nosh nook #186 - monday, november 30, 2009

food fight! (link)
11.29.09 - mission loc@l - by lydia chávez & armand emamdjomeh

i've lived here in nyc for the good part of a decade now & during that time, i've come to realize one thing about this city: we're the most important city in the country. we're the city that has tons of awesome crap to do 24/7, the city that foreigners think of when they think of the united states & as a result, when it comes to our city, we also have pretty big egos. as an example, back in early october, nyc chefs anthony bourdain & david chang were holding a discussion as part of the nyc wine & food festival entitled "i call bullshit." during it, a slightly-inebriated chang showed off that nyc hubris by saying "i will call bullshit on san francisco...there's only a handful of restaurants that are manipulating food...fucking every restaurant in san francisco is serving figs on a plate with nothing on it." folks out in san fran got totally peeved about his comment & the asia society even canceled a book-promoting appearance by chang.

it's been almost two months since chang made those comments about san fran but yesterday, after the ny times ran an article on friday that gave san fran chefs a chance to respond, mission loc@l, a news site out of san fran's mission district, decided to take umbrage at chang's comments. they shot back at chang, saying that "obviously [he's] spent little time in the mission, the incubator of food trends." really? the mission? an incubator? i mean, there's a lot of good food there, but c'mon now. they also note that, in contrast to nyc, the food in san fran is "served up at prices a good chunk of eaters can afford" & that "the new york union square organic market compared to the ferry building farmers market is just plain sad." both of those facts may be true, but i really think they missed the point behind what chang was saying: san fran isn't living up to its potential.

in fact, chang speaks pretty highly of san fran & the mission in particular. about a month back on the sf weekly blog, chang said that "there's no reason why san francisco shouldn't be the culinary capital of the world: you've got great ingredients, a food-savvy public - and i'm not just talking fine dining, but food in general. the mission has amazing, amazing ethnic food." he just thinks that san fran chefs need to step up their game. until they do so, he should be able to call bullshit on them without having to endure months worth of backlash. after all, his momofuku restaurants are considered some of the best restaurants in the best city in the country. sure some of it may be hype (he even called bullshit on the amount of hype during the "i call bullshit" event), but if the head of the top-rated restaurants in the country can't speak his mind about other chefs, who can? seriously, san francisco...it's time to move on.