Three Star Restaurants in NYC

Kevin Drum and Tyler Cowen discuss why there is such a dearth of top quality restaurants in NYC compared to Paris. Neither comes close to understanding it. In France, great food is a fundamental part of their lives - not something to brag about when you make a lot of money. I was watching Jacques Pepin on TV a few weeks back making a chicken dish made in the manner of frogs legs (a la' whatever frogs legs are in French)....Read more As he prepared it, he commented on the pleasant memories it brought back of when his mother would make frogs legs. Can you imagine? Note that in France, if you prepare it a certain way, it's chicken that tastes like frogs' legs! Pierre Franey would wax nostalgic about a chicken liver dish his mother prepared on special occassions. Contrast this with what goes on in this country, food-wise. I know several people who can afford to eat out regularly at the most expensive restaurants (or have access to expense accounts that allow them to). They are, without exception, barbarians who have learned to mimic the act of fine dining. But they leave tell-tale signs of their monstrousness, such as a grotesque food-wine pairing or bit of uneaten roe. There simply is not enough native talent here to make a true 3-star restaurant work, and there is definitely not enough demand to justify its existence.