Ha ha! I love this concept. I remember reading the inspiration article in the NYT and thinking it was such an interesting challenge for a really talented chef. Seems that Buffalo's own rose to the occasion! It also seems appropriate that the cheapest course was the clear winner.
Oh, and it takes a very self-assured college guy to drink a strawberry milkshake garnished with a flamingo with such panache.
Unfortunately, with food prices going up the way they are, not to mention fuel, discount shopping is becoming far more common. This is why I always get annoyed when I see "upscale" (yuppified) markets opening up, ignoring the communities basic need for affordable groceries.
A few pointers for the budget-conscious: -Dollar store portions are sometimes very small. Compare the prices per ounce/pound/etc to those found at Wegmans or Wal-Mart or wherever you buy groceries. I usually buy things like sweet chili sauce, chips, oil, some spices, and honey at dollar stores, while the supermarket is usually a winner when it comes to sugar, coffee, and even cereal. -I have purchased very good quality frozen fish at Dollar Tree. They are single fillets and sometimes have a sauce of some kind. They aren't big, but when combined with other elements of a meal, they are a great buy.
Brilliant! For $25 I'll try this meal. If it's good enough for Mr. Fix it's good enough for me. Thanks for the tip Christa!
Fun challenge. I read the NYT story as well. Though doing it on 10 bucks would have been more suitable for Buffalo. The menu sounded good, and the presentation pics look inspired as well. Bravo guys.
But...
Odd lot, GMO, antibiotic and hormone laden, highly processed, pre-packaged, fructose marinated "foods" of dubious origin, that are best suited to being fried, or nuked in the bag they came in (with the included bindle of MSG of course) is a sure fire way to needing a voucher pack for an oncologist.
Sadly, this is how 60% of people nourish themselves on a daily basis. No wonder the schools are screwed.
I agree with both Biniskiewicz & Hoss.....
While I understand the concept of showing the general public how far you can stretch your food dollar, and I love that the guys were so creative with what they had to work with. I think that teaching people that they can grow their own food in something as small as a flower pot for less than $5, goes alot further than showing them how they can turn $25 into several gourmet processed food feasts.
Certainly there is nothing local, sustainable or healthy about what we've done here, and I can assure you that neither the chefs nor myself think that fine dining can come from a dollar store or that the foods carried at such a store are a good, healthy option for people on a budget. Additionally, it wasn't my goal to show how to stretch a dollar, it doesn't take a genius to see how that would have been better accomplished at a regular supermarket with a smaller amount of money using fresh food.
In the case of the NYT article that inspired this story, the chosen chef, Eric Ripert, was certainly not trying to encourage people to do their shopping at the dollar store. This is a folly folks, mere fun. Our regular readers know how hard we work to promote local markets and locally produced goods, and having a little fun doesn't diminish that effort.
Most of all, I admire two chef/owners from a popular and successful restaurant taking a risk publicly, a risk that not every chef I know would take. They also devoted a good amount of their limited time to my silly idea, letting me follow them around the store, snapping pictures while confused shoppers looked on and later preparing this meal between their hectic lunch and dinner service.
Please don't let a little fun set you off. We weren't suggesting that Americans should consume more processed food imported from China than they already do, just that two talented chefs with a sense of humor could turn some of the most unnerving and unattractive food around into something worth paying attention to, even for just a minute.
It appears that Christa can't catch a break lately, sticking her chest out for this article, it would seem she has gotten her self caught in a wringer.
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