Eating at a place from a celebrity chef? Not much enthusiasm from your humble narrator. I thought about this when on the tarmac at the airport in Las Vegas. The woman next to me went on and on about eating at Gordon Ramsey's place and Bobby Flay's place in Las Vegas.
I was detoured to the Las Vegas airport by Southwest when I should have been killing time in Denver. I was eating airline snacks that day and even the lure of a meal from Ramsay or Flay didn't make me salivate.
These celebrity chefs aren't cooking your personal dinner. They lend their approach and recipes and then jet off somewhere to be on food television.
As the woman switched topics to the excitement of gambling in Las Vegas, my mind wandered to a question I never thought I would ask myself: "Would I eat at a restaurant from a celebrity chef?"
I have eaten at a few places of somewhat famous people: Xoco from Rick Bayless (Chicago), Chez Panisse from Alice Waters (Berkeley, CA), and Garde Manger from Chuck Hughes (Montréal). I admit this with the idea of disclosure. Maybe they qualify as "celebrity chefs" but they are restaurateurs who happen to be moderately famous. If you view them as "celebrity chefs" on the level of Ramsay and Flay, then perhaps you think I am a hypocrite.
I am tempted by a José Andrés restaurant in my city, mostly because I think this might be more authentic Spanish food. I have not dined there.
Coping with reduced enthusiasm for food
I would go to a place if Alton Brown had a restaurant and they served his oyster po' boy sandwich the way he did in that episode.
I would order coq au vin at a theoretical Julia Child restaurant, provided the dish was made in the spirit of The French Chef, her TV show.
The lure of an old hen, French wine, and a solid cooking technique. A dish that is difficult to duplicate at home. Going to a Julia Child celebrity restaurant for a lovely plate of coq au vin would be nice on a Friday night or even an early dinner on a Tuesday.
Alton Brown did an episode on coq au vin. Even by his standards, this was a complicated dish. Brown fully admits in the episode that finding an old hen is rather difficult.
Does Julia Child, if she were alive, have to cook this dish herself? No. The staff would have Child's recipe and ideally the dedication to bring that to fruition, so the standards for her coq au vin would remain.
This is also why there never was a Julia Child celebrity restaurant. The standards would be too high, even if that would lead to an enjoyable meal.
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I did order the lobster poutine at Garde Manger in Montréal, Chuck Hughes cooked that same dish on Iron Chef America in defeating Bobby Flay. I didn't see that episode until after I had the lobster poutine. I did smile a bit, knowing I actually had that dish.
I enjoyed the fact that Hughes beat Flay in that episode more than the coincidence of eating a dish served on Iron Chef America yet I enjoyed both within that episode.
The lure of a celebrity chef is that you love them on TV, feel like you can relate to them and their recipes, and feel comfortable in a celebrity chef type restaurant. Those people flock to Las Vegas and eat at a place because of that celebrity chef endorsement.
You should try a celebrity chef restaurant as long as you know the parameters involved. Just lower your expectations.
video credit and photo credit: The French Chef/PBS
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