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Stopping Short

This essay about how its become impossible to predict what a cocktail will taste like, brings to mind my problem with chefs taking an extra creative turn with traditional foods I know and love. It's come to point where if I know how to cook the dish, I will just do that instead of trying some new take on it at a restaurant that is all the rage. There a few establishments near me that have been around for decades. What their menus lack in continuous novelty is made up by predictability. That could be boring for folks with more desire for adventure in their dining experiences, but I like knowing what I am going to get. There are memories tied with food and venue. Part of wanting to return there is to relive what had been happy or positive. 

..we went from bartenders playing reanimator with forgotten cocktails, to bartenders reimagining themselves as Michelin-starred chefs, creating tricky, impossible-to-replicate works of culinary art—

After all is said and done, the dish is not recognizable anymore. As a home cook who likes to experiment a fair bit, I have learned over the years to reign in my instincts to improvise and take into consideration who is going eat the meal and what might they expect when they sit at the table. My desire for change and originality can be at complete odds with that. I limit my experimentation to one dish; stay with the tried and true for the rest. That allows everyone to enjoy the novelty from the comfort zone of what they like. The same is likely true for a restaurant or cocktail bar menu - when the level of newness is dizzying, folks can get disoriented and not enjoy the meal or drink.

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