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Well, I do wear glasses, so the myopic remark is pretty on-target.

If you consider her restaurant as a prototype expression of her ideas, then I suppose it's fine.

But, at some point, there has to be movement beyond the prototype stage, into the real world of practical workability. I just wonder whether she's ever tackled the issue of cost with her restaurant. If she's never seriously considered it -- of if it never even occurred to her -- then (gasp!) the elitist word might be appropriate.

If her restaurant is an expression of her ideals, then those ideals (as expressed through the restaurant) will be seen by few people, for the simple fact that few people can afford to eat there.

To me that seems odd (but maybe that's just me)...

I mean, there are many restaurants that charge more than the majority of people can afford to pay for a meal (even on a special occasion); you might think it would be different for a restaurant espousing her ideals, but clearly it's not.

I don't know if anyone else finds that to be surprising, but I do.

I've always been dismayed by the high cost of meals at Chez Panisse. I know I could never afford to eat there as an undergraduate and recent graduate, living in Berkeley (and it wouldn't be so easy for me to afford today, either!).

I checked the cost online just now: prix fixe meals in the $60 - $95 range; cafe meals are somewhat cheaper: entrees in the $18 - $24 range.

Those high costs really dilute her message. Few people can afford the price of admission. I admire her ideals, but if those prices aren't elitist, I'm not sure what is.

A sesame bagel with horseradish cream cheese and a slice of sable, a michelada and a copy of "Bookforum."

Rendezvous in Memphis!!

Nick --

Thanks for that write-up of Cassell's.

I grew up in LA and went to Cassell's for the first time way back in, I think, 1972. My family lived out in the Valley, so we didn't go there very often, but when we did it was a real treat to eat their phenomenal (at the time) hamburgers, while parked outside sitting in our car. Back then Cassell's was located a couple doors down from its present location, btw.

I was so loyal to Cassell's that I walked around my jr. high school wearing one of their T-shirts with an illustration of their big, juicy hamburger emblazoned on the front of it.

I stopped in about 3-4 years ago on a visit to LA (I've been on the East Cost fro about 20 years) -- I'm glad that it's still around and it's really a pretty darn good hamburger. But, does it live up to my memory of it, as a kid? Nah, how could it!?

I'm voting for pliant!

Grilled bone in ribeye!!!

Grilled ribeye!!! : - )

Way back when I was a college student in Berkeley, it was Flint's.

The best place I've been to in the past several years, though, is Cooper's in Llano, Texas!!

I like nice chewy thick-cut slices.

I like dark, which makes me wonder as I write this: is there such a thing as a dark chocolate hot chocolate? I think that would be great.