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Brian Malarkey talks about our culinary scene. PLUS: The final Top Chef 5 power rankings
I’m back San Diego and I apologize for my absence! I’m going to be here week in and week out to make sure we are on top of what’s going on in our dining scene. No more Top Chef for a while, so now the focus is entirely on SD and what’s going on in the front of the house and the back of the house: rumors, lies, tales and truths!
Let's start by handing all of the great cooks and chefs at El Bizcocho an olive branch. I think what you are doing is fun and exciting, and I look forward to coming and checking it out myself in the near future. It’s not my style, and of course it’s not the mainstream, and during a time when I would think it’s more important to give the guests what they want in order to fill your restaurant, I really admire you for doing your food for the select few who are up for such a unique experience. It’s got to be great to have investors who are not concerned with the bottom line and are dedicated to the art that is your food. Good luck and continued success!
It's nice to work for a large corporation that allows you some freedom. I of course know similar freedoms working for what the CRA has so kindly labeled a “chain” restaurant. Oh yes, I just outed myself! This blog is for entertainment and dirty dishes, and if I’m going to put it out there I might as well throw myself in front of the bus driven by those who are tired of us winning respectable awards like Best Fine Dining Seafood. “May we right our wrongs, CRA?” Ronald McDonald and I really feel like we got clowned! For those of you loving my category placement, I would like to defend my sous, cooks and self. Oceanaire is a “chain” (I prefer the term “collection”) of restaurants that are unique, chef-driven concepts, and more than 50 percent of the menu is ours to do what we like with and change on a day-to-day bases as we fit: The best of both words with corporate dollars paying for endless opportunities of creativitiy.
On to some SD culinary success stories:
— Paul McCabe of Kitchen 1540, the hottest restaurant in town, and my boy F&B Director Christopher Puffer are in NYC to tackle the four flights of stairs at the prestigious James Beard House. Rock on boys! And congratulations to Paul for his nomination for Chef of the Year!
— To all the crew who threw a great party at Vela in the new Bayfront Hilton, thank you. The place is beautiful and the food was great, not to mention all of the great cocktails.
— Bringing back the old worked out great in the Gaslamp the other day: The Old Spaghetti Factory smacked us all around with its 3 and a half-hour wait last Saturday night.
— Sam the Cooking Guy made us proud with his Frosted Flake-crusted, grocery store-purchased tuna with Al Roker on the Today show the other day. I love you Sam, but you need to puff puff pass!
Bring the juice, SD, and until next week, enjoy the last of my Top Chef blogs for Season 5 NYC:
King Hosea!
I really thought Stefan would bring the title of Top Chef home to California, but the man from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado skips the sweets and wins with venison and the magic of the sorcerer Richard Blais. Casey crashes Carla, and Marcel and Stefan looked like water and oil. After reviewing the menus of the bald boys, I am still a little confused by the judges’ decision on the relativity of dessert. Hung won my season with an ’80s-inspired dessert garnished with the random raspberry, and Dale lost with duck fat-poached lamb that was out of this world. Future contestants and viewers, know this about Top Chef and the judging: “Nothing is ever consistent.”
I’ve had a great time ranking the contestants of Season 5, and I want to thank all of you for your insight and insults. They always say, if you dish it out you'd better be able to take it. To the 61 percent of voters who picked Carla as the Top Chef in the voting, I humbly apologize to you and Carla for not giving her the respect you feel she deserved. She made it farther then I did, and will probably be one of the most successful contestants ever to appear on Top Chef. Her trophy is not the title or the $100K, it’s the notoriety and endorsements that come with playing a good game — and she certainly achieved those beyond my wildest imagination. Her hoody-hoos and sound bites were, in the end, the most enduring part. The Wizard of Oz that was this season: Carla the cowardly lion found her courage, the tin man Stefan found his heart by comforting Carla in the end, and Hosea the scarecrow used his brain and stayed away from the desserts and picked the best sous chef to take the gold down the yellow brick road. For fun let's call Tom the Oz, and I can’t imagine a better Dorothy the Gail Simmons. Sorry, Padma, but that leaves you as the wicked witch of Top Chef for sending everyone home.
The best part of the dinner was Gail rolling her eyes at Rocco for his confession that he was “tired of eating foie gras,” and Branford Marsalis laughing at him.
Another great season of Top Chef with a lot of great characters and chefs bringing us endless hours of entertainment. Let's see what Andy can dig up in the reunion next week. Until then, let’s reflect on TC5 NYC with our favorite memories or moments of the season. Mine was Fabio saying, “This is not Top Scallop, this is Top Chef”! Awesome! And that’s why Fabio has my vote for Fan Favorite, but I think it’s going to be a tight race between Carla and the Italian stallion! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!
One more thing: Hosea, call me and I can give you Richard’s address so that you can send him a little present, maybe 10K, just a thought … Cheers!
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Reader Comments:
Wow, nice blog Malarkey...
I love your take on TC5, spot on with the wiz of oz..
I'm sorry too Padma. I was pulling for Fabio from week
2. The CRA has me a little confused on the "chain restaurant"
label... Are restaurants being judged on their backers or the
Magic they make in their own four walls?
How can your restaurant be considered a "chain" because it
is part of a "collection" of restaurants?
Does this mean that any restaurant that has an owner with more
than 1 concept, an investor with an interest in more than 1
restaurant, sister establishments, etc., or in any way part of
a restaurant "collection", to be put in the "chain" catagory?
Why or why not?
Malarkey, isn't your place the only one of it's kind in San
Diego, let alone the west coast, except for Seattle Wa.?
I think the CRA has it wrong with their new classification.
Last time I checked you can't be best of restaurant anything
without your chef, managers, sous,cooks,bartenders,servers,
hosts,bussers,prepcooks,dishwashers,etc., and we are all
San Diegans, and proud of what we bring to our city.
Please don't demean our effort by creating a class
that groups different styles of concepts together, unless you
plan on including all "chain" restaurants in their respected
catagories as well.
An extra award is great, but if the best steakhouse in SD
is not in that catagory because they also have a seafood
spot across town, then why have the awards in the first place.
What do you think Malarkey?
Would love to know, Kalimba
good job Brian! You have made a public, and political move forward over the babble.
A chain to me is a group of restaurants with the same name in multiple locations with the same name, the same menu and cookie cutter rules that apply across the board with strict rules designed to maximise profitability, increase sales as well as track guest satisfaction...
Winston has been silent for too long. My intention was never to trash everybody in town, but to point out that fighting on this blog helps nobody and hurts us all.
About Bizcocho... I have heard that they have left behind their molecular approach for the classics... Is the elderly community of RB more attracted to lobster bisque and lamb racks than the methylcelulouse (I probably misspelled that) meringue? It would seem so. Every chef I have ever known has told me that it "is not about the money" but what do we do what we do for, if not for the money? As a chef, my job comes at a cost; family, friends, and financial. The job also requires dedication, study, research, love, and pain. I don't work for free and I know none of the people reading this do either. Deep pockets allow for wonderous things, but it would seem that RBI has drawn a line in the sand. Who knows if it has to do with the economy, the local vibe, or the recent departure of key execs. I have also heard that several of the chefs have been laid off... leading me to believe that the real reason is economy. Even in NYC Per Se is supposed to be rolling out an a la carte menu. To me the proof is sound: Give the people what they want; what they are willing and capable of paying for or get the F out PERIOD
Again, good job Brian in emerging as the mature one on this issue... keep it real
In the end, we are what we eat... I don't want to be Sh!t.
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
Winston Churchill