One of my good friends is from Texas where Landry's Seafood was located just down the road from his childhood home. The owner, I learned also owns the Golden Nugget Casinos and has a "colorful", shall we say, cast of characters in his family history, one of which simply went by "the barber." With images in my head which I would imagine could only lend themselves to such a nickname, I began to cringe as I saw the name Dan Barber show up on Williams Sonoma's Instagram feed. This "barber", I learned to my satisfaction, is an entirely new breed of restauranteur.
As the executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill in New York, Dan Barber has pioneered an effort to combine agricultural ethos in the fine dining setting. Much like this blog, Barber seems to engage eating as an educational endeavor, particularly urging eaters (everyone) to view and assess the agricultural practices which allow for good eating both for the body and the environment. Sourcing ingredients from various farms in New York and New England, the "Know thy Farmer" Link on Blue Hill's website features various videos introducing individual farms to potential diners. Furthermore, following his emphasis on sustainability, Barber recently hosted a "food-waste pop up dinner" (recently featured on the Williams Sonoma website; you may access the Instagram photos here). Turning Mackerel into fish mouse and frying up spring onion end, this man surely makes me want to eat my own ethos. ;)
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