Bud & Breakfast
January 23, 2014 10:08 AM   Subscribe

Sinsemil.la isn’t about getting high — it is about haute cuisine. Founded in New York City, this underground supper club highlights exceptional and locally-sourced ingredients according to season. Marijuana varietals are tested not just for their organic qualities, but specifically to balance the flavors of each dish and for their psychoactive properties throughout the flow of the dinner.
posted by vecchio (43 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Interesting idea. Like putting munchies inside your munchies, so you can keep munching.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:18 AM on January 23, 2014 [5 favorites]


The only real problem I see with the legalization of marijuana is that it will take the pot snobbery that has heretofore been relegated to shadowy subculture and bring it into the mainstream.

In 10 years, we will have reality shows like "Keeping Up with the Chronic" and foul-mouthed Gordon Ramsay-esque assholes acting as high-stress pot turnaround artists cursing out the hapless staff who "Know #%@&-all about the Kind!"

Of course, on the plus side, we'll have highly competent gourmands who manage to do top-notch work while maintaining a semblance of warmth and humanity. Maybe Iron Chef will choose pot as its special ingredient for an episode. It would be interesting to see what Mario Batali could do with it.
posted by darkstar at 10:19 AM on January 23, 2014 [6 favorites]


Ok but it's at least somewhat about getting high.
posted by 2bucksplus at 10:20 AM on January 23, 2014 [4 favorites]


Featuring dishes by Ganja Ramsay, Wolfgang Bud, Martha Jane Stewart, Doobie Oliver, and Joint Bastianich?
posted by Riton at 10:24 AM on January 23, 2014 [11 favorites]


it will take the pot snobbery that has heretofore been relegated to shadowy subculture and bring it into the mainstream.

Oh hell yes.
posted by spitbull at 10:24 AM on January 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


I can tell you from experience that it takes from 40 to 90 minutes for ingested marijuana to hit you. So the odds are good that the meal will be over and you'll be in a cab heading home before it happens.

So "but specifically to balance the flavors of each dish and for their psychoactive properties throughout the flow of the dinner." is bullshit. Sure use it for flavor. But if you eat enough you'll get really stoned.
posted by Splunge at 10:25 AM on January 23, 2014 [7 favorites]


The food looks lovely. Just can't take the subculture seriously until they institute a naming convention suitable for use by adults.
posted by Keith Talent at 10:27 AM on January 23, 2014 [2 favorites]


Disappointed it isn't being served on stoneware...
posted by jim in austin at 10:28 AM on January 23, 2014 [2 favorites]


...it takes from 40 to 90 minutes for ingested marijuana to hit you. So the odds are good that the meal will be over and you'll be in a cab heading home before it happens.


What a great business plan! "Oh wow, I'm starving! Hey take us to that restaurant that serves pot!" Ad infinitum...
posted by Cookiebastard at 10:30 AM on January 23, 2014 [6 favorites]


But if you eat enough you'll get really stoned.

And possibly really, unpleasantly stoned, which is more likely to happen by ingesting rather than smoking. It won't kill you or anything, but it's very not fun, in my experience. It's more difficult to figure out "How high will I get? How high do I want to be?" when eating it.
posted by rtha at 10:32 AM on January 23, 2014 [5 favorites]


I gotta imagine that they have potent appetizers, so that you will be high during the meal too. I mean, I wouldn't say no to a tasty haute cuisine experience followed by a long edible high, but the restaurant seems to be built on experiencing both of those things simultaneously.
posted by DGStieber at 10:32 AM on January 23, 2014


@rtha I agree, this seems like a major oversight- I mean, a meal that would be of appropriate potency for a regular user would be really unpleasant for a novice, and a nice novice-appropriate meal wouldn't phase a heavy stoner. That's not even accounting for things like body weight and body fat percentages.
posted by DGStieber at 10:35 AM on January 23, 2014


Yeah, I'd front-load the most-medicated stuff first and lead into less potent items with more intense flavors. Although if you've ever turned down the TV because you couldn't taste the Sour Patch Kids enough, it might be sort of a bizarre experience.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:37 AM on January 23, 2014 [8 favorites]


That's where the special amuse-bouche comes in...
posted by darkstar at 10:38 AM on January 23, 2014


I'm just waiting for Big Business to get in on this. Nestle, Coke, PepsiCo, etc, producing pot snacks, all sourced by Dole and Monsanto.
posted by kmz at 10:39 AM on January 23, 2014


I can tell you from experience that it takes from 40 to 90 minutes for ingested marijuana to hit you.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that anyone invited to this meal is going to blaze one up on the way over.
posted by bondcliff at 10:39 AM on January 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


Sensitivity to edibles is also widely variant, making this exercise fairly dangerous for most except those with known high tolerances.
posted by wemayfreeze at 10:55 AM on January 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


I can tell you from experience that it takes from 40 to 90 minutes for ingested marijuana to hit you.

A haute cuisine tasting menu can easily be a 3-4 hour experience.
posted by jedicus at 10:59 AM on January 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


Plus, when making edibles, I have heard you want to hide the cannabis flavour as much as possible. Because even if you like the smell, you're going to find that the flavour is terrible.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 11:00 AM on January 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Also various fogs, steams, and vapors are already a part of modernist cuisine. I suspect one of the first courses could include what amounts to a scented, flavored hit off of a vaporizer.
posted by jedicus at 11:01 AM on January 23, 2014 [2 favorites]


If getting stoned is a lot of effort, like work, aren't you doing it wrong?
posted by thelonius at 11:09 AM on January 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Soooooo... is this an appropriate venue for me to bring my infant?
posted by mikurski at 11:14 AM on January 23, 2014 [17 favorites]


th;dr
posted by not_on_display at 11:16 AM on January 23, 2014 [6 favorites]


Came here to say what Pruitt-Igoe said; people really want to do pot for its flavor?
posted by Melismata at 11:29 AM on January 23, 2014


And possibly really, unpleasantly stoned, which is more likely to happen by ingesting rather than smoking. It won't kill you or anything, but it's very not fun, in my experience.

Yeah, being helplessly, nauseously, weepingly high while an incredibly kind and patient person explained to me that I wasn't going to die does not make my top most fun experiences of my life list.

It did make me appreciate my kind and patient friend, so there's that. . People who are nice to you while you puke into a large mixing bowl are the sort of people you are the sort of people you want to keep around.

So this supper club is in public then? Because oh hell to the nope.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:39 AM on January 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


Next you're gonna try and tell us that people drink wine for something other than its a tasty way to get hammered.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:46 AM on January 23, 2014 [2 favorites]


I could see someone taking the common dinner and a movie' combination and have a classy restaurant serving haute cuisine with psychoactive ingredients and then guide them to a some fancy theater upstairs and show classic art films that 'pair well' with the mind-altering meal, such as "Last Year at Marienbad" or Tati's "Playtime".

And then somebody has a freak out, the lawsuits begin, and they close down.
posted by chambers at 11:49 AM on January 23, 2014


I actually think pot snobbery will be an important bulwark against when big business gets into pot. Yes, we will have the marijuana Bud Lite, but we also will have local microgrowers that will generally be more responsible/sustainable businesses like their brewing counterparts.
posted by cell divide at 12:10 PM on January 23, 2014 [3 favorites]


Mmmmm...Bongwater-poached salmon.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:17 PM on January 23, 2014


"Haute" cuisine, eh, you say?
posted by threeants at 12:20 PM on January 23, 2014 [4 favorites]


Plus, when making edibles, I have heard you want to hide the cannabis flavour as much as possible. Because even if you like the smell, you're going to find that the flavour is terrible.

I like it, you do have to moderate it and work it in like any other herb though.

I've always hated the stereotype about stoners and junk food. Pot makes stuff taste better, all stuff, not just junk food. I'm much more likely to enjoy simple fruits and vegetables when I'm high then junk food because I don't need all the jacked up flavors to enjoy myself. It encourages me to appreciate food as a whole, complex, relaxing experience rather then just making me gobble it down, which I can do sober or drunk just fine. Pot can make junk good. Good stuff great. Great stuff awesome, and so on. I look forward to a tighter marriage between it and foodie culture, but smoked or vaporized would probably be preferred for me.
posted by Drinky Die at 12:34 PM on January 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


No Super Lemon Haze Bars? Strawberry Rhubarb Cough Pie? Super Silver Glazed Donuts? Raspberry Kush Strudels? Vanilla Kush Ice Cream with Bubblegum Kush Sprinkles? Blue Dreamsicles? Banana Kush Milk? Diced Pineapple Chunks? DJ Short Blueberry Bagels with L.A. Cream Cheese? El Quesodillas? Early Girl Tea? Animal Cookies in Platinum Banana Kush Pudding?

I like the idea of edibles, but I always found them completely ineffective. And they don't taste very good.
posted by Redfield at 12:50 PM on January 23, 2014


Redfield: try this on an empty stomach. (Although they do taste horrible)

Don't people buy and drink bhang lassis in India without any widespread ill effects?
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 1:12 PM on January 23, 2014


Thinking of the last Goo Ball I bought at the All Good Festival. This meal better be legit. That Goo Ball did nothing.
posted by GrapeApiary at 1:23 PM on January 23, 2014


"I like it, you do have to moderate it and work it in like any other herb though. "

Well, yeah, but to avoid overpowering the food, the "herb" has to be used fairly sparingly, because it does, in fact, taste like ass. And more than that, there's a tendency for edibles to be wildly over-greasy, because of the medium.

The worst thing I've ever tried was goldfish crackers, which could have been fairly good in theory, but were vile in practice.
posted by klangklangston at 1:46 PM on January 23, 2014


darkstar: That's where the special amuse-bouche comes in...

Wouldn't that be an amuse-tête, in this case?
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:04 PM on January 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'm told the Coahuila ditch skunk pairs well with Cool Ranch Doritos and Mountain Dew.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 2:45 PM on January 23, 2014 [1 favorite]


While we're on the topic, Auntie Dolores makes caramel corn and chili-lime peanuts that will blow your mind in the delicious department, especially when combined. And also get you weed stoned high on pot drugs woot.
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:58 PM on January 23, 2014


How could you even tell the effects apart after you've had the first two dishes on the menu, or is one only evaluating the flavor of the food? Which actually leads to another question I've had for years: What are the criteria to evaluate the weed at the Cannabis Cup and similar competitions? Is it simply flavor, mildness, appearance? Or is an attempt made to rate the psychoactive qualities? This reveals my own inexperience (or experience), but I've always thought that, after the first strain, you're pretty much ruined for discernment for the night. Like starting a wine tasting with a 15% alcohol fruit bomb.
posted by the sobsister at 5:32 PM on January 23, 2014


Splunge: So "but specifically to balance the flavors of each dish and for their psychoactive properties throughout the flow of the dinner." is bullshit. Sure use it for flavor. But if you eat enough you'll get really stoned.

If they're balancing the flavors and the psychoactive properties wouldn't they be trying to make it so the flavor is active in the dish, but the psychoactive properties are low enough that they don't knock you on your ass? I'm sure there must be a way to make edibles without imparting a ton of the psychoactive properties in them, it's just that when most people make edibles they're intentionally trying to get really fucking high.
posted by gucci mane at 6:04 PM on January 23, 2014


I could see someone taking the common dinner and a movie' combination and have a classy restaurant serving haute cuisine with psychoactive ingredients and then guide them to a some fancy theater upstairs and show classic art films

If it's a modernist meal, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the real one, not the pale imitation) surely?

There was an article about a dinner like this in Esquire two years ago. And yeah, they got incredibly unbelievably stoned.

Honestly with pot becoming legal, legally cooking with it and serving it to guests is a very logical step. Especially if you own say a tapas place. Licence to print money and/or get free dishwashing, since any dishwasher you'd hire would probably be stoned anyway.

there's a tendency for edibles to be wildly over-greasy, because of the medium.

That's actually really easy to avoid. The reason edibles tend to be greasy, or so I have heard, is that the infusion process into butter (and really, any fat will do; one ponders duck confit made with infused duck fat) separates the fats from the milk solids; basically you're making pot ghee. Straining out the leafy bits and then re-emulsifying the butter as it cools largely, or so I have heard takes care of this problem.

But like I said, any fat--or alcohol--will work. Plus most modernist and even vaguely modernish restaurants will have a Rotovap in the kitchen, and can just evaporate out pure flavours, cannabinoids, or both.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:55 AM on January 24, 2014


darkstar :it will take the pot snobbery that has heretofore been relegated to shadowy subculture and bring it into the mainstream.

spitbull: Oh hell yes.


Terpenes, flavonoids, and terrior, oh my!
posted by echolalia67 at 5:19 PM on January 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


If it's a modernist meal, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the real one, not the pale imitation) surely?

One of my first jobs when I moved to Chicago after college was at an old vaudevillian theater that showed second-run and older movies and had a liquor license, where I worked at various times as a bouncer, a bartender, and occasional projectionist. One of my most memorable nights was when we showed the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was a busy night and as we were checking IDs, we started to suspect that a large portion of the customers were, shall we say, 'overly prepared' for the film in regards to psychoactive substances. Those folks had the look in their eyes that they were all 30 minutes away from achieving that state that could best be described as "tripping balls." No one was causing trouble yet or showing themselves to be a danger to themselves or others, but we figured it was only a matter of time before things would get out of hand and we would be in for a long night of wrangling mildly drunk people on acid.

That was not the case at all. What ensued was two hours of the happiest gang of three hundred or more adults cheering encouragement to Charlie and earnestly singing along with all the songs as if they were all little kids again. From beer-guzzling frat boys to normally sullen goths to leather-clad punks to bearded hippies, they were all having the time of their lives and getting along splendidly. Even those who were clearly not tripping were swept up into the fun, and never before or since have I seen such a varied crowd come together and simply be happy, uninhibited kids for a few hours.

So if planned right and with a bit of luck, I think showing the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory might just work out just fine.
posted by chambers at 8:52 PM on January 24, 2014 [1 favorite]


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