Wednesday, Jan. 05, 2011

Molecules from the Garden

In American gastronomy, the two most important movements have taken almost opposite directions. One has been back to the garden, to a pastoral Eden where every leaf of arugula is gathered by the hands of farmers who sell only to nearby restaurants; and the other toward a high-tech future, where a gastronomical singularity awaits us in the form or stabilized gels, spheroids, centrifugally separated juices and beef simmered endlessly in vacuum-sealed bags. This spring, when I go to Husk, Sean Brock's new restaurant in Charleston, S.C., I hope to find not only the ultimate locavore restaurant but also a chef who isn't afraid to put liquid nitrogen on his grits.