San Francisco Blog

Damn, ex-homie: Harsh!

​In this morning's New York Times, Oliver Strand used a brief profile of Nate Appleman as an occasion to clown on the chef's former city. After rattling off an assortment of brilliant highlights from the 30-year-old Appleman's "career-defining" year -- a spread of canapés to whet the palate -- Strand dished up the second course, a fat helping of feigned befuddlement as to why such an acclaimed big-fish chef might ditch his provincial pond for a swim in the wide-open sea: "Instead of taking a victory lap around the Embarcadero, Mr. Appleman turned up in New York, impressive résumé in hand. It's still not quite clear why he left San Francisco."

It's funnier if you imagine Mr. Strand cackling as he poked away at his laptop. However, the real kicker, the entree, came, not from Strand, but from Appleman himself. It's so good, Strand let the quote conclude the piece:

In San Francisco the audience is easy. You put tripe in a bowl and tell them it's from a humanely raised cow and they're going to eat it. New York is totally different. In fact, I'm not sure what you have to do in New York.

San Francisco, you've been served. One of your best chefs would rather start as "a line-cook and work [his] way up" in New York (not that he has to) than hang out here on the beach.

Appleman almost surely has a point, but who could fail to detect a faint whiff of bitterness? What's the full story here?