This weekend I brought my two lovely girlfriends to Commis to celebrate. Commis is still the only Michelin two-starred restaurant in Oakland and they offer only one fixed chef's menu. It's perhaps one of the few restaurants I've been where the food was plated using tweezers. Such dainty cuisine might be too precious for you manly steak lovers. Even with eight+ courses, most of us left extremely hungry except for my friend Sof who's been known to get full chewing three sticks of gum.
The dishes were lovely to behold and the flavors delicate and nuanced. But my husband- ever the critic- was not impressed and dinged them for the narrow range in visual presentation and taste. But he's also against such high-end dining which he deems "elitist" and would not patronize such establishments were it not for me. Despite my peasant roots and preference for hearty rustic fare, I accept modernist cuisine as visual performance art which should be supported just as we do theatre and operas.
As I can only take two thimblefuls of liquor in one sitting, I opted for oolong instead of the wine pairing. They brewed the tea so weak that I could only tell it was a mediocre oolong. Commis unfortunately sources their tea from Teance- a vendor firmly on my no-buy list. I will say no more.
I am not a natural hedonist and so I am somewhat ambivalent about high-end restaurants. Getting past spending excessive sums on filling one's belly, I'm bothered most by the conceit that lots of money can buy you into an amazing meal. Just like tea, more money does not always bring a more amazing experience. But as far as such meals go, I felt delight and never burdened by the bill.
The dishes were lovely to behold and the flavors delicate and nuanced. But my husband- ever the critic- was not impressed and dinged them for the narrow range in visual presentation and taste. But he's also against such high-end dining which he deems "elitist" and would not patronize such establishments were it not for me. Despite my peasant roots and preference for hearty rustic fare, I accept modernist cuisine as visual performance art which should be supported just as we do theatre and operas.
As I can only take two thimblefuls of liquor in one sitting, I opted for oolong instead of the wine pairing. They brewed the tea so weak that I could only tell it was a mediocre oolong. Commis unfortunately sources their tea from Teance- a vendor firmly on my no-buy list. I will say no more.
I am not a natural hedonist and so I am somewhat ambivalent about high-end restaurants. Getting past spending excessive sums on filling one's belly, I'm bothered most by the conceit that lots of money can buy you into an amazing meal. Just like tea, more money does not always bring a more amazing experience. But as far as such meals go, I felt delight and never burdened by the bill.
My strategy would be to have a hearty lunch if I am going to dinner to this type of establishment. BTW isn't tea of mediocre quality a given in any restaurant this side of the Pacific?
ReplyDeleteFood is never as delicious when you are starving and I didn't want to occlude my palate for such a special meal. I live to be surprised at the table and it's not an impossibility that Commis would have had better tea.
DeleteH
I am not a natural hedonist but have found a way to nurture my "inner hedon" by degrees. I would pretty much describe myself as a "hedonist lite". That is, I don't think personal sensory pleasure is of utmost importance, but I do spend a fair amount of time trying to ram pleasurable substances into my maw. I also feel ambivalent about high-end restaurants. It doesn't take much to make food pleasurable and I prefer the hearty, rustic fare to which you refer. But I also think it's enjoyable and instructive to indulge in food-art every now and again. The few places like Commis at which I've eaten have always left me feeling a bit uncomfortable and, perhaps, confused- but usually glad that I forked out the dough. A frozen fragment of slate smeared with a micron-thick rectangle of pureed arugula, three crispy whisps of herbage and a poached beet the size of a jelly belly was one dish I remember scratching my head over. Was the joke on me or did I just fail to "get it"?
ReplyDeleteJoke is always on the diner willing to shell out for such show. I swing back and forth and this year I'm more receptive than ever to haute cuisine. Much of the contemporary art in museums I don't appreciate for reasons beyond personal preferences. I hate hype and there is a lot to wade through in any art.
Deletep.s. My husband recommended reading Mary Roach's Gulp which I'm waiting for at the library.