Comments on: A single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man's hat.

A single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man's hat.

rxrfrx — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 13:42:30 -0800

Ideas In Food. Beautiful photographs of totally surreal cuisine.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 13:44:59 -0800

I've been reading this blog for some time now, and it never fails to knock me on my ass (well, figuratively). The flavor combinations would be pretentious if they were any less ridiculous. I don't think I'd enjoy eating most of these concoctions, but they sure are fun to look at, and think about. It's kind of like the foodblog equivalent of Stockhausen.

By: painquale

painquale — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 13:54:51 -0800

Great link. Thanks.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 13:54:57 -0800

Its a cool blog but the load time kills it for me, waaaaaay too many photos to load up.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:12:17 -0800

Looks very interesting. Their various takes on roe look good. I'll think I'll go have some wasabi tobiko.

By: Zinger

Zinger — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:17:47 -0800

Cool link. I think I'd serve wahoo just to be able to say, "And who fancies a bit of wahoo tartare, then eh?"

By: wilful

wilful — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:27:09 -0800

It's far from surreal. Interesting and adventurous, yes, but nothing like Ferran Adria's "molecular gastronomy" at El Bulli near Barcelona.

By: beagle

beagle — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:31:27 -0800

Some of the photos within the albums on the right make it clear that a lot of this is experimentation and not all of it is ready for prime time -- you would not want some of this stuff to arrive in front of you in a restaurant. It's a lab notebook, seems to me.

By: rockabilly_pete

rockabilly_pete — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:33:49 -0800

Chocolate salt? Sake cured salmon roe? Fresh quail? I've got to move out of the Midwest. There's no chance I'd find 3/4 of the stuff they're cooking with in my town, and we have a number of ostensibly "gourmet" food boutiques here.

By: junesix

junesix — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:01:39 -0800

Interesting blog - added to bookmarks. I always savor the opportunity to peek into the thoughts and inspirations of chefs as they go about creating menus. Read the 'About' page and found it interesting that they were able to source butter from Diane St. Clair. The only other place that gets butter from Ms. St. Clair's 6 Vermont cows is Thomas Keller's Per Se. wilful: Yes, it's definitely not comparable to El Bulli but then again it's difficult for your average restaurant to be operating at that level. The equipment alone in Adria's laboratory probably exceeds the value of this couple's establishment. Also remember that Adria closes El Bulli for 6 months out of the year just so he can come up with menus for the other 6 months. beagle: That's exactly what I like about them. Think of it as peeking into an artist's sketchbook. A "perfect" recipe often comes about by continuous refinement - adjusting the sweet, acid, salty, bitter flavors with the right texture.

By: effwerd

effwerd — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:06:53 -0800

Nice link, thanks. I must admit I don't like the idea of a blueberry olive sauce with the roasted avocado and chorizo-yogurt, but the banana guac with the grape-chipotle sauce sounds interesting. And rxrfrx says it perfectly: The flavor combinations would be pretentious if they were any less ridiculous.

By: tellurian

tellurian — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:08:06 -0800

Wow. I like this very much. Thank you rxrfrx.

By: redteam

redteam — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:32:00 -0800

Maybe they should experiment with larger portions.

By: thirdparty

thirdparty — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:40:47 -0800

October 6 I have realized that the traditional omelet form (eggs and cheese) is bourgeois. Today I tried making one out of cigarette, some coffee, and four tiny stones. I fed it to Malraux, who puked. I am encouraged, but my journey is still long.

By: grimcity

grimcity — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 16:13:26 -0800

Chicken skin crackers... I must have them.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 16:43:55 -0800

but nothing like Ferran Adria's "molecular gastronomy" at El Bulli near Barcelona. And thank goodness for that. Personally, I'm sick of the overhype that all his stuff gets. Good ideas, but definitely too much of the snob treatment.

By: maryh

maryh — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 16:47:21 -0800

Psssst.... Over here, grimcity.

By: Space Kitty

Space Kitty — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 16:53:08 -0800

thirdparty: Hee! Awesome link.

By: normy

normy — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 16:54:52 -0800

Its a cool blog but the load time kills it for me, waaaaaay too many photos to load up. They're only resizing the images in code - not using smaller image files. I've noticed a few blogs doing this recently, hence the heavier pages. Is this a feature/bug of a particular bloggging software?

By: Gamblor

Gamblor — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:48:24 -0800

As someone who likes to cook, this is really thought provoking, rxrfrx, thanks. I just added this to my blog list. I've eaten at WD-50 before, the restaurant they mention in the most recent entry, and it's really similar in tone, so I can see the connection. They try to experiment with unusual flavor combinations (foie gras with thinly sliced salted anchovies and flecks of dark chocolate, for example). It's sounds borderline gross and pretentious, and it could easily turn that direction in less capable hands, but somehow they manage to pull it off. They just seem genuinely interested in innovative cooking.

By: isol

isol — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 17:49:58 -0800

Err... is it wrong to wonder how Booboo tastes?

By: Redruin

Redruin — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 18:52:58 -0800

Sweet. My snobby cooking-terms list just went through the roof!

By: altolinguistic

altolinguistic — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 04:22:16 -0800

There's a guy in Britain who actually sells stuff like this in a restaurant.

By: rxrfrx

rxrfrx — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 04:28:14 -0800

Altolinguistic, everything on Ideas in Food is sold in a restaurant... check out the About page, I think the info is in there. The husband and wife team who write the blog are the head chefs at a $1000-a-day resort in Colorado.