The Comment Too Hot for MHA

Well, that went better than expected. Given what I perceived as Michelle Hines Abram‘s relative position in the community, I had been steeling myself for a hefty amount of blowback from my stance against her local boosterism.

But that never happened. Instead, the story got passed around on Facebook and Twitter. There were a significant amount of comments in support of my argument on multiple platforms. And plenty of them included sentiments from people (and even chefs) who felt the same way. Plus an astounding number of folks went over to check out MHA Innovations for themselves.

But it’s not all roses. Michelle has since defriended me on Facebook and deleted all of her tweets from our exchange yesterday afternoon. Before shutting me out, she wrote on her facebook page that her post had nothing to do with me or the FLB.

You can read over what I wrote yesterday and judge for yourself, but I give no credence to her claim. Actually, I find it insulting.

On top of it all Michelle still never published the comment I left on her blog in the first place (nor do I expect her to in the future). She claims she was busy, yet other comments still went through. Holding back comments is a dangerous game for bloggers. Perhaps she should stick to events and leave the writing to the writers.

Anyway, I thought you all would be interested in seeing what set off this tempest in a teapot.

Submitted Tuesday, August 20 (approximately 11:30 pm)

Hi. I read all the blogs too.

At the top of yours it says that the Capital Region to have “a tremendous culinary scene” and I’ve always felt that’s a bit too far reaching. However, I completely agree with the thrust of today’s post that we have an *emerging* food scene in Albany. For what it’s worth, I don’t expect us to be New York, LA, or Chicago. But we’re not even Providence or Austin.

There is a difference between a food scene and a food culture. The scene is what’s happening now, but the culture runs deeper than that. While the emerging food scene is starting to put restaurant quality ingredients on the menu, the food culture of the region is based squarely on Italian-American red sauce joints and our marvelous taverns. They aren’t marvelous because the food they serve is top notch. They are marvelous because in todays age of homogenization, they have withstood the test of time.

What you describe as our emerging food scene isn’t unique to Albany. We’re actually a bit behind the curve in adopting to these modern tropes of fine dining. However our mozzarella sticks, fish fry, and mini hot dogs can’t be found anywhere else. They may not be part of the food scene, but they are must eats for anyone who celebrates the regional foodstuffs of American gastronomy.

Perhaps you will agree that a town’s food scene can only rise as high as its eaters are willing to take it. And our local chefs are keenly aware of some of the restrictions this places on them. What is truly exciting is seeing people swim against the current, like the sheer madness of opening a wine bar in Troy.

My hope is that successes like this will encourage others to do the same.

Shocking, I know. You could see why something like the comment above could get hung up for days while you think of an appropriate response to someone who mostly agrees with you.

Now while the majority of my comment was about parsing the differences between a food scene and a food culture, I don’t think that was the most interesting part. I’m pretty certain that Albany eaters deserve more blame than they get for the state of the Capital Region’s culinary scene.

When Brian Bowden was at Creo and he brought in that whole cow, he made pho. He made a broth from the bones. And sliced up the one tongue into fewer than 10 portions. I was in Pennsylvania at the time, but had I been in town, I would have gathered up a posse and eaten all that soup

Except as it happened, they didn’t come close to selling out.

Albany eaters have a strange set of demands. Large menus, large portions, and familiar dishes are important to them. Our best chefs know this. And I think it causes them to pull back. Too many ventures are too large, and owners feel the need to play it safe by having something for everyone.

That may be a model for economic success, but it’s also a model for culinary mediocrity.

There aren’t very many iconoclasts who are willing to go against conventional wisdom and shape the tastes of their community. Instead most restaurants try to simply give people what they say they want. But remember this:

– Before they were made and marketed, nobody knew they wanted an iPod.
– People are terrible at identifying what will make them happy.
– Focus groups can only tell you so much.
– Tastes and desires can be shaped.

The answer to improving food in the Capital Region isn’t easy. I see it as a multi pronged effort. The media needs to provide reliable unbiased critical information about what is truly great (not just great for Albany) and what just meets expectations. Chefs need to be encouraged to take risks and push the envelope (which doesn’t mean hamfistedly trying molecular gastronomy). Eaters need to take a chance and go a bit beyond their comfort zone (put your faith into a chef you trust).

The good news is that we’re getting there. I just wish I were around more this year to help.