I was going through some of my documents on my computer, and came across a letter I wrote to a pastry chef in New York City. I've been thinking of posting it here on my blog, because it resulted in a very memorable experience, one for which I was immensely grateful to the chef. I told some people about this letter before I travelled to NYC a year ago May, and they thought it was quite silly, actually. However, the results have become a bit of a legend in my orchestra. Here it is:
"Dear Ms. K______:
It is with much excitement that I am looking forward to dining at Eleven Madison Park on the evening of May 20 with my friends and colleagues. I was in charge of finding a restaurant to choose for our upcoming trip to New York, and looked at Eleven Madison Park based on Ruth Reichl’s recommendation in Gourmet from last year. If it’s one of her favorite 25 restaurants, it has to be good!
There were several restaurants in contention, but upon reading your bio, the decision was made. When I read that you are a professional flutist, who found your interests turning towards pastry, I knew this is where I wanted to dine. My colleagues and I are members of the _________Symphony and we are traveling to New York to perform at Carnegie Hall in honor of our orchestra’s 75th anniversary season. We all wanted to find a restaurant suitable for celebrating the occasion. Dining at a restaurant with a professional musician in charge of the pastries—well, it seemed there was no other place to go!
I’m personally very intrigued, since I have a strong desire to pursue a pastry degree at a local culinary school. I find that I’m nearly as passionate about baking and pastries as I am about music, and I know I could be happy in either career. It connects with the creative process that I enjoy so much with music, and in similar ways as music, you are bringing a moment of pure joy to those dining in your restaurant. Your bio was inspiring to me.
I thought I would drop you a note, and let you know that you will have some appreciative diners that evening. I would imagine that sometimes, working in the kitchen, it could be hard to feel a direct connection with your diners, as we do onstage at a performance. We musicians are always so pleased to know that our audience appreciates us, and I hope in some ways, you might enjoy the fact that you have an “audience” of very appreciative diners there that evening. I’ve told my colleagues already that you are a musician, and they agreed with me that for us, in light of this auspicious musical weekend for us, dining at Eleven Madison will certainly be a highlight of our weekend. If you happen to be at the restaurant that evening, I, and our entire table, would certainly enjoy meeting you. Be assured, we’re all looking forward to dessert!
Sincerely,
Dan ________"
I'll tell you all what happened next time...it made for a very memorable evening!
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4 comments:
Very cool. Looking forward to hear what happened.
Dan, have you ever seen/read the magazine Cook's Illustrated? I think you'd really enjoy it.
I have seen Cooks Illustrated. I like it, and then I don't like it. I like it because they do a very thorough job investigating everything, from methods and techniques to products. But, that's the same reason I don't like it. They arrive at the "definitive" recipe for nearly every food item. They bestow on each recipe the title of "best in class," and that, I don't like. They essentially take the wind out of the sails of what I like so much in cooking: the continual personal pursuit of a favorite recipe. Silly, I know, but there it is. I'll give an update here in a few days.
We don't get the magazine anymore, though I'd like to. One of the things I liked about it was the peek into why they try the methods they do. I found that it was helpful in applying in other areas of my cooking and not just with that particular recipe.
Of course, most of my experimental cooking now consists of Do I boil or fry the hot dogs? and At what point should I add the powdered cheese to the pot of cooked pasta?
I can understand, though, why it would kill the free spirit of exploration for you.
Scott, I read "powdered sugar" for your "powdered cheese" and thought, Sweet Jerusalem we MUST get that man out of the South!
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