Flavor Over Trend

Since the dawn of time, presentation and atmosphere has been considered intrinsic elements to the dining experience as whole. From the proverbial roast swine with an apple in its mouth to the minimalist setup of a fusion dish in an upscale restaurant, food presentation and setting has been refined to a literal science throughout the ages. In fact, so wide-spread and deep set has it become, that many have even blindly attributed food quality to a restaurant's appearance and the "artsiness" of its dishes rather than on actual flavor. This has become quite a trend over the recent years and, in truth, also a little annoying.

Of course, a person can always argue that food criticism is subjective, which it is to a degree, but to be honest, just as love can be a universal language, horridly gut-wrenching food can be as well. As one who's frequented quite a few restaurants over his lifetime, I have been to places where the setting and food presentation was as artful as an exhibition in the Guggenheim, but with food that was as tasteless as an overly offensive joke. At the same time, I've been to places that were literal off-the-road shacks that served plain, run-of-the-mill dishes, and I have been simply blown away by the elegant flavor of their food.

All in all, if a restaurant's food is excellent, atmosphere and presentation really doesn't become a major factor unless it's taken to an extreme. But if the food is horrendous, no amount of excellence in the atmosphere or presentation can redeem a restaurant. With only very few exceptions, a restaurant can only jump as high as its food. Despite this being a very simple principal, many restaurants and people have sadly let go of this idea, to some degree or another, and have even went as far as to place a restaurant's trendiness and image over the simple factor of good food. This is seen simply by the fact that there are still several upscale restaurants out there that remain well in business even when their food is constantly over-priced, over-seasoned, over-cooked, under-proportioned or just plain bad.

Once in a while, though, there are restaurants that happen to get it right on all accounts and I would imagine that these don't occur in an overwhelming proportion compared to all restaurants out there. But, for me, whether the restaurant walls are filled with Picasso's or small town little-league souvenirs, just give me the three things that would make my day-flavor, flavor, and more flavor. Because, as I would always say, let the good food come in and the restaurant snobbery come out--out the door that is.