Reader: Small Plates Are Overplayed, Like an Old Bee Gee's Record

This week Gretchen Kurtz reviewed the Village Cork, which has evolved a great deal from when it first opened on Old South Pearl fourteen years ago. Last summer Lisa Lapp closed her place in order to do a major renovation, one that expanded the kitchen and added a chef's counter,...

By Patricia Calhoun

March 13, 2015

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This week Gretchen Kurtz reviewed the Village Cork, which has evolved a great deal from when it first opened on Old South Pearl fourteen years ago. Last summer Lisa Lapp closed her place in order to do a major renovation, one that expanded the kitchen and added a chef's counter, but kept the comfortable, casual charm of this neighborhood institution. But while she liked the physical improvements, she had some problems with the food — particularly the prices, which rose close to fine-dining levels for some entrees. Why not emphasize small plates with smaller prices, she wondered. But theFabulousMarkT has an answer to that:

To me, small plates have become rather trite and overplayed, like an old Bee Gees record that has seen one too many lines of you-know-what snorted off of it [not that I would know of course, ahem].

So I have to applaud Village Cork for their restraint on this one, especially if they truly are making an effort to distinguish themselves from the culinary masses.

Have you been back to The Village Cork since its renovation? What did you think of the new menu? And what do you think of small plates in general?

Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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