadzilla/ and ideas in food at http://ideasinfood.typepad.com/ideas_in_food/ well, it's all fascinating and often art. we also saw it on 'the next iron chef'. it's fun. why not?

jeremy - yes yes yes. the 2 masters!!! keller, with no formal training - just a guy in a kitchen working in restaurants. Adria - i long for a trip to barcelona to then rent a car and drive 3 hours and eat his food... except he's sold out months ahead.

gnomey - it's $750 for 2 with drinks and a tip at both per se and french laundry!!!

one day i wanna go to chicago and do the tru/moto/alinea trifecta...

Thank you
Thank you

And JB, back in 1999 I had a soul-enlightening meal at Arzak, in San Sebastian. When I wrote what I wrote I was thinking about it.

Stick with Tru & Alinea. Moto's not on the same level -- there are too many "misses" on Cantu's menu.

Jeremy, so which one is not creative?

I'm assuming Keller, and I have to say that after our dinner there [French Laundry] and the car payment that it took to pay for it, I was not blown away. Don't get me wrong -- it was a unique experience and certainly worth doing, but I was not as enamored as much of the press seems to be. (Have not had the pleasure of Ferran Adria.)

Ah, claudia brings an excellent point

Is sean brocks food creative or is he executing ferrans cuisine.WHich of course is ironic because ferrans code is "never imitate"

Kellar is the ultimate perfectionist and executionist (word?) and he along with most chefs in fine dining are playing with the spacefood techniques that ferran has spearheaded.

But then let's look at john fleer over at blackberry who basically invented foothills cuisine. Classic techniques turned in a different direction.

I feel I am a very creative chef for two reasons I refuse to copy or imitate any dish, and I try to take things that are very familiar and turn them into something totally different ie: mcd dinner, movie dinner. However, the twist of ideas is becoming a common theme around the country and at some point this can become less creative and more just execution.

BTW tru was one of the best dining experiences I've ever had including some michelin places.

Tru's caviar staircase vs. Brock's hard-boiled egg with caviar in the yolk...hm, that's a high-dollar and delicious hypothetical smackdown.

"I refuse to copy or imitate any dish".... "Assume that there is no new food"....Then what do you do?

food as an entity and that is a general industry assumption not necessarily my personal beliefs
a dish is combination of food and if you take into account the variety of food that's a lot of combinations

You set the guidelines... food as an entity? I don't worship the stuff, but I do respect it. And I am in the industry...

yes
I am assuming that you are saying I contradicted myself were as it is two different things, one makes up the other

Do you think all the Food Network and reality-TV attention on chefs as celebrities and personalities is a good thing, or does it take attention away from food and creativity?

yes and no,
It is sad that the evolution of the food network has, to me, been slowly removing itself from food. But there is no way that I can survive in nashville without the onset of the food network and the resulting interest in the behind the scenes of the industry. I realize that they need to sell ads and I fully understand why they program what they do. As a chef I would get back into the network if they had industry friendly shows from 10 pm to 2 am.

As far as chefs as celebrities. The best judge of a chef is how their kitchen is when their not there. If the guest can't tell, then the celebrity chef works, mario etc.; but if the celebrity takes over,ie rocco, then it's bad.

Any attention is good attention

Well it's not like Food Network is going to go the way of MTV and change its core competancy to reality tv shows... I mean that would be just plain dumb.

See The Next Iron Chef.

I would love to be included in this conversation if it is still ongoing????

Jump in! Thanks to this handy new feature that keeps tabs on the most recent comments, we'll see your post and respond.

Are you wanting to discuss creativity over execution, or the dumbing-down of the Food Network? Either way, I expect you'll find some takers.

creativity over execution????

cuisine should be about three things...

products
ideas
execution

in that order

"Is sean brocks food creative or is he executing ferrans cuisine.WHich of course is ironic because ferrans code is "never imitate"

jeremy you haven't changed a bit....

sean brock if that is you out there in cyber land, i am a fan. love your blog. sorry i missed you when you were here at capital grill. but i had no idea. so my loss.

http://seanbrock.wordpress.com/

if i'm ever in SC which is like kinda so not in my immediate life's plan even a little i will stop in to mccrady's for dinner!

By "products," do you mean freshness of ingredients, etc., or the eventual outcome of the dish? 'Cause I can see a whole chicken-or-the-egg argument brewing if you put ingredients that far above execution. (Case in point: my garlic chicken last night, for which I managed to combine succulent chicken breasts, fresh garlic and rosemary plucked from my garden into something a starving raccoon wouldn't touch.)

Say, that is a cool blog. Thanks for the tip, Claudia.

pink. what happened? did you dry it out beyond recognition? chicken breasts are rarely succulent. even on their best day.

It would be like pinpointing the blame for the Bay of Pigs. A perfect storm of too many ingredients (emptying out the refrigerator), trying to speed up the cooking for my kids, futzing around with a foolproof recipe and an oven I suspect of uneven heat. But oh my god, was it horrendous. The roasted garlic couldn't even be salvaged: I tried to mash it in some black beans tonight and emerged with a foul-smelling paste that looked disgustingly at home in a trash bag full of diapers.

On the other hand, my brussels sprouts the night before--roasted in a light marinade of Boyar's mustard, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil and sea salt--were a smash success. I daresay they might even convert a certain gnome.

everything starts with the products....we don't even start cooking until we gather the best products that we can find... we are now at a point where 95 percent of out produce comes from our kitchen garden or our neighbor's farm...this is the basis of our cuisine....then the ideas for each dish come together (the focus or theme) and then we decide on execution (techniques, technology, etc)....every dish we put into the dining room goes through this thought process...it works for us, at least for now

How has the kitchen garden affected the way you use or even see food? Growing veggies is an insane amount of work.

the more time I spend in the soil the more I want to eat raw food....we start our tasting menu with and dish that tries to replicate a walk threw our garden..all the vedge is raw, the dish contains one shaving of each vedge from each particular day and one piece of each herb or lettuce...we serve it with soft butter, creme fraiche and maldon salt...many great chefs serve dishes like this, bras, passard, kinch, veyrat. Quique dacosta has a great dish that replicates a walk through the forest, heston has a dish that replicates the sea....I think it is very cool to try and capture a particular experience with food...btw, I am the sole employee of our kitchen garden for now and it is whipping my butt, but it is alot of fun and really has changed my approach to cooking....products come first..

alot of the employees of the restaurant volunteer their time helping out in the garden, it's almost like therapy...the sunshine, the soil, the air, the silence....you don't get any of those things in the kitchen so it is a nice way to start the day. I use to sleep with the french laundry cookbook by my bed, now it is the organic gardener's handbook of natural insect and disease control...

no farms, no food

Hello!
Nice site ;)
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