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Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

luxeat.com

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Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#51

Post by xxpor »

cameronh90 wrote: post #46
tracerbulletx wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jeez Cheesecake Factory must have really wronged you or something.

As a non-American, I found The Cheesecake Factory baffling. Far more baffling than any other restaurant I've been to in the USA. The restaurants appear to be trying to look fancy, with their extravagant yet tastelessly cheesy interior design. I wasn't sure if it was some kind of ironic inside joke that everyone from the USA is in on? Despite the OTT design, the food was unremarkable. Not too surprising given that the…

Oh, even Americans find it completely bizarre

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mashable.com/article/cheesecake...

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#52

Post by ska »

kragen wrote: post #18
tomcam wrote: post #3

Went to Paris and dined at a number of Michelin-starred places, including Le Cinq. The food was fine, but... I didn't get it! I think there is a culinary language that I understand as little as a typical Michelin-starred chef would be able to evaluate a tightly-written C program. On the other hand I was lucky enough to dine at Poppy Seattle every year of its existence and felt their completely original approach to th…

I think there's a significant question about the linearity of the scale. Is this quadratic, linear, logarithmic, exponential? If quadratic, then the Cheesecake Factory experience gives you 9 "utils" and Poppy gives you 100 utils. You'd rather eat at Poppy once a month than Cheesecake Factory 11 times a month, but you'd rather eat at Cheesecake factory 12 times a month than either. (If 12 times a month is too much, sw…

> So, how does that 1-10 scale map to your preferences?

Why does your analysis assume fixed utility for sites? I expect it is strongly conditioned on recent days, at minimum?

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#53

Post by 11thEarlOfMar »

First, you really need to enjoy that type of experience.

A 3-star restaurant is going to have attentive, almost (but not quite) intrusive service. The servers come across more as dining consultants or even storytellers. One lunch at The French Laundry, our server spent quite a few minutes explaining the history of the butter served with the 'hot buttered rolls' course. The cow that provided the milk had been given to Thomas Keller as a gift, and now lived in upstate New York, eating plenty of clover (I don't recall the bovine's name). The butter was churned there, and then flown refrigerated to the restaurant in Yountville. Then, I commented about the case of aged whiskeys in the case behind our table, and in particular, a 1942 Scotch. A taste could be had for $1,200 per shot.

The courses are small servings, but seem to keep coming. There were almost as many dessert courses as main meal courses, and to be honest, when we were done, I was quite uncomfortable from the amount of food I ate.

The presentation is art, the flavors typically subtle and complex, and the quality of ingredients is clearly the best to be found. I ate dishes I'd never had before, not always sure what was in them, but could get the full back story by asking.

Lunch for four, $1,800, including wine.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#54

Post by [deleted] »

tomcam wrote: post #22
lostmsu wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like it is very personal. I'd swap your Cheesecake factory and Olive Garden ratings.

Which is exactly why I gave you the calibration! I absolutely do not regard myself as someone with unimpeachable taste. My family agrees with me, but I think your taste is much more in line with most people.

[deleted]

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#55

Post by blackearl »

cameronh90 wrote: post #46
tracerbulletx wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jeez Cheesecake Factory must have really wronged you or something.

As a non-American, I found The Cheesecake Factory baffling. Far more baffling than any other restaurant I've been to in the USA. The restaurants appear to be trying to look fancy, with their extravagant yet tastelessly cheesy interior design. I wasn't sure if it was some kind of ironic inside joke that everyone from the USA is in on? Despite the OTT design, the food was unremarkable. Not too surprising given that the…

I recall the menu being gigantic and also having ads in it.

Massive portions of trucked in microwaveable meals.

It's the fanciest restaurant in your local strip mall and its fans look just as you'd expect.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#56

Post by [deleted] »

zelphirkalt wrote: post #36
Ansil849 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The food was fine, but... I didn't get it! I think there is a culinary language that I understand as little as a typical Michelin-starred chef would be able to evaluate a tightly-written C program. Correct. I don't know why this is a revelation that seems especially hard for HN audiences to grasp, or why it's a revelation at all. Every single domain has its own expertise. It is absurdly arrogant and deeply condesce…

I think with this one it is, because everyone has tasted before, but comparatively few have coded before. So everyone can say something about their subjective taste experiences, but not so many can about some code. The actual difference might be subjective or one of practiced ability to distinguish in detail. There is also the aspect of science and engineering leading to objective an hopefully reproducible results. T…

[deleted]

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#57

Post by moehm »

SilasX wrote: post #38
Ansil849 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bit like saying that most people have used pretty horribly-designed apps, but they did what they needed to do, so the user couldn't tell that they were horrible. For example, most people could not care less that their password manager recently switched to Electron. They don't even notice the alleged resource lag that their coder friends keep banging on about. They simply neither notice nor care. Fine craftsm…

So the Michelin Inspectors are discovering measureable, objectively bad things about the food/restaurant, just as you would be able to identify objectively bad things about the good-enough app? What are those things and what is the objective measurement?

Liking the food != the food is good.

Good taste is not so subjective as you think it is. Your personal preferences, yeah, I don't care about them. But every professional taster keep their personal preferences out of the game and look for more objective criterias, like complexity, balance, off-flavors, aftertaste, typicity, presentation etc. For example if I order chicken and it does not taste like chicken, it's flawed, regardless if I like it or not.

It's the same with wine and whisky. It's not about your or their individual taste, it's about quality. It's okay that you like very sour, oxidized red wine. It's just not good wine.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#58

Post by tayo42 »

grecy wrote: post #50
tomcam wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s right of course. But what bothers me is it I greatly enjoy eating out, I’ve done it a whole lot, and I’m still surprisingly bad at it.

Over the years I've learned simply doing something is not a great way to get good at it, and neither is taking lessons from someone else that is good at it. Now I'm a snowboard instructor I can teach someone in a week what took me months and months to learn on my own, and I can teach them the right way from the beginning. Same story for mountain biking, lifting at the gym and even writing books. Of course the story i…

It's not that clear how your using lessons and courses differently here?

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#59

Post by phonypc »

tomcam wrote: post #3

Went to Paris and dined at a number of Michelin-starred places, including Le Cinq. The food was fine, but... I didn't get it! I think there is a culinary language that I understand as little as a typical Michelin-starred chef would be able to evaluate a tightly-written C program. On the other hand I was lucky enough to dine at Poppy Seattle every year of its existence and felt their completely original approach to th…

FWIW...

I like to think I'm someone who "gets" the "culinary language" (insofar as that is meaningful; food/cooking/taste being so subjective I'm not sure how useful the comparison to a "tightly-written C program" can be). Have cooked since I was 12, payed way too much for a fancy french culinary school, worked in various styles of restaurant.

I think Michelin-star-type restaurants are repulsive, masturbatory, hubris infested dumps. Le Cinq's 140 EUR "Spaghetti Gratin" is only marginally less absurd than a "contemporary artist" selling a plain white canvas for 7+ figures. Give me a big plate of grandma's spag bol over that any day.

Re: Confessions of a Michelin Star Inspector

#60

Post by grecy »

tayo42 wrote: post #58
grecy wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the years I've learned simply doing something is not a great way to get good at it, and neither is taking lessons from someone else that is good at it. Now I'm a snowboard instructor I can teach someone in a week what took me months and months to learn on my own, and I can teach them the right way from the beginning. Same story for mountain biking, lifting at the gym and even writing books. Of course the story i…

It's not that clear how your using lessons and courses differently here?

Sorry, I interchange the two words.

What I mean is if you want to get better (and actually professionally good at something) you need to get training (lessons, classes, courses, whatever you want to call it) from a professional teacher in that field - you won't get to pro level of good simply by doing, and you won't get to pro level taking lessons from someone else who is just good at it. They need to be a professional teacher in that field.

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