Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Food
Course This: Achatz Responds to Bourdain and White
By
Hugh Merwin
Published Sep 17, 2008
Modified Sep 17, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Hugh Merwin
Published Sep 17, 2008
Modified Sep 17, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Yesterday, chef Grant Achatz of Alinea was slated to deliver a presentation on his eclectic serving implements (the antiplate, tripod, and squid) at the StarChefs ICC. First, however, he had a few words in response to “something that came up with a group of gentlemen,” referring to Anthony Bourdain and English chef Marco Pierre White’s controversial Sunday night panel.
White claimed that 18 course (or more) tasting menus consisting (sometimes) of nontraditional food are injurious to some authentic ideal of cooking, and that a meal with an amuse guele, two courses, and pudding would suffice, thank you. (Frank Bruni also has a problem with tasting menus). “If what I do is pointless, then maybe what Wylie does, what Andoni does, what Jean Georges does, what Charlie Trotter does - maybe it's all pointless,” Achatz said, pacing the stage restlessly.
Achatz, who was the subject of a sprawling New Yorker profile in June, offered a response to his fellow chefs’ dislike for tasting menus, but also to his cooking, sometimes called molecular, sometimes called techno-emotional. “It’s cooking by numbers,” White said on Sunday, seemingly contradicting his previous kind words about Achatz’s cooking. Achatz said that "eating a ripe tomato sprinkled with salt can be a profound emotional experience," but that "there’s room in cooking for more than a piece of fish, roasted on the bone with salt, a squeeze of lemon juice, and olive oil."
By way of example, he shared photos of his food at Alinea. One series of “functional centerpieces” featured a thin slice of wagyu beef, frozen in liquid nitrogen, and suspended from a steel wire at the table. Guests enjoy it visually as they’re served their first few courses, not knowing what it’s for exactly and anticipating its involvement with the meal. Within 27 minutes, the meat melts and turns bright red; when the 5th course arrives- a roasted matsutake mushroom with vinaigrette- the server drapes the raw wagyu on top. Case in point: nothing at Alinea is pointless, not even the centerpiece.
Achatz addressed the perception of chefs who make untraditional food as absent-minded, mad professors with blowout, unkempt hair. “We don't take ourselves too seriously,” he said, “we know it's weird to serve food on something that’s growing” (a slide of a course served on a patch on live greens popped up) “it’s supposed to be fun.” He admitted that some guests refuse to lean forward at a four star restaurant to eat something without their hands as it dangles off an antennae in front of them, “it’s embarrassing, it’s challenging, it’s unexpected. But when is pushing people to think a bad thing?”
“The theme of this congress is the responsibility of a chef,” Achatz concluded, “and the responsibility of a chef is to do everything with purpose.” The audience, including fellow chefs Wylie Dufresne, Johnny Iuzzini, George Mendes, and Franklin Becker, among others, stood up and clapped.
Photo: Achatz taking a question from the audience at StarChefs.
Tagged
andoni luis aduriz
anthony bourdain
george mendes
grant achatz
johnny iuzzini
marco pierre white
molecular cooking
wylie dufresne
Hugh Merwin
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE food
10 dishes that demonstrate the delicious diversity of curry in New York City
The global dish is shapeshifting and ubiquitous.
By
Robert Sietsema
Published Sep 12, 2026
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.
By
Sonia Rao
Food
Frozen yogurt is back in New York City. So are the super long lines.
Is it worth the high price and ridiculous wait? Gothamist needed to find out.
By
Sonia Rao
5 NYC banana puddings as good as Magnolia's
By
Hannah Frishberg
Where to eat in Greenpoint, Brooklyn right now, from Polish to Sichuan to Iberian
By
Robert Sietsema
Can a congressional candidate's dumpling diplomacy win over Queens’ immigrant communities?
By
Caroline Shin
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .