A Bluesky comment
Thomas Keller showed up to a community meeting in his chefs jacket to complain about affordable housing being built near his 3 Michelin star restaurant.
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[ Removed by moderator ]
It was nuked without explanation. Here's a comment that I edited to be smaller paragraphs. Still tl;dr? See emphasis mine.
This is what it looks like when a town and its most famous son stare straight at the same moral bill and both start quietly looking for the check exit. On one side you have Yountville the civic suit that spent years talking a big game about workforce housing taxed its tourists bought the dead school did the studies built the slide decks and still managed to turn a lifeline into a maze of process and delay.
On the other you have Keller gliding in late to the party with that perfectly measured concern voice saying he supports housing supports the workers supports the concept while methodically pulling every thread that might actually get those workers a key to something within walking distance.
The town hides behind procedure impact reports and phasing charts Keller hides behind vibes unit mix and financial prudence but the effect is the same bodies in aprons and uniforms burning their lives on the highway so everyone else can pretend this is still a quaint little wine town and not a resort wrapped around a labor camp.
The contrast is mostly cosmetic. The council does it in public meetings and staff reports talking about design character traffic circulation and fiscal responsibility while quietly shaving off ambition turning three stories into a favor two phases into maybe someday and urgency into another workshop on community feedback.
Keller does it with brand management and soft focus language about protecting quality of life and making sure housing is done right using his platform to put a governor on the one serious project that might actually change who gets to exist inside the town limits after dark. The town is cowardly in that familiar bureaucratic way never quite willing to say out loud that housing workers near where they work is more important than preserving a postcard skyline and under parked tasting rooms.
Keller is cowardly in the more personal way of a man who built an empire on other peoples double shifts but still cannot bring himself to accept a little density a few cramped studios and some uncomfortable neighbors as the cost of doing business honestly. Side by side they make a neat little duet.
City hall says our hands are tied by state mandates financial risk and community input Keller says my hands are tied by unit size parking and concerns for the town’s future both pretending they are reluctant participants in someone else’s bad plan instead of co authors of the same old script.
The council needs his star power to bless the illusion that you can fix a housing crisis without pissing off anyone with money and he needs their endless process to make sure nothing truly disruptive actually gets built in his shadow. The punch line is that neither of them ever has to say what they are really choosing because the workers feel it for them in overtime miles flat tires and rent checks mailed to someone else’s community.
In the end the only real difference between the chef and the chief and the council is the wardrobe they wear while they all quietly decide that the people who make the fantasy possible still do not deserve a place inside it.
I'm very into food. Professionally so. And me and most of my colleagues share the deepest hatred for Thomas Keller, Alice Waters, and all of that American slow food crowd. Fuck them, at every turn.
You can always tell who is a bullshit chef based on whether they equate "difficult for poor people to do" with "good". Those types are just ruling class sycophants reproducing the illusion of exclusivity over good food.
In Europe, they used to be the people who overspiced everything because spices were expensive. So decadent to put a quarter pound of black pepper on that chicken. After spices became inexpensive and common folk used them whenever they pleased, suddenly it was all about "pure" foods that required careful preparation, preparation a working stiff couldn't do or pay. Having a gel blob that tastes a lot like a pear was never that great but it sure was pricey. Look at me over here, eating a very good pear like a loser.
Many years ago - when I was still a liberal - I remember reading a NYT puff piece about her and her promotion of slow food. By design puff pieces are bullshit but it worked its magic on me. She seemed like a good person.
Serious question - why is she and others bad? I checked her Wikipedia page but it reads like it was written entirely by her PR firm. An example...
The Keller hate is self-evident here, but what’s the deal with Waters?
This is a response to both you and @InevitableSwing, because I don't want to type it twice:
Keller, Waters, and gang are all the type of rich people so far up their own asses they think they created something new, unique, and innovative in the form of "farm-to-table" and "California cuisine" restaurants. Which is to say: you buy local food, and cook it. Unlike other restaurants, who also buy from local businesses, but don't go through the crucial step of jerking themselves off for being so refined. And the food isn't on a menu—it's an experience, a tasting, or a choice selection. The dishes have names like "Elysian Dreams" or "Winter's Dark" or some bullshit. What's served changes based on the chef's vibes.
This is worth $150 to $400 a plate, plus an extra $100 per glass of wine. And some shaved black truffle is always only an extra $150 away!
Fuck them and their pompous bullshit.
TBF I get the concept of a tasting course, the chef designs a set of specific courses to be eaten concurrently, not “mix and match appetizer/main/dessert.” But yeah, the pretentiousness and exorbitant prices are douchey.
I purchased some download links for pirated "masterclass" videos on Taobao once, and it came with a series by Thomas Keller. I didn't get past the first mini-episode. Feels like the guy had no idea what he was talking about. He was trying to explain seasoning, which is only salt and acid (??) and explain the concept of "local", by going "which is more local, the vegetable grown locally or the traditional food imported from another country? it's not an easy question". mumbling weirdo. people let this guy run kitchens?
Mind you, executive chefs (especially at your super high end restaurants) are mostly doing menu planning, management, promotion activities, etc. They typically aren’t involved with the day-to-day operations, occasionally come down to ask some questions, get a general overview, but not joining the trenches with the line chefs. And Keller’s been executive chef at the French Laundry for a few decades at this point. So not surprising that he’s not that good at explaining hands on cooking for the home chef these days.