So I can't help but wonder what she would think of today's characters mincing and whisking as if their lives -- or at least their reputations and marketability profiles -- depended on it. My hunch is that she would laugh along with some of the antics in this season's Top Chef (shout out to Tyler Wiard and Eliza Gavin, the last two Colorado chefs standing), but she'd probably be horrified at the overall evolution of food TV. See also: - Tyler Wiard meets Tom Colicchio, his "celebrity chef who needs to shut up," on Top Chef tonight - Five reasons why Guy Fieri should drive to Douchebagistan and never come back - So Perfect Eats makes a splash in Cherry Creek
For all the thousands of hours of techniques and recipes shared over the airwaves, I wager that the last decade of celebrity chefdom has done more to mystify cooking than ever before.
Having seen so much culinary perfection on TV and in restaurants, how can a home-cooked meal ever live up? (It can, but until you get in the kitchen and, yes, drop a few pans on the floor, how will you ever know that?) Anxiety now creeps in when it's time for dinner, and instead of peeling carrots and browning chicken, more and more folks -- not just college kids, but people with advanced degrees who are smart enough to figure out this whole cooking thing -- are either eating out or turning to prepared foods from upscale markets.
So I appreciate that Lynda Campbell, chef-owner of So Perfect Eats, followed the road less traveled. Leaving a career in fashion to start her café in Cherry Creek North with only an artisanal baking class under her belt, she launched the restaurant as an eminently capable home cook. Which might be why the food tastes like what we'd make at home -- if only more of us were home to make it.
Find out just how good her soups, sandwiches, salads and baked goods are when my review is posted here tomorrow.
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