Steven Shaw pokes his arctic char tartare and brings a small piece up to his mouth. He peers at it, takes a bite. "It's got salt in it," he says. "Most of the time, when chefs make these tartares, they won't mix the salt in, because if you mix it in, you'd better serve it within about a minute, otherwise the salt will start drawing liquid out from the flesh. You'll have a soggy mess," says Shaw, who covers food and restaurants for eGullet.org, the culinary Web site he founded in 2001. He explains that most restaurants prepare the tartare portions and refrigerate them, then sprinkle some salt on top right before serving. "But this was clearly made—and mixed—to order," he says.
It is one of many observations Shaw will make tonight as we dine at the bar room at The Modern, blue-ribbon restaurateur Danny Meyer's newest venture, in the recently renovated Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan. Over several courses, Shaw will demonstrate the lessons he teaches in his book, Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out (HarperCollins, August 2005).
As Shaw peruses the menu, a complimentary appetizer arrives (the staff has recognized the author): an Alsatian tarte flambée, wherein melting cheese and strips of salty ham sit atop a thin, crunchy crust. The waitress suggests a "dry, crisp" Austrian white to accompany it, and Shaw orders a glass.
Shaw's work is one of several behind-the-scenes-restaurant books coming out this season. It's joined by Rudolph Chelminski's The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine (Gotham), about the three-star French chef who committed suicide in 2003; Doug Psaltis's The Seasoning of a Chef: My Journey from Diner to Ducasse and Beyond (Broadway), a memoir of working in some of New York's, California's and Monte Carlo's top kitchens; and, of course, former New York Times restaurant reviewer Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires: The Life of a Critic in Disguise (Penguin Press).
Shaw credits Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential; Bloomsbury, 2000), who exposed restaurants' most unsavory secrets, with pioneering the genre. "Once people found out they were allowed to know this kind of stuff, they wanted to know about everything," Shaw says.
Bourdain himself credits a larger cultural influence. "Restaurants have become entertainment, like movies," he says. "You go to a new restaurant and you talk about it with your friends—it's become a shared experience."
Shaw's editor, Susan Friedland (she has since left HarperCollins), agrees that Kitchen Confidential started the trend, but she's quick to point out the difference between that book and Turning the Tables. "[Shaw's book is] the consumer guide for the diner. He's not a cook. He really is an outsider." Shaw's goal is to help readers get the most out of dining out—never as simple as one might imagine, especially with such high-caliber restaurants as the Modern.
Early in Turning the Tables, Shaw explains how to make a reservation. Landing one at any top New York restaurant at the prime dining hour of 8 p.m. is no small feat. Shaw was initially turned down when he called the Modern two weeks ago. "The way these computers [that hold restaurants' reservations] work, it's like the seats on an airplane. They're constantly getting opened and closed based on all sorts of formulas. They get a lot of cancellations, and not just on the day of. There's also a sequence of releasing tables. Thirty days before, they might block out a large percentage of the prime-time tables, because they know within a week of the actual date, a lot of VIPs are going to call." Persistence pays off. After two more calls, Shaw landed our 8 p.m. table.
When it comes time to order, Shaw chooses to start with the arctic char tartare. It will be followed by tagliatelle with chanterelles and truffles, and then braised pork cheeks served over sauerkraut.
As he waits for his arctic char, Shaw offers this tip: look around. Is there a dish that's showing up on everyone's table? How big are the portions? Shaw has also started looking up at the ceiling when he enters a restaurant for the first time; a restaurateur told him a clean ceiling is the mark of a good eatery. The ceiling at the Modern is "spit-shined," Shaw notes, demonstrating not only cleanliness but attention to detail.
The arctic char tartare, molded into a neat rectangle and nested atop an arched glass dish, "screams labor intensive," comments Shaw. The tagliatelle is "fantastic" if "conservative." Soon, another unexpected dish arrives, compliments of the kitchen—a platter of liverwurst and venison terrine, accompanied by a garnish of berries, miniature pickles, peppers and beets.
Shaw is not shy about accepting freebies. Let Ruth Reichl hide behind a closet-full of disguises—he relishes the perks of being recognized. That attitude will help when he goes on the road this summer, visiting restaurants and bookstores along the Atlantic Seaboard to promote his book. Details are still being worked out, but plans include lectures at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., as well as events held in conjunction with eGullet.org.
But first, dessert. Shaw literally rolls up his sleeves. "When you get into the great and the greater," he says, "it's really the desserts that start to separate things." He orders tangerine carpaccio: thin slices of peeled tangerine, served with lime sorbet. When tasting desserts, he says, "You're always looking for the contrasts: flavor, texture and temperature. That's the fundamental definition of any dessert, how you find those contrasts."
After a satisfying meal, Shaw talks about the importance of researching restaurants. Dinner for two at an epicurean restaurant can cost as much as a new TV, he says. "If I were purchasing a new television set, I might spend two hours reading consumer reports and online stuff. I think I should do the same amount of work before I spend $200 to $300 in a restaurant."
The rewards of research being, of course, also the point of Shaw's book. As he writes in Turning the Tables, "[I]f you love restaurants for the right reasons, they will love you back."
