There seems to be a request for a generic open thread tonight.
However, I also feel obligated to share one London-related story my friend just sent me, simply because I find it amusing in a perverse way. No one could have predicted that a restaurant that had customers eat sand while they listened to the sounds of waves on headphones would eventually make people sick.
The number of people who have reported falling sick after eating at the Fat Duck has risen to 400 from 40 last week, when Chef Heston Blumenthal said he was temporarily closing his restaurant because of the health scare.
The Health Protection Agency and officials from the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead are investigating the complaints about the experimental eatery, west of London, which is famed for dishes such as snail porridge and bacon-and-egg ice cream.
[….]The Fat Duck, which has three Michelin stars, was named the world’s best restaurant in the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards in 2005 and has been in the top two for the past five years.
[….]The restaurant normally serves more than 80 people a day, and each spends on average about 220 pounds, Blumenthal said. The tasting menu costs 130 pounds for about a dozen courses such as the Sound of the Sea, where diners don earphones and listen to lapping waves while consuming seafood washed up on what looks like a beach. The sand is a mix of tapioca and Japanese breadcrumbs.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Based on how closely the taste of the food resembles car tires.
(Note to foodies: I know, shut up.)
Keith
I cant find the link, but the latest I have read is that the likely cause was a noravirus, not food poisoning. On the other hand, molecular gastronomy’s use of chemical additives (primarily with the overdone skinless raviolis) disturbs me nonetheless; it reminds me of trans fats but with the chemical nature of it being a selling point rather than the means to the end (taste)
Comrade Stuck
The best kind, and less expensive.
Litlebritdifrnt
Whatever I am + six heinekens and am done. And I mean real heinekens and not the lite stuff.
AhabTExpropriator
130-bloody-Pounds?!
skippy
for those of you who missed it last nite…skippy reviews watchmen…
Brendan
Apropos of nothing but the previous thread’s invocation of unexpected reggae covers, here’s a link to Sizzla doing Subterranean Homesick Blues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjh0JuyovP4
Comrade Jake
220 pounds for a meal? Holy christ.
JenJen
@LauraW (previous thread): So, spill!
Tonal Crow
@Comrade Jake:
Not to be outdone, America has this place (site works only if Flash is enabled, natch).
maye
Re things to do in London:
Eat sweet potato falafel at Leon’s on Brompton Road; Go the National Portrait Gallery and come face to face with people who lived 400 years ago; Go to the British Library document exhibit and look at original manuscripts from medieval royalty to The Beatles; have tea at the Chelsea Physic Garden; take a boat to Greenwich; view the Turner collection at Tate Britain; take the verger tour of Westminster Abbey; eat Indian food at Venue 5 in Pinnar.
When you get through this list, let me know, I’ll make another.
Mazacote Yorquest
You know John Thain has eaten there before. Had he gotten sick it would have been a symbolic frilly toothpick stuck through our economic shit sandwich, but oh well…
Anton Sirius
@skippy:
Sorry, I can’t take seriously anyone who thinks Spidey 2 was better than Dark Knight.
burnspbesq
Baseball junkies’ minds exploded earlier today when the Netherlands beat the Dominican Republic in the opening round of the World Baseball Classic. The cheap way out would be to say it’s the biggest upset in international sports since the United States beat England in the 1950 World Cup. But I actually think it’s even more improbable than that.
Imagine that some guy scoured the high schools and junior leagues in the D.C. area looking for Salvadoran immigrant kids who played hockey, and found enough to make up a team. Now imagine that that was designated as the El Salvador national team and sent to the Olympics. Now imagine that El Salvador team beating Canada.
That’s what it means for the Netherlands to beat the Dominican Republic in baseball.
burnspbesq
Eers are hanging with Louisville, down three at the half. I may go watch for a bit. There is a large disconnect between the amount of work I need to do and my desire to do it.
Dustin
@Litlebritdifrnt
Cans or bottle-skunked? Fuck it; I still win. Two AleSmith Grand Cru’s down and starting my thrd for the night.
Snarky Delurk
Sadly America is outdone, $240 is less than 220 pounds. It would need more than $310. Darn you exchange rates!
Joshua Norton
Make that 401 people they’ve made sick this week.
Calouste
@burnspbesq:
Nah. The Netherlands have a semi-pro baseball league, have been one of the two strongest teams in Europe for decades (the other is Italy, and there are no number 3-10 stongest teams in Europe), and a handful have been drafted by Major League teams, although most of them ended up playing in farm teams. It’s like a AA team beating a Major League team, but not as bad as you make out.
Punchy
especially when you consider that "DomRep" is basically a catch-all for a shit-ton of MLB All-Stars (like A-Rod pre-cyst), who’ve probably not seen the DR in 15 years, but decided to play as if they’re straight out of some DR barrio.
What a fucking joke.
+3 and proud of it.
Incertus
Amy reviewed The Watchmen early Friday morning–okay, she reviewed the other reviewers as much as she did the movie–but if anyone’s interested…
NonyNony
I was going to say that they don’t eat "sand", they eat something that is prepared to look like sand but is in fact real food. Much like "dirt pudding" – a concoction composed of chocolate pudding and ground up Oreos and served in a flower pot.
But, ugh. Tapioca and Panko mixed together might make me more sick than if I were eating actual sand. Bleh.
Paul L.
Wait a minute. I thought Bill Maher claimed to be a "Independent" Libertarian
Real Time New Rules: Maher Lambastes GOP’s Hatred of Government
Incertus
@Paul L.: He left that behind about a year ago, maybe a little longer. You’d know that if you watched his show.
Laura W
@JenJen: I have not been ignoring you. BJ thought I was "commenting too quickly" and has been suppressing my freedom of speech. Weirdness abounds.
Sheesh…now I have to cram the story into the edit window.
Grama came to see me in CO in 98, all the way from CA. She was in her mid-80s at the time. Depression baby. Took 3 planes, I think? Gets off the tiny puddle-jumper in Durango, CO, with an ancient Samsonite carry-on bag that is obscenely heavy.
I ask her what the hell is she toting in her luggage there and she reveals a huge bag of white rice and some sort of beans…pinto or kidney? "GRAMA! Why the hell did you bring beans and rice to CO with you on all of these planes?" and she tells me that she found them at such good prices in CA, she was sure the prices would not be as low in CO.
Honestly.
Comrade Stuck
@Laura W:
This was happening to me too. I rebooted my computer and hasn’t happened. Ghosts in the machines I reckon
Laura W
@Comrade Stuck: Well, I saw your comment which helped me not feel too horribly insane and alone so then I rebooted and it did nothing. I was mostly afraid that all of my attempts to post would all show up at once, like when the mod filter sets them all free and you look like a blathering, redundant idiot?
So I just emailed John and USED ALL CAPS SCREAMING ABOUT THE WORD PRESS MAN REPRESSING ME and such.
And then like magic, I had postability function restored.
Brick Oven Bill
DougJ; Here is my input regarding your trip to England. The Italiano Pizzeria is a nice ethnic restaurant in Cardiff. You might want to check it out and report how things are going these days.
kommrade reproductive vigor
@Tonal Crow: Yeah, and we’re supposed to give a fuck when snail gruel eating twats whine about taxes.
J. Michael Neal
Jesus Christ, India is just pounding the ball in Christchurch. Sachin Tendulkar had a chance to set the record for runs in an ODI, but left with a pulled muscle. Suresh Raina came in for him, and scored 38 runs on 16 balls. The Indians had 18 sixes, eight of them in the last seven overs.
Of course, I got excited when the Pakistanis couldn’t take any wickets for what seemed like a week during the first innings of the test against Sri Lanka, and then Younis Khan went of for 313 in the Pakistani innings. With all of the runs and drawn tests recently, I’m left wondering, can’t anyone bowl any more?
Singularity
A) Friggin hilarious. Paul L. tries for snark and ends up with shit on his nose. Nice try, conservatard.
B) Christ people, learn to live just a bit. Fat Duck and French Laundry are deservedly well-regarded restaurants. I find it hard to understand why people have no problem at all accepting that a painter or sculptor should be paid astronomical fees for his or her work, but have a huge problem when a culinary artist asks a high price for the product he or she has worked to perfect. And honestly, half of the time when I see people say that some adventurous kind of food makes them sick, they haven’t ever even tried that food.
JenJen
@Laura W: You totally win!!
Everyone should think about how much they adore their grandmother’s eccentricities for a moment, because you will miss them very much when they’re gone.
(I’m not nearly as good at guilt as grandmom was)
Calouste
@J. Michael Neal:
New Zealand is doing well in reply though, looks like it will be an interesting finish.
Mitch Johnson, he can still bowl. But he seems to be about the only one.
Peter J
Cardiff? As in Cardiff, Wales?
douglasfactors
Does this blog have any kind of Facebook presence?
If there were a fan group, not only would I join it, I can’t think of a better way to distinguish my political views from those of my wingnut and knee-jerk lefty friends.
Tattoosydney
@Comrade Jake:
Dinner at Fat Duck last year ended up costing us 725 pounds for dinner for three people.
Best meal I have ever had, and would do it again tomorrow despite the extraordinary price tag….
Bostondreams
Just wanted to share with everyone an update on the situation I mentioned the other night where a female student told me she had been molested in the past by her older brother. I convinced her to come with me to the counselor, where we then faxed in the report to Florida’s Department of Children and Families. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything turns out alright, though DCF is notoriously incompetent. This girl, at least, seems so much better just in the couple days since we reported it. So thanks for your kind words.
Evinfuilt
If you want to enjoy Molecular Gastronomy on a more civilized budget, hit up WD-50 in Manhattan.
http://www.wd-50.com/
Tasting menu is only $140, and I can’t wait for December to come around (when I’ll be there enjoying it.)
I’ve had the chance to take a 4 night class on this style of cooking, its really much more simplistic than the name and buzz pushes. If you’ve ever made homemade preserves, you know half of what goes into it.
This style of cooking about challenging your perception of food. I think of it was deconstruction taken to its fullest. Sad that this befell The Fat Duck, I do have to wonder how many of those 400 actually went there.