Lucky Peach Lucky Cooks & Chefs & Cooks — — Iii : Fine Dining Fine Fall 2016 Fall

20 NONO — — — LUCKY PEACH COOKS & CHEFS —III : FINE DINING FALL 2016 Its P88 LUCKY PEACH lace LUCKY PEACH 89 Ceci n’est pas un restaurant. e-mailed and met with one hundred and ten admitted control freaks, orey Lee will tell you that his asking them to share their recipes with his kitchen. David Chang, Nathan goal in opening In Situ—the Myhrvold, and René Redzepi were the first ones in. flagship restaurant inside the San C COREY LEE: There was almost no Francisco Museum of Modern Art— convincing to be done, because there was history there, years of knowing was never to open a restaurant at all. each other or maybe having our cooks work in one another’s kitchens. Even with those I’ve never met, as chefs, Following a three-year, $610 million diners and the upper echelons of we already spoke the same language. expansion, SFMOMA is now one of cooking without watering down the There were only a few I never heard the largest collections of modern and food. “Historically, access to this back from. contemporary art in the world. In kind of cooking, which takes so much 2014, the museum directors tapped time, skill, and energy, was reserved ROY CHOI: We have a kung-fu code as Lee to fill its ground-floor dining for those with extraordinary means,” chefs. There are certain people we trust, space with something fitting. For explains Lee. “Today, things haven’t certain masters who have earned our Lee, the dining experience had to be changed so much, except now people confidence to carry on messages for us. more than a café version of his other who might never make a reservation at That comes from years of not currying San Francisco restaurants, Benu and these restaurants will buy the cook- favor, and letting your work speak for Monsieur Benjamin. books and follow the chefs on social itself. There are maybe a few others What he created instead, housed media. It was important to give more like Corey—Redzepi, Adrià, Passard, in both a walk-ins-only lounge and people an opportunity to actually Dufresne—true sages of our industry. a more formal dining room, is a try this food—not just look at photo- If they’re calling you, they’ve thought everyone. He is extremely humble the origins of the Spanish avant- not always so accessible. The ability rotating collection of dishes from graphs, but to actually experience it a lot about it. That’s how Corey got the and has a tremendous amount of garde, the connections between to fully appreciate a work comes chefs around the world, a gallery of for themselves.” license from all of us. That, and the folk- respect for other chefs. I think it was Japanese kaiseki and French nouvelle with knowing what’s behind it. As a dishes of today and days past, repli- Planning menus built off other lore is that the guy can see an eyelash on clear to all of us that this was his way cuisine, how chefs from Hong Kong modern chef, I’m also trying to touch cated as faithfully as possible. Instead people’s dishes defies restaurant a plate from two hundred yards away. of paying respects, to give everyone a to Los Gatos use sea urchin in utterly on something besides the immediacy of a restaurant with a singular vision, culture. For one, chefs can be fiercely chance to shine. different ways, and most importantly, of taste. The goal is to make food it is a constant collaboration. Instead protective of their work. And those MATT ORLANDO: This project was how all of these far-flung chefs influ- that reflects and informs how we live of a menu, a catalog of great works. who built their names on the unique- Corey’s way of connecting with The name In Situ means “in its orig- ence one another. our lives. Diners order à la carte, making it ness of their local ingredients inal position or place.” In art, in situ possible to taste dishes that would don’t exactly love the idea of refers to works created specially for LEE: We focused on chefs who were To fully understand each chef ’s otherwise require dedicating an entire exporting it from its geographic a particular space—a gallery wall, a trying to do something more than dish, Lee and his executive chef, evening to a tasting menu, a trip to context, either. Is it still your food bank lobby, a tech start-up’s bathroom. cook delicious food. We looked for the Brandon Rodgers, delved deeper than a remote countryside, or at least the if both you and your terroir are Together, many dishes coming from dishes that start a dialogue or tap into the written recipes and notes each favor of a reservationist. out of the picture? It’s probably other places would create something an emotion. chef shared. Lee cooked on the line But Lee will tell you that In Situ why no one has done this before. entirely different here, an original For many years, I thought of with Tanya Holland at Brown Sugar is not just for people who couldn’t get When Lee first proposed the experience in this new place. cooking as more craft than art. It’s Kitchen in Oakland and studied a table at Noma or Mugaritz. “Even idea, no one from the museum A museum at its best brings people something you do with your hands, videos Daniel Boulud sent demon- if you stumbled upon this restaurant balked (perhaps because he together, shows us where we came and it requires repetition. But now I strating Black Tie Sea Scallops, a dish and never heard of any of these chefs didn’t mention outright that they from, and offers a glimpse at where think food can be art in that it can be of layered scallops and truffles en before, I wanted it to be about the would have to build him a kitchen we’re headed. It’s a place to find a medium for complex expression. croûte that he created in 1986 at greater experience of connecting with equipped to handle every cuisine context and common threads as much When you look at classical art, Le Cirque in New York. Gastón these cuisines, understanding the on the planet). But even more as it is a forum for debate. Lee thinks a portrait or a landscape, you can Acurio’s executive chef, Victoriano nature and power of food,” he said. In surprisingly, no one from the chef the restaurant at a museum should do immediately appreciate if it’s realistic Lopez, made cebiche at the San Situ breaks down the barriers between community hesitated, either. Lee the same. A meal here might reveal or pretty. But with modern art, it’s Francisco outpost of La Mar. Seiji 90 LUCKY PEACH LUCKY PEACH 91 arrived of porcelain started messing with this dish in production accounts for about half That takes a lot of concentration and food, so I wasn’t just learning a new plates for Peter Goos- 2009, I was just trying to understand of greenhouse-gas emissions, with time, trying again and again, tasting dish, I was learning a new cuisine and sens’s (Hof van Cleve in this very historic thing. It’s a tradi- feedlot beef being a top emitter). and asking the original chef, What do language at the same time. They were Belgium) salmon tataki; tional West African dish brought by Myint sent Lee photos and three you think of this? Is that okay now? naming technique after technique hand-thrown bowls for slaves that made its way to the Big pages of detailed notes, knowing and showing me fruits and vegetables Cassidee Dabney’s (The House. It proves the West African full well that his recipe had so far DANIEL PATTERSON: Even in the I’d never even seen. I can’t remember Barn at Blackberry Farm contributions to Low Country cuisine yielded a picture-perfect result only kitchen where the dishes origi- my kitchen IQ ever being as low as in in Walland, Tennessee) are so fundamental. This is a touchy half the time. nated, it’s not going to be perfectly that kitchen. slow-cooked egg; and subject now, and rightfully so. This is consistent every day. To replicate a baskets by the same a part of culture that we’re ashamed ANTHONY MYINT: Corey sent back a dish is incredibly difficult. You pick up DAVID THOMPSON: Thai food is notori- weavers in Hastings that of. So when we serve this stew, it picture of the recipe testing, saying, a Jasper Johns painting and move it ously complicated. If you’re uncertain Isaac McHale employs for opens up a dialogue about culture and “It’s not bad. I’m getting 95 percent around the world, it’s still going to be about it, it’s a culinary minefield from buttermilk fried chicken at civil rights. We end up talking about yield.” That’s who he is. Give him an the exact same painting. In cooking, which very few come out unscathed— the Clove Club in London. more than deliciousness, and that’s imperfect thing and he can make it your ingredients are different every diner or cook. Other major chefs Lee assured each chef good for everyone. nearly perfect. day, the weather is hotter, or you have come and been equally at sea. he would go to whatever Choi’s dish is Ketchup Fried Rice, might just be in a different mood.

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