A Voice Against Choice

I am well-known amongst friends as a rather indecisive diner. I have no problem picking a restaurant, but when it comes to the menu options I'm often stymied. Like last night at Suenos for a b-day party I opened the menu and was betwixt and between: Should I get the Roast Chicken and Squash Blossom Enchiladas with Pumpkin Seed Sauce or the Duck Breast with Cranberry Mole, Sweet Potato Puree and Endive?

I went with my standad-operating procedure of having the waitperson decide.

I fully admit that my M.O. can be annoying when I can only narrow the choices to three or four, and to top it off, I'm having a multi-course meal. So, I find it a great relief when instead I'm sitting down to a prix fixe, pre-set, chef's tasting dinner, such as the one I kvelled about at Philadelphia's Vetri.

Lucky for me, it looks like these no-choice meals are becoming increasingly popular. Today's Wall Street Journal offers an "Eating Around" column on the subject, saying:

It's the ultimate chef status symbol, more prestigious than having a line of cookware or a television show. Today, a handful of authoritarian cooks run restaurants where customers can eat only what the chef wants them to -- there are no la carte options. Masayoshi Takayama of Masa in New York City serves his choice of appetizers, sushi and dessert -- for $300 a head.

Other restaurants featured are thankfully well below that pricetag. For example, the venerable Chez Panisse in Berkeley offers one 3- to 4-course meal nightly with a dollar figure that increases as the week goes on. But, for regular folk like myself, the $75 bill on Saturdays is still within reason. What do you get for your moolah? Here's this Saturday's menu:

An aperitif
Chanterelle and asparagus salad with puntarella and anchovy vinaigrette
Ricotta and chervil gnocchi with fava beans in brodo
Grilled Cattail Creek Farm rack, loin, and leg of lamb with Marsala sauce, crispy
artichokes, green garlic, and new potatoes
Tangerine souffl

Comments

[copyboy]

Letting the waitperson decide is a way of satisficing. In general you will get a good meal based on his superior knowledge of what the kitchen does well - but you will not get your optimal meal that you would get if, for instance, you ordered every single dish on the menu, tasted it, threw out the rest, and then had the chef prepare anew the one you liked best. (My usual method at Jean Georges. I'm an excellent tipper.)

I wonder if there is an optimal number of choices. On a bistro menu, I would say it is about 6. At Jean Georges, 10. At a diner, 437, but just get the eggs over easy.