no shit!
but so much kinder and gentler - more like a Bacoman v.2.0
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Wow, I know you guys don’t like the restaurant, but you are talking about it as if it isn’t one of the most popular restaurants in LA. Surely it is conceivable that more than a single person could like the place, or like the food genuinely without being a shill (presuming the old poster was a shill for the restaurant that was unearthed)?
Perhaps the review is a bit cheeky (because the hatred for the place is very obvious with past threads like “Centeno spots overrated??” etc… all over the forums), but I just went to a place and had a good time.
Is it literally unbelievable that someone might visit the place and enjoy themselves without being a shill of some sort?
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So is McDonalds. Or Cheesecake Factory.
I don’t know that popularity, in and of itself, is a solid barometer for “meaningful”, “worthwhile”, or, even, “good”.
But, I’m just teasing you. I don’t think - correct me if I’m wrong - you’re a CH’er who moved over, so that reference is more for the OGs.
I agree popularity doesn’t mean it’s good. I was more saying it doesn’t seem that crazy for someone to say they like a place that is popular because a lot of people enjoy it. Like maybe you don’t think McDonalds is amazing but if someone says they enjoyed a Big Mac it isn’t impossible to believe that they genuinely enjoyed it and they aren’t a shill being paid by McDonalds to say so.
Maybe I’m wrong though.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to accuse me of being a shill for Hatchet Hall though? Haha
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Oh, it’s never even crossed my mind that you’re a shill.
And, my general philosophy is, “eat what you like”. I do.
On the flip side, there are definitely some CH - and FTC - sacred cows that I just find boring/bland/blah (I’m looking at you, Melisse). But, I’m ok with that. I know I’m in the minority.
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The week I was staying a few blocks away, I liked the food at Baco Mercat enough the first time that I went back twice.
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I am surprised we like the same place!
We are the only two!
Do you think Manresa or Atelier Crenn are worth going to in SF?
Dunno. Not my kind of thing. Kinch is a great chef but I avoid tasting-menu-only places. Crenn’s food seems absurd to me and even people I know who liked their meals there thought some of the dishes didn’t work, which I think is unacceptable at that price.
@Aesthete, I don’t think they’re accusing you of being a shill. They’re saying you remind them of someone with a strikingly similar posting style who also likes Baco Mercat a lot.
I like it, too. I know it’s a polarizing place, but the simple, bold flavors really do it for me.
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The flavors aren’t all simple. That dish with the muhammara-ish element had a lot going on.
Oh, interesting. Well, fair enough. You’ve never even made an exception for Saison?
I agree, I go to Baco for a kind of mishmash of flavors that I just never really see elsewhere. Shockingly with all of the elements involved the flavors are typically still clean to me, if that makes sense. I think maybe “clean” works better than “simple” in this context, but could be easily mistaken.
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Love muhammara. Which one was that?
There we go. “Clean” is a much better word choice.
After my meal at Manresa in 2008, I swore I’d never do that kind of 25-canape again, but I broke my vow and ate at Saison in 2012. I’d go back to Saison any time, if someone else were paying.
I’m not sure what it was called. We got it in March, it had eggplant, something like lebne, and something that was like muhammara but I think when I asked the server said there was no pomegranate molasses.
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That is fascinating. What made Saison different for you?
I went to Saison but haven’t posted about it. Best meal of my life for sure. I’m just curious. I actually like tasting menus personally.
I didn’t feel overfed at Saison. It was like omakase at a great sushi bar.
Except for one item that was presented on a piece of plastic wrap stretched over the top of a glass, I’m not sure there was anything that used ingredients or techniques that were not available in the 19th century. I much prefer that to mad-scientist modernist deconstruction, trompe-l’œil, and so on.
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Wow Aesthete. I haven’t been nor have I paid much attention to Baco Mercat. But that was some good writing.
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[quote=“robert, post:15, topic:3915”]
Dunno. Not my kind of thing. Kinch is a great chef but I avoid tasting-menu-only places. Crenn’s food seems absurd to me and even people I know who liked their meals there thought some of the dishes didn’t work, which I think is unacceptable at that price.
[/quote]Well… now that was a nice morsel of someone’s truth.