Fine dining and the accolades of Michelin stars once meant chandeliers,
white tablecloths, and suited waiters with elegant accents. The stuffy
attitude and often scant portions were the punchlines of sitcom
jokes--it was unthinkable that a gourmet chef would stoop to plate a
burger or a taco in his kitchen. And yet today many of us will queue up
for a seat at a loud, crowded noodle bar or eagerly seek out that
farm-to-table restaurant where not only the burgers and fries are
organic but the ketchup is homemade--but it's not just us: the critics
will be there too, ready to award distinction. Haute has blurred with
homey cuisine in the last few decades, but how did this radical change
happen, and what does it say about current attitudes toward taste? Here
with the answers is food writer Alison Pearlman. In Smart Casual: The
Transformation of Gourmet Restaurant Style in America, Pearlman
investigates what she identifies as the increasing informality in the
design of contemporary American restaurants. By design, Pearlman does
not just mean architecture. Her argument is more expansive--she is as
interested in the style and presentation of food, the business plan, and
the marketing of chefs as she is in the restaurant's floor plan or menu
design. Pearlman takes us hungrily inside the kitchens and dining rooms
of restaurants coast to coast--from David Chang's Momofuku noodle bar in
New York to the seasonal, French-inspired cuisine of Alice Waters and
Thomas Keller in California to the deconstructed comfort food of Homaro
Cantu's Moto in Chicago--to explore the different forms and flavors this
casualization is taking. Smart Casual examines the assumed correlation
between taste and social status, and argues that recent upsets to these
distinctions have given rise to a new idea of sophistication, one that
champions the omnivorous. The boundaries between high and low have been
made flexible due to our desire to eat everything, try everything, and
do so in a convivial setting. Through lively on-the-scene observation
and interviews with major players and chefs, Smart Casual will
transport readers to restaurants around the country to learn the secrets
to their success and popularity. It is certain to give foodies and
restaurant-goers something delectable to chew on.
