Bitchin Dave's Newsletter - September 9th
I listened to a really interesting podcast about the Eleven Madison Park Restaurant in New York City. I wanted to talk about that for a moment. (sorry in advance for the length!)
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The gist of the story is that the restaurant is a fine dining establishment and around five years ago, it was awarded three Michelin stars. It was heralded as one of the best restaurants in the world.
The chef/owner realized he had nothing else to accomplish; he had reached the summit and had done as much as he could. And that's when he decided to challenge himself to achieve something new.
It was sort of an existential personal crisis, and his solution was to change the menu completely, to think about sustainability and long-term health of the planet. And so he closed, and re-opened a while later as a plant-based restaurant. In his own words, this was not based on anything related to animal rights or about applying labels to it. This was simply about sustainability and challenging himself to do some good for the planet.
Of course there were very many naysayers. People told him he wouldn't succeed. People told him he was excluding long-term patrons. People told him that he really needed to have meat on the menu because that's just the way things are. But he persisted because he felt it was the right thing to do.
He re-trained his staff, learned new techniques, and started a small farm in upstate New York. And he opened his new plant-based dining concept to some fanfare.
Naturally, other chefs were upset with him because he had changed the paradigm - because he wasn't cooking with any animal products, and that upset them. That's how they're all trained and we are conditioned. Some diners were upset because it really didn't work for them and they used words like "woke" to describe the transition. But, he persisted.
About a year after he reopened, he was informed he retained that three Michelin star rating! He had achieved a lot. He had an exquisite array of things that he put on the menu that really defined what plant-based fine dining could be. He had a surprising number of people come in and say how amazing it was, even though they were meat eaters. He gave an example of someone who ran a cattle ranch who came in and said it was one of the best meals he'd ever had.
And here's where things get interesting. His restaurant is small (maybe 40 seats). It has thin margins, and the price of food was quite high. Preparation takes longer. Sustainability, it seems, has a cost.
He also noted that the bar tabs - especially on wine - were much higher when he served animal products. People weren't buying alcohol; it could be a reflection of the time to some degree, but it was affecting his bottom line in any case. Restaurants remain profitable in part by selling alcohol.
And that gave him pause. He has over 200 employees between the farms, the restaurant, and his business. He wants to keep them employed.
And that's when he decided that he needed to evolve his menu yet again, and add back some animal products to accomplish this. To be fair, he remains steadfast in his belief about sustainability, and 90% of his menu remains plant based.
His additions are deliberate, and only for ingredients that he really feels are special, and which fit in the realm of fine dining. And these items are prepared in a way that's separate from all of his plant-based things. But they are served with plant-based sides.
To be clear, the reason he did this was primarily for the long-term health of his restaurant. He realized that from a sustainability perspective, his own restaurant may not survive if he didn't try to do something different.
He thinks he can have a lot more success this way, but is still focused on sustainability. He realized it's all about a balance, even if he pissed off some of his staff and some of his diners.
I just found the whole thing really interesting. Maybe he can't change the world with one restaurant, but he can challenge people to think differently and be that sort of disruptive influence in a way. He hopes that maybe other restaurants will be inspired for similar reasons.
There are lessons here: you can act locally, and strive for things that are within your reach, but which may help influence the greater good. And of course, always challenge yourself to do more.
This is an intriguing problem. The way we create two dimensional maps distorts the sizes of some areas. Especially a continent that spans across the equator. The accepted Mercator map has this very problem as it relates to Africa. And as a result, we tend to think of Africa as "small" which clearly isn't right. Ah yes, the inherent problem of showing a 3-dimensional sphere on a 2-dimensional surface. Which is at least part of the reason flat earthers think they are right. (that and just stupidity, of course) Food for thought. Mercator is on the left, with the square edges.   |
This is an intermittent Disney series and it feels a little "edited for the masses" (so they eschew some technical details), but it's still a little fun to hear about the development process imagineers use in their craft. |
Not to be an alarmist … but this ain't good. Anyone care to actually do something? Or should we just say our goodbyes now so some can have some obscene wealth, with a short time to use it. |
Back at the end of August, Starship had a fairly successful launch, which achieved all of the objectives that were set forth by SpaceX. Its exciting to see a rocket of that scale lift off and return. It may very well herald a new era for space exploration. But can we talk for a minute about how the media simply said this is redemption for all Musk has done? I mean...really? After all the nonsense, having one successful flight absolves him? He owns the company and invested heavily in the success and there's a lot to be said for essentially letting his smart rocket scientists do their thing. But its *their* accomplishment. The guy is still a turd. And even the shirt he was wearing during an interview should remind us of that. Can someone please tell me, other than ego, what the purpose of going to Mars actually is? He has a whole timeline because he wants to. And he's rich. And it serves his ambitions. Maybe he could volunteer to be on that first flight?  |
And by the way, the notion of Tesla suggesting a one trillion dollars pay package as some kind of "fair compensation" to run the company is one of the most laughably absurd things I've ever heard. Among other things, they want to "keep him from leaving" to which I say that they should instead have a vote to remove him. A trillion dollars is a 1 with 12 zeros behind it. A quick bit of math says that you could randomly pick 50 million people from the phone book (that's roughly 15% of the population by the way) and issue them a check for $20,000. Which would be quite a lot of money for most people to receive. Sure seems like a better choice to me, rather than giving it to that one particular special in-duh-vidual. But what do I know? |
How weird and oddly wonderful is the hotel he created? … I recommend watching the video tour near the end of the page. |
What an interesting way to help prevent - and likely reverse - the problem of bee colony collapse. If we can engineer food that helps them grow, then maybe we can save the plant life that ultimately depends on the bees. That's cool. |
Bonus (well, not really): hearing RFK jr talk in front of the Senate was nothing short of astonishing. A guy in charge of OUR health who has no clue about health, medicine, or even basic science is appalling. The guy can surely talk out of both sides of his mouth, too. Geez.
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