Feldman's Faves: August 19, 2024

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

I hope all of you are enjoying the final few weeks of summer. It has been a great one so far. You know when we are near the end once the EX opens – a bittersweet moment during the year.

I just spent a few days in Nashville (there for the first time) and it was truly incredible. I have started to gain an appreciation for country music and boy do they do it well there. The Country Music Hall of Fame is incredible as is the Grand Ole Opry.  Also the food is ridiculous from fine dining to Nashville Hot Chicken to Tennessee style BBQ– everything was outstanding. Also, I could eat biscuits and gravy for three meals a day/seven days a week.

Given this weekend’s culinary adventures I decided that this week’s theme is restaurants.

TEN RESTAURANTS THAT CHANGED AMERICAN  By: Paul Freedman – The first time I went to New York I drove was in the early 1980’s with my parents and sister.  We saw 42nd Street (starring Jerry Orbach) but first had dinner at Mama Leone’s, which my dad said was a New York classic. I remember the food being mediocre but the ambiance being an absolute blast. Mama Leone’s is one of the ten restaurants featured in Paul Freedman’s amazing book, Ten Restaurants that Changed America.  Freedman admits that not all of the were the best in their fields but all of them were extremely important for what they represented – like Mandarin in San Francisco representing Chinese food in America, Howard Johnson’s representing the birth of fast food chains, Sylvia’s in Harlem representing “soul food”, Chez Panisse (classy French), Four Seasons’ (the progenitor of the “power lunch”), Delmonicos’ (the first restaurant that had insane and massive French menus) and of course Mama Leone’s representing American Italian cuisine.  There are others but you need to read the book to find out.  Freedman notes that “in the beginning” French cuisine dominated American’s taste for what represented the very best of fine dining and the standard of excellence for food. But through his study of the ten restaurants in this book he highlights five key trends that picked up starting in the 1980’s that led to the end of  the French cuisine hegemony, namely, (i)  the farm to table movement, (ii) molecular or modernist gastronomy, (iii) celebrity chefs, (iv) the Influence of Asian food (broadly speaking), and (v) the Informality of fine dining (food and decor). We now take all these trends as a given but it is clear they are the result of hundreds of years of evolution.  As one reviewer notes, “A robust historical trek through America’s restaurant cuisine over three centuries. Rather than a mere listing of the 10 best restaurants in the country, Freedman (History/Yale Univ.; Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination, 2008, etc.) establishes these 10 as significant representatives of specific times, places, and trends in American culture. Delightfully illustrated with menus, photos, and other visual accompaniments, the narrative delves into each of the 10 restaurants’ unique stories, beginning with America’s first restaurant, Delmonico’s, which “would offer impeccable French cuisine worthy of Paris.” Opened in 1827 in New York City, “it set a pattern for what fine dining meant for the nineteenth century and had many worthy and successful imitators.” The author also recounts the story of Antoine’s in New Orleans; how the many branches of Schrafft’s courted women customers while expanding middle-class restaurant options; and why the rise of automobile travel created the need for consistent meals at reasonable prices and how Howard Johnson successfully filled this need and led to the concept of franchising. Freedman tracks the demise of the reverence for French food and the rise of the power lunch, and he shows how the mass migration of African-Americans from the South led to the hunger for what became known as “soul food.” The author concludes with a chapter detailing the still-reverberating changes in the food world wrought by Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, where “the combination of uniquely delicious food and barely controlled chaos would remain a constant for decades.” For those intrepid readers wanting more tasty tidbits, Freedman includes a selected bibliography, dozens of notes, and an appendix containing such classic recipes as Sylvia’s Boiled String Beans with Ham or Chez Panisse’s Curly Endive, Radicchio, and Fuyu Persimmon Salad. Culinary historians, those besotted with food culture, and curious general readers will all find something of value in this well-researched, entertaining social and cultural history.”  The history of restaurants is an excellent proxy for the history of all of us. Dining habits and customs are a major reflection of a society, its economy, politics and people. Reading this book also made me hungry all the time and each restaurant has a lasting impact on the way we eat today…..Here’s a good review from the NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/21/dining/ten-restaurants-that-changed-america-book-paul-freedman.html

WorkLife with Adam Grant - How to build a great culture with restaurateur Danny Meyer – Danny Meyer is one of the most successful and interesting restaurant entrepreneurs around. When I lived in New York and I lived in Union Square, I often went to his flagship Union Square Café and had the best meals of my life. He is also famous for Gramercy Tavern (and NYC classic) and most famous for creating Shake Shack (which is now here in Toronto). Beyond what he has created, Meyer has developed a reputation as being an exceptional leader and showed that leadership during Covid and beyond. Ada Grant, the guru from Wharton, loves Meyer and speaks with him all the time about his business, his ideas and how he gets the best out of people, which is a major them of the discussion in this PODCAST.  Here’s an excerpt from the PODCAST itself, “At 27, long before he gained acclaim as the restaurateur behind Shake Shack and Gramercy Tavern, Danny Meyer launched his first venture, Union Square Cafe. More than 20 James Beard Foundation awards later, Danny shares the strategies and insights that fueled his restaurant empire. He and Adam discuss how to build a culture of excellence and care, how to hire people who treat others well, and how to bring values to life. Danny is the author of the New York Times bestseller Setting the Table.” https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/worklife-with-adam-grant/id1346314086?i=1000664377536

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation. And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon