Kauffman in Eat: The Evolution of California Cuisine
SF Weekly food critic Jonathan Kauffman files a review disguised as a delicious think piece about Pac Heights fringe restaurant Baker & Banker. Kauffman finds Jeff Banker and Lori Baker's two-month-old restaurant emblematic of how far the notion of California cuisine has evolved. "These days, there's more complexity to the dishes I'm seeing on San Francisco plates," writes JK, "but it's subtler than a decade ago." And this: "The rowdy creativity of the molecular gastronomists and Top Chefs working outside San Francisco have exerted their influence on local chefs, and under cooks like Banker, the pendulum seems to be swinging back." In other words, the overt ingredient pimping of figs on a plate is giving way to a more nuanced expression of the market-forward cooking that brands Northern Cali chefs like a forearm tattoo. Whether or not the drab portmanteau of "New American" adequately expresses this evolving genre remains to be seen. 
Jesse Friedman/Beer & Nosh Jeff Banker
Haven't read Kauffman's review yet? Dig in here.
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