So-called "cuisine"

[Wilfrid]

Let me launch a repository, depository and suppository for cooking exploits which are intended to impress us, awe us, make us salivate and separate us from our dollars. Things like...well, meatballs and oyster sliders.

 

Exhibit one:

 

(T)he San Antonio Bean Tostada Burger: Our beef patty topped with sharp cheddar cheese, chorizo, refried beans, jalepenos, onions and Frito chips on a toasted sesame seed bun. $11.25

 

RubBBQ

 

This being Rub, the burger will be available until 8.59pm this evening. Hospitality be damned.

[TaliesinNYC]

well, technically polpetti are miniature pork meatballs -- cooked several ways: deep-fried and served with a tomato sauce; in broth, with pasta; or baked, and served in a wine sauce.

 

but you don't see many restaurants serving those, opting instead for their larger (and to me, less interesting) cousins.

[TaliesinNYC]

Let me launch a repository, depository and suppository for cooking exploits which are intended to impress us, awe us, make us salivate and separate us from our dollars. Things like...well, meatballs and oyster sliders.

 

Exhibit one:

 

(T)he San Antonio Bean Tostada Burger: Our beef patty topped with sharp cheddar cheese, chorizo, refried beans, jalepenos, onions and Frito chips on a toasted sesame seed bun. $11.25

 

RubBBQ

 

This being Rub, the burger will be available until 8.59pm this evening. Hospitality be damned.

 

 

so ... they've invented nachos?

 

whoop-dee-do

[Wilfrid]

When I was at elementary school I learned how to put potato crisps inside my sandwiches to make them more interesting.

[mongo_jones]

are these fancy places that are only now discovering things that chains like red robin have been doing for years?

[Scott -- DFW]

It's only $5.95 at Chris Madrid's, though maybe more if you request the "market price" Frito supplement.

[TaliesinNYC]

Reminds me of this NYT article from a year ago:

 

In the 1980s, the popcorn button on the microwave seemed like the last word in convenience. Now, ovens ranging from countertop convection to wall models come equipped with a chicken-nugget button.

 

On display at the annual exhibition that ended on Tuesday was an appliance that, with a touch, perfectly browns toast and, at the same time, poaches an egg. The 60,000 people at the show could also consider the advantages of a bread maker that allows a not-so-ambitious baker to press a button and bake a cake.

 

Fancy toaster ovens with convection heat have a one-touch “smart cookie” option so that store-bought dough can go from refrigerator to plate without a thought. Microwaves have graduated to buttons for pizzas, breakfast sausage and omelets.

 

That’s not to say that expensive knives, “Top Chef” cookbooks and home canning equipment aren’t popular in some circles. But the big money is made selling appliances designed on the assumption that cooking skill matters less than shopping skill.

 

Consider that in the $3.8 billion category called small kitchen electrics, sales were up almost 9 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to market research by the NPD Group. Meanwhile, sales of housewares — that includes knives, pots and pans — were down 11.5 percent.

 

As the economy drives more people home to eat, one-button cuisine offers ready answers for cooks with not much time to spend in the kitchen and not much of a clue about what to do once they get there.

 

“I would say that cooking ability is really minimal,” said Janet Andreas, consumer culinary development manager for French’s Foods and a 22-year veteran of the company.

 

But still, people standing in the kitchen at least want to feel as if they’re cooking. That’s why the food industry is enamored of what it calls speed-scratch products: dishes that can be completed in only one or two steps.

 

 

This is seriously depressing, more so than "meatball cuisine".

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/dining/17house.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1312242824-ZzF5ARNasmjV/TzfgGwNfw

[oakapple]

Count the clichés.

[Anthony Bonner]

did anyone here think Boqueria added anything to the pseudo-Tapas scene in town? I didn't - so I always find the Seamus Mullen press a little weird.

[oakapple]

It's another one of those places that didn't take reservations, got 2 stars from Frank Bruni, and suddenly the chef was a rock star.

[hcbk0702]

This is supposed to impress me?

How could Fritos® shredding the roof of your mouth not impress you?

[Daisy]

did anyone here think Boqueria added anything to the pseudo-Tapas scene in town? I didn't - so I always find the Seamus Mullen press a little weird.

When he was cooking at Suba it was terrific.

[Wilfrid]

This is supposed to impress me?

How could Fritos® shredding the roof of your mouth not impress you?

 

As I said, because I did it by inserting potato chips into Heinz 57 Varieties sandwich spread sandwiches circa 1964. Yes I am that old. But I still remember the girl who sat opposite me in class.

[hcbk0702]

This is supposed to impress me?

How could Fritos® shredding the roof of your mouth not impress you?

 

As I said, because I did it by inserting potato chips into Heinz 57 Varieties sandwich spread sandwiches circa 1964. Yes I am that old. But I still remember the girl who sat opposite me in class.

Run-of-the-mill potato chips can't draw blood the same way. Completely different experience.

[Stone]

When I was at the Burger Barrel the other night, my friend said she was dying to go back to try other stuff. "It's just burgers," I said. "But what about the chicken lollypops?" "It's a drumstick, with the meat shoved down to one end." The hostess still lingers however.

 

Edit: It's interesting that when I first starting dining with this friend, we went to 10 Downing St. Is that still open? Now, 2 or 3 years later, it's all about burgers.