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Author Topic: Restaurant "Art"  (Read 10168 times)

JJP

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Restaurant "Art"
« on: September 28, 2008, 07:08:03 am »

Not only in restaurants, but now cooking shows that air on television are infested with this plague that I'll describe as follows:  the chef pulls out a clean plate, then he pulls out a small portion of protein whether that be fish, poultry, beef or heaven forbid toffu and fidles with that until it's just perfect in the middle of the plate, this may be done bare handed or using the graber tool....next, the chef places a small vegy on the protein then, using a teaspoon, scoops up a few micrograms of gravy and places a few drops around the protein and vegy.  It's not over yet....the chef will fiddle with the above, usually bare handed or using tongues and then wipe the perimeter of plate with towel.  By the time the plate arrives to guest, those few micrograms of gravy have literally evaporated.
Doesn't that p!$$ you off?  No wander why the price of food is sky rocketing.
JJ
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JJ

michael

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« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2008, 07:42:26 am »

And the relationship (even a vague one) to photography is?

Michael
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JJP

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« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2008, 08:04:20 am »

"The Coffee Corner"  is it not a forum for open discussion of both photographic & non photographic topics of a general nature ?
wrote it word per word,
jj
« Last Edit: September 28, 2008, 08:05:52 am by JJP »
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JJ

JJP

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« Reply #3 on: September 28, 2008, 08:40:38 am »

hi Michael,
It's not my intention to be rude or whatnot.  I find that restaurants are going to far when it comes to making food a feast for the eyes as opposed to a feast for the taste buds.  Some say, food is to be enjoyed with your eyes...they say you should feast the delectables with your eyes.  This is what really annoys me.  What ever happened to getting 2 scoops of mashed potatoes, and lots of gravy with a 10 square inch (or larger) steak and heaping scoop of vegies?
Anyways, if I've gone to far with this thread, by all means, delete it, no hard fealings whatsoever,
jj
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JJ

ternst

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« Reply #4 on: September 28, 2008, 08:55:11 am »

Sounds like you need to eat at different restaurants if that annoys you (will probably save you some money too). I find that many restaurants give you way too much food these days, one reason we are all getting fat...Why bitch and moan about things that do not interest you - 'tis better to spend your time with things you enjoy, ey?
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JJP

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« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2008, 09:55:34 am »

Don't misunderstand me....thread is meant to be light hearted.  There's way to much emphasis on food being artwork these days and to add fuel to the stove, by chefs of all people...heck, I really don't want to hang my lunch at an art gallery.  Am I the only one who feels this way?  Does your stomach get full and are your tastebuds satisfied by looking at the artwork of your lunch and exploring your lunch's visual composition?  Not in my opinion.
jj
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JJ

dalethorn

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« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2008, 07:52:06 pm »

I spent a bit of time on these, so they represent some of my art, if that sounds OK. When the doc said my numbers were way too high in some areas, I switched to this format for lunch and dinner, and my numbers dropped into the safe zone very quickly, as well as losing unneeded pounds.

Photographing food is tough, for me at least, so some of you may know some better techniques.
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spidermike

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« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2008, 12:39:29 pm »

Quote
hi Michael,
It's not my intention to be rude or whatnot.  I find that restaurants are going to far when it comes to making food a feast for the eyes as opposed to a feast for the taste buds.  Some say, food is to be enjoyed with your eyes...they say you should feast the delectables with your eyes.  This is what really annoys me.  What ever happened to getting 2 scoops of mashed potatoes, and lots of gravy with a 10 square inch (or larger) steak and heaping scoop of vegies?
Anyways, if I've gone to far with this thread, by all means, delete it, no hard fealings whatsoever,
jj
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=225169\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

mmmm.
You can always tell the Brit from the mainland Europeans when in a cafeteria. Just go to the pudding counter - no-one does puddings like the Brits and no-one does custard like the Brits. Nor do they understand their raison d'etre.
The Spanish, French, Germans (whatever nationality) will get a piece of sponge pudding and 'moisten' it with an appropriate amount of custard.
The Brits on the other hand, see the sponge pudding as an excuse to have custard. So a mediocre portion of sponge becomes submerged in as much of that yellow sweet liquid as the diner can fit into the bowl. Followed by a few seconds to allow the custard to seep into all the crevices hoping ot have room to fit just that little bit more.


But back to the OP, I agree completely. A waste of a good plate. Added to this is the fetish for piling things upwards. In the 80s it was nouvelle cuisine with their artistic arrangements around the plate. Now its vertical.
This is one reason I like eating in the western parts of Belgium. As one of the locals explained to me they take pride in having French standard of food with neither the fancy preparation nor the appropriately high price. And I agree.
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BruceHouston

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« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2008, 04:35:04 pm »

Quote from: JJP
Don't misunderstand me....thread is meant to be light hearted.  There's way to much emphasis on food being artwork these days and to add fuel to the stove, by chefs of all people...heck, I really don't want to hang my lunch at an art gallery.  Am I the only one who feels this way?  Does your stomach get full and are your tastebuds satisfied by looking at the artwork of your lunch and exploring your lunch's visual composition?  Not in my opinion.
jj

I took it as light-hearted, and it made me laugh, JJ.

Thanks for the chuckle,
Bruce
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JJP

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« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2008, 08:30:41 am »

Quote
Added to this is the fetish for piling things upwards
Quote

Yea spidermike!  Is it meant to be some kind of space saving thing?  It's just a matter of time before some chef tackles the cn tower or something.  
You know, there's another thing that I've seen done on your favorite cooking competition TV show as follows:  the chef (who was totally gung ho to express his artwork) used  fish which were alive & actively swimming in the soup bowl.  I almost lost my cookies watchin that one.  
JJ
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Robert Roaldi

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« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2008, 09:57:08 am »

Chefs' attention to presentation may be a way of trying to make the plate of food look as good as the photographs we're used to seeing in magazines. It's all the fault of photographers who raised our expectations too high.

Also, it's narcissism. The presentation of the food is only as important as the way it makes us feel, knowing that someone went to a lot of trouble to do something unnecessary just for our amusement. It's like the turn-down service in high-end hotels. Do we really need a maid to turn down the sheets for us, or do we just want the ego boost we get from knowing that we have the power to make someone else do something childishly pointless just to gratify us? We all want to be Louis XIV.

My two cents about restaurant chic is that it's not food, it's entertainment. For a few years, I did not earn income. My wife and I decided to make some cuts in lifestyle. We got rid of one car and completely avoided restaurants for 3 years. We missed neither and ended up being better cooks.

(Btw, I also thought this was funny.)
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spidermike

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« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2008, 10:10:39 am »

Quote from: Robert Roaldi
My two cents about restaurant chic is that it's not food, it's entertainment.
(Btw, I also thought this was funny.)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle4825182.ece
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Robert Roaldi

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« Reply #12 on: October 07, 2008, 10:28:42 am »

Thanks spidermike. I just read that and I need to go cool off somewhere, take a shower or something, or a nap maybe.
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Stuarte

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« Reply #13 on: October 07, 2008, 11:56:01 am »

My immediate thought at the OP and Michael's question was "Food Porn" - the sensibility and aesthetics of soft pornography applied to food.  Close-in shots of come-hither ripe vegetables glistening with moisture, rich sauces poured over succulent meat in slow motion...

Sadly it's all just going through the motions - the triumph of style over substance. Any piece of food can look out of this world with good lighting, tight framing and a judicious touch of PS.  

Give me the honest, artless, slightly faded pictures of dishes that Japanese and Chinese restaurants so often have outside.

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Rob C

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« Reply #14 on: October 07, 2008, 05:14:39 pm »

Am I alone in this, or is the thread an escape from thoughts of the financial meltdown rocking the socks off everybody´s bank account?

Was a time I thought it would be nice to be rich; now, I´m thinking it would be nice to think I might just survive. Imagine actually being rich: where would you put the money? The stock markets are a bottomless pit, the banks are so busy shifting accounts around (or not) for panicked customers that they barely seem to have time to answer the telephone - assuming you actually have your banks´ telephone numbers, not just the numbers of a series of effin service centres in bumbling Bangalore which will fail to connect you before the heart-attack - and certainly not after that.

I posed the question seriously. A few million whatsits will not sit very well in your little wall safe and if you try, then the newly destitute will probably find it before you can remember the combination again, relieving you at the same time of both the safe and contents. Not to mention the Rolex and the carkeys. Property? Really? Would you try buying it now as it devalues before your cheque clears, if it does?

So be happy you are poor; enjoy beautiful pictures of food and reviews of restaurants you will never visit; enjoy the masochism of walking the marinas and looking at all the Rivas, Sunseekers etc. that you know even the owners can no longer quite afford! There is an upside to everything, even disaster. One just has to find it. I´m still looking, but will let you know if I have any luck in the matter.

Assuming the bank still honours my broadband charges...

Rob C

Stuarte

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« Reply #15 on: October 07, 2008, 06:39:55 pm »

Quote from: Rob C
Am I alone in this, or is the thread an escape from thoughts of the financial meltdown rocking the socks off everybody´s bank account?

......There is an upside to everything, even disaster. One just has to find it. I´m still looking, but will let you know if I have any luck in the matter.

Rob C

Rob, everything is an escape from something, if one cares to look at it in those terms.

Anyway, there are upsides to this mess.  For example, according to the New York Times today, bad times can be good for health; "“The value of time is higher during good economic times,” said Grant Miller, an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford. “So people work more and do less of the things that are good for them, like cooking at home and exercising; and people experience more stress due to the rigors of hard work during booms.”

Another potential upside is that the Japanese are quietly going round buying good companies - the yen is strong, Japanese companies are cash-rich and have little to invest in at home.  What's good about that is that the Japanese are patient, humane, long-term investors who value people and aren't out to make a quick buck - so that bodes well for anyone who's been in a business slapped around by asset-sweating in-out "investors".

Another potential upside is that "quality will out"/
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Rob C

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« Reply #16 on: October 08, 2008, 03:24:48 pm »

Quote from: Stuarte
Another potential upside is that "quality will out"/




Yes, that´s why we picked the banks we thought were the best! Turns out they ALL have feet of clay - not exactly the quality one sought!

One day RBS is the bee´s knees, the next it´s almost on its back; ditto HBOS and even Barclays is getting some stick in some quarters. Top execs get fired but keep rewards of failure; tonight´s news, Beeb or Sky, shows execs from a bailed out US firm spent just under a half-million dollars on a spa treat AFTER they were helped to stay afloat on public money... it beggars if not buggers belief.

Rob C

Provokot

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« Reply #17 on: November 05, 2008, 07:45:37 am »

Quote from: JJP
Not only in restaurants, but now cooking shows that air on television are infested with this plague that I'll describe as follows:  the chef pulls out a clean plate, then he pulls out a small portion of protein whether that be fish, poultry, beef or heaven forbid toffu and fidles with that until it's just perfect in the middle of the plate, this may be done bare handed or using the graber tool....next, the chef places a small vegy on the protein then, using a teaspoon, scoops up a few micrograms of gravy and places a few drops around the protein and vegy.  It's not over yet....the chef will fiddle with the above, usually bare handed or using tongues and then wipe the perimeter of plate with towel.  By the time the plate arrives to guest, those few micrograms of gravy have literally evaporated.
Doesn't that p!$$ you off?  No wander why the price of food is sky rocketing.
JJ

Clearly, you are eating at a fine dining restaurant.  Chefs at fine dining restaurants consider themselves artists and we the public bestow upon them the right to call themselves artists if we flock there in our droves.  

So: as artists, surely we the chefs, the photographers, the writers and the painters have a duty to do the best we can with our talent? To present our art in ts best light?  And surely too, we should expect to have to deal with philistines who have no capacity to appreciate our art.

Michael, I think I liknked the OP's post with photography. Beer please!
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jjj

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« Reply #18 on: November 05, 2008, 09:46:16 am »

Quote from: spidermike
You can always tell the Brit from the mainland Europeans when in a cafeteria. Just go to the pudding counter - no-one does puddings like the Brits and no-one does custard like the Brits. Nor do they understand their raison d'etre.
The Spanish, French, Germans (whatever nationality) will get a piece of sponge pudding and 'moisten' it with an appropriate amount of custard.
The Brits on the other hand, see the sponge pudding as an excuse to have custard. So a mediocre portion of sponge becomes submerged in as much of that yellow sweet liquid as the diner can fit into the bowl. Followed by a few seconds to allow the custard to seep into all the crevices hoping ot have room to fit just that little bit more.
Apple Pie and lotsa custard.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmn, yum!
Had some for tea last night, girlfriend nearly scraped glaze off bowl trying to get last of custard.
Didn't stop the scavenging kitten trying to clean it even further whilst waiting to be washed.
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jjj

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« Reply #19 on: November 05, 2008, 09:52:09 am »

Quote from: JJP
"The Coffee Corner"  is it not a forum for open discussion of both photographic & non photographic topics of a general nature ?
wrote it word per word,
jj
There was a lot of indignant [and ignorant] huffing and puffing in another thread earlier today in the Coffee Corner, where people were moaning about the topic not being about photography. Sadly it was locked due to this stupid bickering before it could be pointed out that this particular forum was specifically where non-photography issues could be discussed.

BTW - I'm not quoting myself, honest!!  
« Last Edit: November 05, 2008, 09:53:32 am by jjj »
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