Nothing has done more to help the environment than Zoom. In 2019, I flew 225,000 miles. I have the same job, with the same tasks, but Zoom has replaced about 200,000 of those miles.
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Does promoting electric vehicles offset damaging habitat? (If all you think about is CO2, maybe)
https://www.expressnews.com/sa-inc/article/Elon-Musk-SpaceX-damaging-wildlife-habitat-16314467.php
Musk saw a business opportunity and took it. That it was an ecologically better option (on paper) does not a sainthood make.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for advancements in eco-tech but let’s not create false gods, and as David eluded, the true cost and trade offs are still tbd
that’s a pretty interesting take given that (per TSA clearance #s), current volume is back up to 83% of same week in 2019 after cratering down to 25% in July 2020.
conversely, the trend of EV adoption is up only. And now widely considered by countries and manufacturers as inevitable. that was not the case until tesla made it so.
I read the linked article (at least the first section) but didn’t have the energy to read the next two sections.
The high handed way the chef treated vegetarians/vegans is fairly damning to me. I realize I’m not a candidate client, but I wouldn’t go there.
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A typical large family/friends gathering at my place will mean that I need to deal with 4 constraints around food (vegetarian for religious reasons, no pork for religious reasons*, no nuts for allergies, no dairy for just crazy California behavior) but I’m used to it, and I’ve at least gotten the no dairy person to accept ghee/butter etc. as a cooking medium. I’ve dealt with vegetarians all my life, and they’re people I love, so its simply part of what we do. And in my observation, most lifelong ones are adaptable/resourceful; one of our family members packs nuts and that ilk everywhere just in case there isn’t a suitable option. It’s the newly converted who tend to be the most crazy strict/interrogative about ingredients.
So it’s strange/sad that a professional kitchen being paid for hospitality would lie about something like vegetarian ingredients.
- when ‘no pork person’ kids are here by themselves they always lobby for bacon and/or bbq ribs…
I don’t know of a decent mid-level, let alone fine dining kitchen that cannot easily accommodate vegetarians and most dietary concerns. Lying to customers about that sorta negates the “genius chef” meme and the concern for the environment.
And that whole thing with a diner requesting ‘no duck’ and the server smugly plating them duck ?
Is that just some crazy passive aggressive ‘we hate our patrons’ move or what
“Have it our way.”
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The end quote from Barber just tells me he’s not even striving anymore for what was maybe at one time the utopian goal. Maybe it was never 100% achievable, but if this is his current state of mind I find that sad.
“I’ve got to raise money, so I’m out there fundraising, which is storytelling. That’s all there is. I just got through telling about facts, but fact is, we’re in a post-truth world, aren’t we? Facts don’t matter. There’s only stories, that’s it. So that’s what I do.”
Very. Heartbreaking that someone with his passion gets to that mental place where the story matters more than the truth.
NewYork Post article calling the Eater article Woke and unfair.
I have seen some pushback on social media as well by former employees/vendor employees happy with their experience there/working with the Barbers.
That must be Barber’s crisis consultancy gathering the letters of recommendation to send to the judge pre sentencing…
Reading Kitchen Confidential from Anthony Bourdain again. This time on Audible as an audio with Bourdain doing the reading. This treatise on the Blue Hill at Stone Barn’s is tame compared with the stuff Bourdain says is pretty common. High level kitchens are a tough business. Not condoning anything here but, even with Mario Batali’s troubles and the changes that came after, high level kitchens are pretty rough places. I don’t condone telling the customer a lie about food ingredients. That steps over a big line.
Try “Heat;Amateurs Adventures as a Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany” by Bill Buford. Where I learned how much of a d**k M. Batali was. And alcoholic Bobby Flay was. Fun read
Kitchen Confidential was written quite a while ago and established the romance of the abusive kitchen life. Younger chefs are trying to move away from the abusive model though clearly a fine dining kitchen during service is an intense and adrenalin filled place to work - the two chefs on my family love it for that adrenalin along with their love of feeding people and bringing joy. Unfortunately the “romance” tales legitimize bad behavior and allow diners to excuse it as the norm or inevitable.
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I never thought the village restaurant was any great shakes–hardly a once in a generation chef in my book. I’ve never been to Stone Barns–always wanted to, but after Mark’s comments I probably won’t bother. I’m curious what other restaurants he or others in the area think are better.
Joshua,
I’m curious when you’ve dined at the village restaurant. We used to go the village restaurant a lot in the mid-late 2000’s. At the time it was one of the more exciting places to eat in NYC. When they went to a price fixed menu, we stopped going as that’s not our favorite way to eat. I don’t know how it is these days, but for 7-10 years it was an outstanding restaurant.
My favorite restaurant is in Chappaqua called Ibiza. Incredibly creative, always changing Spanish food. MP Taverna in Irvington and Cookery in Dobbs Ferry. All of them have seriously creative talented chefs.
Great food. I went there once with Gerry Dawes.
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