Daniel and Marco...way out of touch

Read a roundtable with chefs Daniel Boulud, Floyd Cardoz, and Marco Canora. Although Daniel is my favorite restaurant in the city, Mr Boulud and Marco come off as jack-asses and out of touch with the common folk.

Here are some quotes that were quite irritating...
Boulud: Yeah, thanks a lot. We love you. I hope next month they can say ‘Let’s go out, here’s a sandwich that’s a great bargain.’ People don’t understand that trying to cook at home unless you know what you’re doing is going to cost you more money or you’re going to eat very lousy.

My take: that's a completely ridiculous statement that people shouldn't cook at home because it's either going to suck or cost a lot of money. I'm hoping websites like ours will help people cook better at home because eating out sometimes sucks bad and is 100% not worth the money.

Boulud: Also, expensive Japanese restaurants. I go to Sushi Seki at one o’clock in the morning and spend $200 for two. If I was a little bit more hungry it would be $250 to $300 at the bar. I think the price point is out of whack. In good times, what blew me away was how much money young people spend in places that are more trendy than good. Is that logical? It’s more expensive for sushi than a restaurant like Daniel where you have 140 employees taking care of you instead of three guys behind the counter.

My take: Sushi is a lot of money, but I pay not because it's trendy (trendy places make me nauseous). More because when I'm having some phenomenal sushi, to me it's one of the best food moments you can have. I don't care if 150 people work on a dish or if 1 person does, the final outcome of pleasure is the only thing that matters. And that interaction between sushi master and client really makes the meal memorable. Plus, Sushi Yasuda, one of my faves, is probably around $150, not $300.