Charlie's Burger latest meal...
...was reviewed in the Globe and Mail
Interesting that a food critic and photographer from the same newspaper "happened" to be on the invite list. Perhaps the photographer was the guest. But who knows?
Again, the food sounds interesting but that $155 price tag (maybe the rare Queen Ant jacked up the food cost?) put it out of my price range for eating western style food made from what is considered "street food" in many Asian cities.
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re: tjr
He has the drive and the connections to make it happen. A freind of mine tried the same thing , but with fewer connections, after Three dinners she stopped as the guest list started to be repetative, the sense of wonder was gone and even though she owned the buildng where the dinners were held and charged $200 per person for the meal she was not making any money. Chefs wanted too much, Wine was expensive, weeks of planning, guest dropping out last minute... not worth the trouble.
Props to "Charlie" as he has made it succeed. PLUS there is nothing stopping anyone here from starting their own underground dining "scene"..
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re: RogerDoger
I don't get the hate for this either. It's a fun side-project for someone who was able to make it work. He has a genuine love of food and the whole thing is tongue-in-cheek. Who cares if the person responsible for it happens to be an experiential marketer? What difference does that make?
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re: jamesm
I kinda liked the idea, even though I'd never participate -- I'm vegetarian and I don't have that kind of money to spend on random dinners. I'm glad to hear it was not-for-profit. To me, that makes it slightly less pretentious. :)
At the same time, I knew the interest would fizzle pretty quickly. And it seems like "Charlie" did too.
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re: RogerDoger
I meant here. The buzz surrounding the meals -- who got the invite, what was the food like, etc -- seems to have faded quite a bit. But that's not necessarily a reflection on the quality of the dinners. It's very difficult to maintain that kind of public interest in any event, much less one that's out of reach for a majority of people.
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re: Snarf
I have been, as have friends, and none of us really understand the hype, other than that it was basically entirely built from the beginning to be run entirely based on hype. Okay food, no real focus, great wine, mostly poor company. If it weren't for the wine pairings, it wouldn't have even been worth the price of admission.
My favourite CB moment was the faux-Kobe beef meal where the kitchen staff went to such lengths to show that they had purchased "authentic" Kobe beef, only to produce a certificate clearly stating the contrary (and the beef served was clearly not Kobe based on appearance and texture alone).
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re: tuttebene
foodyDudey
Jul 24, 2011 07:07 AM
You are surprised that it's a marketing guy running CB? I'd be surprised if it wasn't!
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re: 00CP
i went. it was quite good. the only horse i'd ever had was a bite of tartare a couple days before the dinner, so i didn't know what to expect, other than thinking it'd be gamey. it's flavourful, lean, tender.
my favourite course was the lardo on a crostini (for flavour, though the texture was surprisingly tough/chewy), and the tenderloin with sage-apple stuffing. lots of other people loved the choucroute. the pho had a buttery-soft slice of meat, but the course was kind of ruined due to undercooked rice noodles. the pho broth was made from horse bones, and was very rich and dark, deeper in flavour than any pho i'd ever had.
even the dessert had horse in it -- lard rendered from the other courses, which went into the apple tart's pastry.
i don't drink, so i didn't partake in the wine but everyone said the pairings were spot on. one of the sommeliers said they basically guessed, seeing as they didn't have the luxury of tasting horse in advance.
as an aside: there was lots of discussion the ethics of eating, ahem, "cheval." my general eating view on eating horse (yes, they're smart and human-loyal, like dogs) is that people make arbitrary, silly decisions about what is an acceptable food animal, and what is exempt. eating meat is inherently an environmentally destructive, cruel thing, even when the slaughter is humane. i wouldn't eat it often, but that's mostly because i believe in eating less meat, but always good quality meat. everyone else around me seemed to agree, but then again, those who morally object to eating horse wouldn't be there in the first place.
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Are there any restaurants in the Toronto area that serve any dishes that include insects?
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For those of you interested in sampling some insect cuisine there's another chance this weekend and it's significantly cheaper than $155
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cynalan
Jan 28, 2010 03:39 PM
Does anyone really care about Charlie Burger anymore? The original concept was interesting but now prices are exhorbitant, insider preference. Once, I was interested. Now, no longer.
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re: cynalan
Forgive me but aren't the two sort of mutually exclusive? If you have to be an insider to get in at that price...the price can hardly be too high, no?
Even ignoring the cost of the ingredients (which one has to assume is relatively high seeing that they're about as far from mainstream as possible), the cost of the time of the chefs involved trying to make such ingredients palatable can't be insignificant. Having done some catering myself, I seriously doubt that this is a highly profitable venture.
Add to the fact that this is fairly groundbreaking stuff in terms of sustainable food-sourcing etc and I commend these guys for what they're doing.
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re: millygirl
pinstripeprincess
Jan 29, 2010 06:09 AM
the bugs seemed gimmicky to me. it didn't appear like they were working with the flavours so much as integrating them in for texture. if that's all they're there for then i'm not sure what the big deal is really... for some it's just a slimy or crunchy step up from an oyster or fried shrimp head with less flavour. but i guess yes, you wouldn't get bugs at a regular restaurant in toronto.
also.... as for sustainable food-sourcing... i really don't believe any of the dinners have focused around that at all. at least none of the menus read that way nor did they ever market it that way. i mean they "flew in" a bunch of ducks in a can from montreal... how sustainable is that?!
i wouldn't say there are insiders... so much as a vip list for the non-regular folk.
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re: millygirl
i'm not claiming everything they;re doing is, but hey, no one bats a 1000, right? i just support anyone who pushes boundaries with food...whether they're economically or altruistrically driven doesn't bother me...as long as they're doing something new and interesting...and hopefully tasty
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There is a certain amount of BS in the supposed 50% FCFS 50% lottery story, I casually know someone who went to the dinner (and was mentioned in the article as sitting beside the critic) who got in by asking "Charlie" directly. She's connected so I guess she knows who "Charlie(s)" is/are.
