Celeb chef bean feast

Ever wonder what chefs eat when they get together for a boy's night out ? Well you'd probably be surprised to learn that generally speaking it's not the kind of fancy food they serve up in their restaurants. They tend to go for something a lot more simple, down to earth, comfort food in fact. Pizzas are popular, egg and chips, a simple curry or a couple of steaks on the grill all fulfill most chef's gastronomic expectations except of course when they're trying to impress each other and sadly that's just what happened last month when the foam king came to the Big Apple to meet his disciples.
Ferran Adria sees chemical concoctions every day of his working life. There's not a gel or gum that he isn't familiar with. I reckon he brushes his teeth with liquid nitrogen so when Wylie Dufresne owner of wd~50's had the opportunity to feed the messiah it's rather odd that he chose to serve up same old, same old bullshit. It may impress the punters but did Ferran really want to dine on bite-size crackers made of reconfigured beef tenderloin and cod tripe, as well as ricotta treated with liquid nitrogen and decorated with candied capers and frozen honey ? Hadn't Wylie ever heard of the " coals to Newcastle " story and didn't Ferran, for all his faults, just once deserve to sink his gnashers into a big juicy steak that wouldn't disappear in a cloud of lather ?

There are chefs

There are chefs and then there are chef's chefs. Gordon Ramsay is a chef but Thomas Keller is a chef's chef. Thomas who ? Well admittedly you've probably heard more about the man's restaurants - The French Laundry, Per Se and Bouchon, than the man himself since he's not an "in yer face" kind of guy. Keller's reputation was honed at the French Laundry in the Napa Valley,California, arguably the best restaurant in the US.
Keller is a traditional chef in many ways, he likes to cook and so you'll find him behind the stove rather than the TV cameras. When he opened Per Se he closed the French Laundry for 4 months and moved his entire team across the country to New York to ensure a smooth opening. Apart from the opening expenses of Per Se, can you imagine the loss of revenue at America's top restaurant for over 30% of the financial year - I don't know of any other chefs with that level of personal and financial commitment to getting their product right. Being a traditional chef Keller cooks with emotion, passion and feeling. The other flavour of the month at the moment is the avant garde style of cooking, considered to be conceptual and intellectual. If an emotional chef goes off the tracks a bit it's no real train smash, you'll still get a great meal - if a conceptual chef, a wannabe Heston Blumenthal, goes off the tracks your meal will be total chaos. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind whose restaurant I'd rather be in.