Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Food & Life Deranged foodies gather for night two of Baton Supper Club with M. Wells
Posted by Brad Kaplan on Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 10:46 AM
- Brad Kaplan
- M. Wells at Baton Supper Series menu
Which got me thinking... how many people in Atlanta have ever even heard of Hugue Dufour, or his recently shuttered and highly praised, but debated, Queens (as in New York) restaurant M. Wells? Or even the place where he made his name, Montreal's infamously insane Au Pied de Cochon?
Of the five million or so people in the Atlanta area, I'd be very surprised if more than a couple hundred (that's something like 0.004%) had ever heard of M. Wells. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You basically have to be a deranged foodie to live in Georgia and have any clue about a small, now closed, restaurant in Long Island City, Queens. THAT is arcane foodie knowledge that would easily stump the guy who won 74 straight episodes of Jeopardy. But there we were, a pack of hungry foodies eager to soak up an esoteric experience. Young and old, rich and poor, black and white, we are the 0.004%.
But, really, does it matter who in Atlanta has heard of M. Wells or Au Pied de Cochon? No. What matters is that we have a community of folks who really want to get to know our own local rock star chefs, our own people who are toiling behind the bar or hustling to get great things to our farmers' markets. Thanks to Bravo TV, a big chunk of Atlanta (and America) now knows who Richard Blais is, or Hugh Acheson. But it would be great if just as many knew the name of their local farmers and purveyors of real, good food. That may still be arcane foodie knowledge, but it's the kind of knowledge that can impact our daily lives, not just a bit of trivia.
(By the way, keep an eye out for our "We are the 0.004%" t-shirts, coming soon to an organic, grass-fed, offal-only butcher shoppe and micro-green emporium near you)
Comments (23)
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Damn. I'd heard of M. Wells (so does that make me a deranged foodie?), but I hadn't heard of this event until it was over.
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The sage of the restaurant critic who was accused on fondling the waitress is why M. Wells is on my radar.
I have been to Au Pied de Cochon and heard of M. Wells, largely from the controversies about chaotic service and the GQ review (which will make a great case study on how NOT to manage media relations!). PdC is worth the trip, but in all honesty, I fear it can become a caricature of itself -- one can have too much offal, fried bits, and foie gras, and when the sauces are strong and the fattiness is overpowering, it can add up to an exhausted palate and indigestion. That being said, the service was casual but excellent, the wine list was well designed and reasonably-priced, and the whole experience was a lot of fun. No, I didn't have the faie gras poutine, but split a slab of the liver with a rich baked apple compote, so I know the richness of which I speak!
Actually I think this was an example (the event, not the post) of the de-eliting of food (like my made-up words?). This was super interesting food in a beautifully shabby little space. It was organized by a guy in a band and a guy in a kitchen. It was pretty cheap. It was all word of mouth, not PR-driven. So yeah, while we may all pat ourselves on the back for being cool enough to be there and eat chicken blood and appreciate the waitress's vintage apron, that's true of any niche scene. I don't think everything that's geeky is elitist. If anything, this was pretty populist.
I think it was elitist in that almost nobody knew about it until it was over. I first read about it on a friend's blog. He went the first night and said he was dismayed that there were empty spots. If you don't widen your publicity to encompass a large enough group (larger than the foodie elite apparently), you may have empty seats. I am personally a bad foodie because I don't eat offal or foie gras (not a statement; I just don't like it.) I would have gladly attended night 2 a) if I had known about it in advance b) if the menu wasn't so focused on proteins that many consider undesirable. Again, I realize I am a bad foodie.
Good debate. I'm with Besha on this, an $8 plate of beef heart tartare is not elitist at all. It may not conform to mainstream tastes, but it's rooted in food that's been eaten by people who can't afford a ribeye or a filet for ages. Now, a $40 kobe burger, that can be seen as elitist, but not a plate of liver and onions. A dinner at Capital Grille strikes me as much more elitist than this dinner at Gato Bizco. But I do recognize my perspective is different than a lot of folks.
And while it's true that almost nobody knew about this particular event, which is a shame really, that appears to be due to a simple lack of marketing in advance of the event rather than a concerted effort to exclude anyone. It was mentioned on Thrillist, and Eater Atlanta, and here on Creative Loafing as well, all last week.
Finally, themartyparty, disliking offal does not a bad foodie make. Nor does liking Popeye's or Krystals or whatever. Now the McRib, though...
There is no way to win this argument. If they had done a ton of media pre-event, then folks would have pissed and moaned about how fancy they thought they were & how no one could get a seat and blahblahblah. you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.
I'm sorry I didn't get to attend this event and the chance to eat the food of great chefs from elsewhere - without a plane ticket - is something anyone enjoys great cooking (read: cooking and *not* foodie elitism) would jump at...especially at $8 a plate. That having been said, there are lots of great $8 plates across our town that need the support, too.
I spoke with the organizers (BATON) the during the first service and they said they just wanted this to be a word of mouth thing. They are not restauranteurs and I suspect they didn't know what this would look like until it happened. They are pretty low-key and laid back folks.
While M. Wells is a big name to a lot of rabid foodies (god, I hate that word), they were chosen simply because Archuleta (part of BATON) made friends with them while on tour with Deerhunter. As far as people bemoaning the amount of publicity, it was promoted/written about well in advance on Grub Street, Eater National, Eater Atlanta, Thrillist Atlanta, Omnivore, and a handful of local blogs. Calling it elitist because you weren't paying attention is just plain transparent.
Jennifer, some of us don't have time to read Grub Street, Eater National, Eater Atlanta, Thrillist Atlanta, or a handful of local blogs. Because Omnivore is not blocked at my work, I do tend to read it every day, and I didn't see anything about this event (nor will you if you follow the tags on this post???). I'm guessing it was "buried" in a "food events next week" type post, which I do not always read carefully if I'm going to be busy a given week. I do follow Eat It Atlanta, but I didn't see anything there in ADVANCE of the event. Sure, absolutely, I could have missed it, but my point is that even for somebody like me who really loves to follow these type of things, it was insufficiently publicized. Is it possible that the readership of everything you mentioned is pretty much the same x people? If so, then they reached the same x people 6 times as opposed to reaching other foodies (hate tha word too!) in Atlanta. And what do you mean by "transparent"? Obviously it's meant to be an insult but I'm not sure in what regard. Thx, m.
Aha. Although the tagging needs some work (you will not find the original post using the tags on this one) when I searched the archives I found it, and I actually do remember reading it. And nothing about the original post hinted at the importance or rarity of the event. If you didn't already revere M.Wells, it just looked like another supper club, and there are already a couple on my list, so I ignored it. I'm glad for the sponsors that the word got out by the second night, I wish them well, and will put Baton on my list in the future :)
So you're telling me that if only a tight knit group of food writers and bloggers (Brad, Besha, Jennifer, Tami), chefs and restaurant owners are invited/in attendance at a tiny, non descript restaurant in Candler Park eating food from an obscure NYC-Canadian chef, it's not exclusive or elitist?
It may not be Donald Trump elitist, but it is definitely foodie elitist. It's not lobster thermidor, but Foie Gras bread pudding? Come'on. You even reference the 0.004%! You want t-shirts made!
It's totally ok to be that way, but don't come off like it's not.
Who said we were invited? I found out about it here: http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/10/m_we…
It's our job to pay attention and report on this stuff. If readers choose not to pay attention when we report (http://atlanta.eater.com/archives/2011/10/…), why is that our fault?
It's a fair point that most of the people who actually showed up could be considered the foodie extreme - people who go out of their way to be on top of food events and restaurants here in Atlanta and beyond, thus the title "deranged foodies" (which was meant to reflect that those people who actually know the name M Wells fall into that extreme end of the spectrum). But to Jennifer's point, there was no invitation; I didn't even have a reservation but just showed up and waited a good while until a couple stools at the counter came open.
As for the t-shirts, that was sarcasm. I thought the "coming soon to an organic, grass-fed, offal-only butcher shoppe and micro-green emporium near you" would make that clear. Speaking of which, I hear Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms is opening just such a place in Johns Creek next month. (not true - just a bit more extreme foodie sarcasm)
Not sure what I did to piss Jennifer off. Ah well, another day, another argumentative string on Omnivore. (Still want to know what "transparent" is intended to mean. For future insults, you could check out http://www.william-shakespeare.org.uk/a1-s… or maybe just merriam-webster.)
Ha. "Thou loathed elf-skinned clotpole!"
Seriously, Marty. My response was aimed at Nom Nom Nom. Not you.
Interesting convo! Gato Bizco is a tiny space, any more publicity would have made it pretty crazy. Prices? You could easily spend more money on a meal at 5 Napkin Burger. Given that it was a two-night event, you definitely had folks who wanted to experience it and dropped what they were doing to check it out. However, this is by no means the only game in town. Check on facebook for PushStart Kitchen, Blu Gorilla, and Staplehouse, Four Coursemen (Athens) for different takes on the 'underground' supper club idea -- and check back next month for whoever Baton gets to come into town.
Wow! One word really brings out the worst in people.
I've been to a number of underground food events, not sure why this one has rubbed me the wrong way toward elitist. Maybe it's the snooty article, maybe it was the glorified offal food, or maybe it was the lack of an invitation [tear].
But answer me this, if a foodie dinner happens and no blogger is there to write about it, did it really happen?
Brad, still love your writing, and your sarcasm is not lost on me.
Foodie meals happen. Now there's a t-shirt!
Noms, I'll take ya to the next one. And we won't tell anyone about it! We'll write in our diaries about it obsessively and protectively like we used to write about the bands that we loved and thought no one else was worthy of.
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