Chef José Andrés on Trump, the American Dream, and Uniting People With Free Food: Three years ago, chef José Andrés began work on restaurants in two long-anticipated Washington, D.C., hotels: Fish by José Andrés at the MGM National Harbor and a Spanish passion project slated to open in the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office Pavilion. The first one opened in December, but the second project famously led to an ongoing legal battle with Trump’s company. Earlier this week, Grub sat down with Andrés at Fish to discuss the firebrand chef’s thoughts on the politics of our current food culture, why he’s determined to win his legal fight, and to get his take on President Trump’s first weeks in office.
Why the French Can’t Get Enough of This Illegal Bird: For several decades, the French have been obsessing over a small bird that weighs less than an ounce. Hunters consider it the king of all wildfowl; great chefs deem it the caviar of birds. However, in 1999 it became a protected species, and hunting it is now illegal. Since then, hunters have turned into poachers, chefs have become outlaws, and all have found themselves entangled in a complex web of public policy and bird conservation initiatives.
Chef won’t serve dining critic, and a food fight ensues: The common wisdom is to never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. But Raleigh chef Scott Crawford did just that when he refused to serve the Indy Week’s restaurant critic, Emma Laperruque, at his Crawford and Son restaurant. The reaction across the Triangle has been divided. Some food and beverage folks cheered Crawford’s decision to push back against a critic whose work they say is unprofessional and unfair. Others said Crawford seemed unable to handle the criticism that comes with being a high-profile chef.
The country where unwanted food is selling out: On a chilly summer’s night in the centre of Copenhagen, a crowd gathers around the entrance of a restaurant called Dalle Valle. It’s 22:30 and the dinner buffet is winding up and the kitchens are about to close. But these people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, are here for the food that the diners inside didn’t want.
Storied Tokyo market handling a lot less fish these days: Marine products handled at the Tsukiji fish market here have hit a record low for a 14th straight year, with volume falling 6% in 2016. Volume totaled 409,823 tons, according to figures compiled by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government — the lowest in statistics going back to 1967. The tally was down 49.7% from the high set in 1987. The market’s woes are blamed on poor catches of Japanese common squid and Pacific saury, both typically handled in large volumes.
Because it’s fucking shit in Hull: I live in a small hamlet in the Nottinghamshire countryside and the closest shop is in a slightly rough part of the nearby town. It is not quite as bad as the butt-clenchingly, gun and drug addled areas that I used to inhabit as a young chef in Manchester, but it is none the less quite deprived. Like a lot of former mining towns in the North of England, it has its share of poverty, deprivation and persistent levels of petty crime.
These Bartenders Have Given Up The Bottle. Here’s Why: When a profession is dependent on one’s own judgment in craftsmanship, eyebrows raise when a bartender gives up drinking. Jack McGarry, owner of the Dead Rabbit, was named International Bartender of the Year in 2013 at Tales of the Cocktail. The bar was also named World’s Best Bar at Tales in 2015 and topped the World’s 50 Best Bars list last year. McGarry has been sober now for about a year.
Leave a Reply