The Rest of the Country, Volume 1

So I spent the last eight days on the east coast. Not just on the east coast, but in the south. Not the Deep South of violent racism fame, just Virginia and coastal North Carolina of pervasive institutional racism fame. North Carolina has something like the fifth largest black population in the country but strangely in the affluent recreation-oriented Outer Banks I saw like five.

Anyway.

I do bag on California Cuisine. And I'm not saying it's not deserved. But I also came back from my trip with a newfound appreciation for what we do have here in California dining. It's apparent that a big chunk of this country has a lot of catching up to do.

And it's not just an issue of ingredients--there's no other region of the country, with the possible exception of Hawai'i, that has such an immediate access to such an impressive array of produce, I understand that--it's an issue of concept all the way down.

Most of the problems I encountered are not endogenous to the region I was in. They're my standard complaints. Very little articulation of an entire dish is the biggest--instead you get your protein with a rotating cast of sides--mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables. Sometimes that side gets a little more adventurous--risotto spring roll in one case--but you'll still find it making appearances on multiple entrees. At the best and even not-so-best restaurants in the Bay Area every ingredient in each dish was cooked and arranged with every other ingredient in mind.

I also ate more asparagus last week then I had in the past year. And we're well past asparagus season.

While these are the problems of middling and casual dining restaurants in the Bay Area, I ate at some of the priciest and well-regarded restaurants in the Outer Banks.

Am I saying the food was bad? Hardly. A lot of it was quite good. I love east coast seafood, so I ate a lot of it. They just do crab better in that region. Shrimp too. Super-fresh ahi. Ahi was also super-cheap ($10-$12 a pound) and the reddest I've seen outside of Hawai'i. I found that the quality of the protein was excellent and the preparation of it superb in most cases. There was an overcooked pork chop here and dry chicken there, but overall the main ingredient was prepared quite well and with a degree of style and grace. Wasabi and coriander crusted ahi, for instance. It was in how the dish was presented and how the accompaniments were cooked that was problematic. Gummy, overprocessed mashed potatoes. Undercooked steamed vegetables. Stale flourishes and garnishes. Dry rice.

Basically, food like mama used to make. Big communal pots of veggies and potatoes ladled onto the plate with your steak.

Now I come from a weird background where family dining at home consisted as often of pan-seared pork tenderloin with cherry-reduction and risotto as it did a big pot of spaghetti. That's how we rolled. But I understand that eating at home often consists of mom steaming some vegetables, cooking some rice or potatoes, and preparing a roast, or meat loaf, or fried chicken, or pork chops, or whatever. And that's great. It's probably fucking delicious and better than at most restaurants.

But if I'm going out to eat and spending $25-$35 on entrees I'm looking for something more than steak and potatoes.

And as I encountered on a fishing trip out in the Gulf Stream, catching fresh mahi-mahi, taking it home, and broiling it with olive oil, salt, and pepper is easy and delicious. So why go out to eat?

Stay tuned shortly for a more detailed elaboration on my eastern adventure.