yeah i will admit to liking that food-personality dude's resentful voice in the second piece. he's obviously being hyperbolic all over the place, but he does cover the stuff said upthread about how first generation immigrant food shops are sometimes lackluster and often the classed-up, well-trained chef versions are better, he's just offering an analysis of why that's the case. his resentment does get in the way of the accuracy of his observations sometimes, but i don't think he's saying what some of the people in this thread think he's saying.
― horseshoe, Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:44 (eleven years ago) link
that was an xxp to thomp
― horseshoe, Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:45 (eleven years ago) link
"oh no I don't like the tattoos on the person serving me this delicious chow & the name of the cart is too cutesy, 4.5 worst new food cart!" fuckin whatever it's a sandwich
― decrepit but free (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:45 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, if you look at that food cart and think "putrid preciousness" and not "i could go for a banh mi" you probably have grown to accustomed to your lifestyle and should be exiled to texarcana or rapid city or stoke-on-trent or something
& yeah, i totally agree, i don't understand how a couple of posts hereare any kind of reply to what the guy actually says, rather than a cartoon of a related position someone else may have once held at some point in time
― thomp, Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:46 (eleven years ago) link
i've never encountered food cart hate. but there aren't a lot in boston, b/c of zoning/weather/licensing, and the ones in seattle/los angeles were pretty old school and benign. i'm under the perception that they exist and are managed and engineered more by hobbyists/starting chefs than wealthy restauranteur types.
― indian rope trick (remy bean), Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:47 (eleven years ago) link
also would read his girls recaps tbh
― horseshoe, Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:47 (eleven years ago) link
http://thepopchef.blogspot.co.uk/
― thomp, Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:50 (eleven years ago) link
feel like the GIRLS connection was what was missing from original post that really could take this to clusterfuck summary territory, maybe now if someone argues that he has some kind of illness misrepresented in the drm-iv we can break ilx
― thomp, Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:51 (eleven years ago) link
other than mentioning pork buns i can't help but notice the wack dude doesn't mention one of the most famous resellers and reinventors of grandma's peasant food. he also doesn't mention all the people lined up to pay 200+ a head for sushi master cuisine. new york is weird and new york food life is unlike anywhere else in the country but one thing foodies are good at is hyping "traditional" places run by immigrants. that's what i don't get about that guy's argument. for every snobby white hotshot fusion chef in a million dollar restaurant (and this is really the whole thing - the hotshots get big money backing and thus can pay for PR and prime real estate) there are a zillion more humble places to go to where the food is appreciated. even the new york times is pretty good at covering bling bling hotshot places AND the out of the way noodle shop/taco/etc place. they give a lot of ink to those small grandma shops! street food is as beloved as le bernardin in new york. that guy just has an inferiority complex or something.
well he's not really angry about the white hotshot fusion chef, he's angry about the white traditional Thai chef who's getting keys to the upper echelon of the world of fine dining that aren't being given to the Thai chefs
― chris paul george hill (dayo), Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:53 (eleven years ago) link
he is just mad at white people. i get it; it's made me say some really dumb stuff in my life, probably will continue to. there's something kind of exhilarating about reading it. possibly this is all bad for him and me and we should take care to moderate our tone, but i did enjoy reading it.
― horseshoe, Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:54 (eleven years ago) link
maybe i just don't get what the hip-hop chef wants. other than respect for immigrants. which is fine. i respect that. or maybe i just don't get the axe he's grinding. he sounds kinda jealous.
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:57 (eleven years ago) link
i think the food cart hate like most of the general antipathy towards extremes of foodies culture is due more to the breathless blogging and overhyping of that shit and not so much the thing in itself. like ppl talking how the new korean tacos with a twist down the street are the absolute soaring heights of human cultural achievement and pleasurable experiences
― dell (del), Thursday, 7 June 2012 14:58 (eleven years ago) link
there are a lot of asian fine dining chefs, no?? i mean, yeah, some people might be better at marketing themselves or know the lay of the land better. there are definite advantages to being from here. and obviously benefits to being white/connected/school chums with investment brokers/etc. but asian chefs are also brought here from asia all the time to cook in fancy restaurants. or maybe i'm wrong.
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:01 (eleven years ago) link
when people hate on food carts I'm like "cool, you stay out of the line, if they have good chow that is literally the only thing I give a shit about"
― decrepit but free (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, June 7, 2012 10:44 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
^^^ OTM
Cleveland has really embraced food carts/trucks and we're a lot better off for it. Every Wednesday during the summer they block off part of a downtown side street at lunchtime, bring in a ton of food trucks, have live music, etc. It's awesome.
― Julie Derpy (Phil D.), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:01 (eleven years ago) link
the empanada resentment wing of the black bloc is going to be turning over food carts during this summer's protests
― dell (del), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:01 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, it's sort of a weird thing if you live in a place (like madison) where it's just a given that you get lunch at a cart a lot of the time, some of them are yummy, some of them are crappy, but there's no particular cultural value (pos or neg) attached to being the kind of person who patronizes food carts or has opinions about which food carts are better than others.
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:02 (eleven years ago) link
susanna foo was the talk of the town when i moved to philly years ago. not white. very influential to a lot of people. people forget about these people. they've been here for decades. have more respect for pioneers! they said a chef from Mongolia would never make it in the land of the cheesesteak!
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:04 (eleven years ago) link
(not to mention a chef opening a restaurant in philly in the 80's that blended french and chinese)
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:06 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, i think that's one of the realities that that dude's bluster obscures, for sure. and i'm sure you're right that his anger is partly jealousy/wishing he had a higher profile/whatever. i don't know enough about the restaurant business to know if he's right about anything, to be honest, but i found his discussion of the dynamics of the immigrant-owned restaurant + the immigrant community compelling. mostly it is a relief to me when other people sound as resentful as i sometimes sound.
― horseshoe, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:07 (eleven years ago) link
did this person end up independently inventing vietnamese food because that would be kind of amazing
― thomp, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:09 (eleven years ago) link
like, the thing he said about food being all chinese-americans have in this country; as you rightly point out, scott, that's not true! but i get how it could feel true! i have heard myself get weirdly culturally nationalistic when indian food gets brought up in conversation and been like, what is this about???
― horseshoe, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:10 (eleven years ago) link
yeah - I think his resentment also stems from being the child of immigrants, ie someone who ought to be better at navigating the whirls and whorls of the restaurant business than his FOB forbears, but is still losing out to the famous white pastry chef who happened to marry into a Mexican family
― chris paul george hill (dayo), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:11 (eleven years ago) link
i get the resentment. and totally understand the immigrant resentment. and feeling left out in a country that just keeps taking your shit and making it seem like a novelty. and, mexico, i am deeply sorry.
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:25 (eleven years ago) link
there is no real answer to cultural imperialism. just make your food and be true to yourself. that's all you can do. and kill white people.
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:30 (eleven years ago) link
eat white people
― dell (del), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:30 (eleven years ago) link
we are talking about a country that made this. and supposedly ate it. some crazy motherfuckers. watch your back.
https://fbcdn_sphotos_c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s720x720/547553_3701821697805_1511526505_n.jpg
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:33 (eleven years ago) link
is that a weight watchers recipe card in the sense that those lists of public enemies are CIA playing cards
― blossom smulch (schlump), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:34 (eleven years ago) link
there's broccoli!
― goole, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:35 (eleven years ago) link
mods pls nsfw this thread
― dell (del), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:35 (eleven years ago) link
is that pasta? cabbage? lemon rind?
grilled onions, presumably
― thomp, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:36 (eleven years ago) link
no, apparently sauerkraut
this one is better:
http://www.greenstardesign.com/blog/barf_dog.jpg
3 slices bacon½ cup chopped onion1 can Cream of Chicken Soup¼ cup milk3 cups sliced cooked potatoes1 ½ cups cooked cut green beans1 pound frankfurters
Heat oven to 350°. Crisply fry bacon slices, crumble and set aside. Drain off excess bacon fat and brown onions in remaining drippings. Stir in soup, milk, potatoes and green beans. Pour into a 1 ½ quart casserole. Cut frankfurters in half, and stand up around the edge of the baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, top with bacon and serve.
Serves:4Preparation time: 50 minutesApproximate calories per serving: 520
― thomp, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:37 (eleven years ago) link
I hear white people are trying to sing the blues too. When Muddy Waters was asked whether they could, he supposedly said, "Sure why not, I have a dog that can bark the blues."
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:38 (eleven years ago) link
if your recipe looks simultaneously like excrement AND genitalia then...
plus the broccoli isn't overcooked enough for that era!
― dell (del), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
Mayonnaise and cream of mushroom soup are implicated in so much of this shit, thry're like the Bat-signal of shitty American taste trends.
― indian rope trick (remy bean), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
final step: push Frankfurter Volcano into trash, eat marigolds
xxxp
― blossom smulch (schlump), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:41 (eleven years ago) link
xpahem JELLO MOLDS
with marshmallows in case you're feeling especially gelatin-deficient
― dell (del), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:42 (eleven years ago) link
next dinner party:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_jyIYP1-t1W0/S9Bq_uIeXnI/AAAAAAAAJZ8/i5or1a2JaSk/vintage-recipe-cards_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:46 (eleven years ago) link
is there an opportunity to revitalize cream-of-whatsit soup & frankfurt casseroles for cosmopolitan yelpers? maybe a charmingly kitschy bistro called "haute dish" or something?
― real men have been preparing manly dishes for centuries (elmo argonaut), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:49 (eleven years ago) link
p sure they're balloon sculptures scott
― blossom smulch (schlump), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:51 (eleven years ago) link
btw i know tater tots have been reclaimed already, there is a place here that does tater tot poutine
― real men have been preparing manly dishes for centuries (elmo argonaut), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:51 (eleven years ago) link
there are those kinda faux diner places that have apple brown betty and tuna casserole "with a modern twist". but nothing as extreme as frankfurter spectacular.
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:53 (eleven years ago) link
maybe a charmingly kitschy bistro called "haute dish" or something?
there is a restaurant here with that actual name
― goole, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:53 (eleven years ago) link
think of how long people were torturing the humble mashed potato. those potatoes didn't know what hit them.
― scott seward, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:54 (eleven years ago) link
all the new american places have those kinda throwback/futuristic dishes. i love a fancy mac & cheese. there is some great cheese out there!
there's also a place called "cafeteria" that i am fairly sure serves everything in plastic trays with the multiple compartments. never been there. it's always busy.
― goole, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:55 (eleven years ago) link
a table of itinerant foodies going crazy over a cilantro-infused pineapple jello mold, taking DSLR snaps of the house-made stovetop stuffing crust on their turkey casserole
― real men have been preparing manly dishes for centuries (elmo argonaut), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:55 (eleven years ago) link
fronting ground zero
http://www.haute-dish.com/
― goole, Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:56 (eleven years ago) link
i would take a gift card; their beer list isn't bad.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Thursday, 7 June 2012 15:59 (eleven years ago) link
haha wow, that actually exists.
― real men have been preparing manly dishes for centuries (elmo argonaut), Thursday, 7 June 2012 16:00 (eleven years ago) link