I went to a talk this afternoon by Thomas Keller, a well-known chef from the Napa Valley (he owns Bouchon and the French Laundry).
I'm not sure what I expected, but I think that chefs should probably stay behind the grill when they talk. Nice enough guy but a bit out to sea in front of a large audience of foodies when not talking about food. So he opened it up to general questions from the audience.
What floored me was when someone asked, somewhat aggressively, "Why don't you have more Washington wines on your wine list?" The obvious answer is "They're not good enough, yet." Whatever. He could have answered "We'll look into that."
Instead, he answered "Well, you would have to ask Chef XXX that" (I cannot remember the chef's name). I couldn't believe it. Ask a top-flight French chef, nay.. a European chef that same question and you would get an hour-long discourse on why a particular wine would be best with a particular dish. They would never abdicate the consideration of a wine with a meal.
How could you not consider wine an integral part of any fine dining and have an opinion about your wine list?
Perhaps he was just being diplomatic. But somehow, I fear not.
Posted by artandscience at March 28, 2005 07:41 PM