Monday, February 2, 2009

Travel. EAT. Write

First, I’d like to thank ya’ll for letting me contribute to this informal, and so far, informative blog. I intended to start my own food blog, but hey, this one already has a captive audience.

Since this is my first post on FTCTTM (yep - when do we vote on the new name?), I need to provide the following background information before I write about food. I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be, a food critic. I enjoy well prepared food using fresh ingredients, time-consuming processes, and ridiculous techniques that I might actually be stupid enough to try at home.

Since I’m not a food critic, I doubt I’ll provide you with any earth-shattering information about these meals, nor will I be the reason any restaurant achieves sudden fame. I simply want to record the positive experiences I have had at the many stellar restaurants that my job takes me near (on a much too frequent basis). I have a pseudo-government job, which takes me to Washington, D.C. 4 to 5 times a year, so many of the restaurants I will write about happen to be in the Washington, D.C. area. I can’t complain about that, since many of the great chefs in this country have opened an outpost in DC, after perfecting their craft in NYC or elsewhere.

When I eat alone, I don’t believe in taking notes, or pictures (well, maybe one or two with my phone) while I’m eating. I don’t want to appear to be a restaurant critic, and I don’t want to appear to be a know-it-all foodie. I try to write this crap as soon as I return to the hotel from the restaurant, or at least shortly after I return home from a business trip, since I choose not to take notes. You may notice that some items lack the menu description, or some ingredient details, but I do my best to look back at the menu provided online to get as much of this as possible. In some cases, the online menus are not up-to-date, or don't have the tasting menu options that I was offered. I do my best. Feel free to ask questions.

There. You have been warned. I’ll post my experience at CityZen shortly. I’m in New York City right now, and I have reservations at Le Bernardin tonight. I’ll try to post that one this week.

UPDATE: And, BTW, I usually write about the entire experience, not just the food, so you'll have to suffer through some annoying non-food detail at times.

Mike

1 comment:

OG said...

Good, join the club. Sounds like you're hitting some pretty high profile stuff. I think the interesting thing is to figure out how to translate the dining out experience to a better everyday home cooking experience. Knowledge is power. Nobody cooks food like that in Camilla, GA, I can promise you. Your posts are greatly welcomed!