I'm in DC. It is a monthly trip I make for work. Last night, after attending a political event, I headed through the rain to Central, the new restaurant from Michel Richard.
Michel Richard is an excellent chef. I had a wonderful night, a few years ago, at his fancy restaurant Citronelle in Georgetown. After a multi-course meal by myself in the dining room, I asked the waiter if the chef was in the restaurant and if so if he would be willing to come out so that I might thank him for the meal. The waiter came back to tell me that the chef had invited me to join him in the kitchen at his table where he was about to eat dinner with friends. When I got to the kitchen, Richard had me sit next to him at his table and proceeded to order an entirely new multi-course meal of his choosing. I ended up having somewhere between 12 and 16 courses of food that night and the kicker is I had a different glass of wine with each course. It was (even with the wine) a memorable night! It was an honor and a lot of fun to get to visit with Chef Richard.
How good is Richard? He was recently named the 2007 "Outstanding Chef" by the James Beard foundation. It's the chef equivalent of winning the best actor Oscar.
So last night I went to his new restaurant.
The review?
The service was inconsistent.
The ingredients in the food were out of this world. It is amazing what a huge difference high quality ingredients make in cooking.
The food was very good.
It wasn't as good as Citronelle but this restaurant isn't supposed to be as good as Citronelle. My bill at Citronelle was well more than double my bill from last night. But the food was good. And I'll probably go back.
The problem, however, is that I kept having to adjust my expectations downward. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't at Citronelle and that I shouldn't expect that type or level of food. After all, this is a Michelle Richard restaurant. And that's the problem with expectations, isn't it? Once expectations are set, if they are not met, we get disappointed.
As for the coffee? It wasn't great. But the way things have been going with me and coffee I didn't expect the coffee to be great. Maybe the addiction is over.
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I've noticed this trend in coffee over that past couple of years. Perhaps the mass popularity and production has driven quality in the coffee business down the same road as so many other consumer products. I have found what may be a solution...at a cost of course. Shade Tree, Fair Trade, Certified Organic coffees might bring delight back to your tastebuds...I have found them to be delightful. As for a middle ground (no pun intended) production coffee, my other favorite is Peet's Coffee in Berkeley, CA.
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