Committed

There are plenty of things that can make a restaurant noteworthy. For the most part I tend to focus on the food and its ingredients. Which isn’t to say that I devalue other criteria.

Truth be told, I’ve given up the quest for good service a long time ago. These days my expectations are quite low for service. I’ll note from which side things are served and which side they are removed. I’ll notice the direction of elbows. And I’ll cringe at each iteration of, “Hello, my name is _____ and I’ll be your server.”

One of the things that can make a restaurant special is its connection to the past. And this can take a few forms. This can be your own personal past, or a deeply connected past in the region.

Yesterday the focus was on how some restaurants must have the menu flexibility to adjust to the changing daily availability of the most delicious seasonal ingredients. Today I thought it was important to consider those restaurants where changing anything on the menu would be akin to repainting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

For the record, I wasn’t suggesting yesterday that the region’s taverns and casual restaurants should have a changing daily menu. I was glad to be reminded of all the good work that’s going on at All Good Bakers and Sweet Sue’s in that regard, however.

As someone who walked into AGB one day in search of the sweet potato burger only to be reminded that sweet potatoes were out of season, I should have remembered to include that. I suppose it was such a painful memory that I blocked it out. All the same I was able to have the Big Red, which was an enjoyable substitute.

Our old time hot dog joints like Famous Lunch are local institutions. And they have been cranking out the same food for decades. I hope they never change. While part of me might like it if they started baking their own buns using organic flour and producing their own hot dogs from locally raised grassfed beef, the truth is that should they make such a change, they would no longer be the same.

There are entire restaurants that are etched in time. I think about Tadich Grill in San Francisco. It’s not the best seafood restaurant in the Bay Area. But people go there all the time to get a taste of history. Their cioppino is the defining version of the dish. And they’ve been making it the same way forever.

As the world changes around you, sometimes it’s hard to keep everything the same. But there are some dishes that need to be protected. At Hattie’s it’s the fried chicken. At The Orchard Tavern, it’s their pizza.

Jack’s Oyster House turned 100 years old this year. And on their menu they cite dishes with recipes that go back to 1913. It’s their oyster stew, crabcakes and Manhattan clam chowder. But it feels like they have been struggling with their identity over the past few years. I would love to see them embrace their inner grumpy old man and pull in more dishes like liver with bacon and onions. Maybe some sweetbreads and Veal Pojarski.

But the problem is that when you start playing around with a classic, you end up where they are now, with a few classics, and a few very expensive Italian dishes that make them similar to almost every other expensive restaurant in the region.

A commitment to the past is admirable. But it’s a double edged sword. Because sometimes tastes change. And even if tastes don’t change, sometimes values change. Hattie’s may be selling some delicious history with every order of their fried chicken. But how long will it take before the big city tourists are reluctant to shell out for poultry that isn’t pasture raised?

I think it’s a fair question, especially in light of the recent reports about chicken.

Regardless, there is certainly room enough in any market for restaurants that change their menu daily, those that haven’t changed in a hundred years, and those that try to find some balance in between the extremes.

Although I still challenge the assertion that quarterly menu changes can adequately represent a truly seasonal menu.