Navigating Life, Navigating a Menu

I won’t pretend to say I know my guests well at Etzlenu. But I will say this: You can tell an awful lot by what they order. They might not know what soul food means. But you can tell they are looking for certain tastes that are both familiar and new, tastes that nourish the soul but also feed their curious minds. For the most part, they aren’t looking for massive quantities of food to store in the refrigerator or freezer. Instead, they are looking to savor each bite. And so they order gourmet comfort food items like crabcakes and Hoppin’ John, roasted chicken wings and Limpin’ Susan, Cajun Shrimp along with sauteed okra and tomatoes. Something both different and familiar. Something that makes life just a bit tastier . . . and richer.

Chefs know that there is a diminishing effect when it comes to food. Take the first bite of, say, an intensely flavored Watercress Soup and the taste is mind-blowing. The second sip, also great, but not as delightful as the first. And so on. By the time you’ve had four or five bites, the surprise and amazement tends to fade. Says a lot about life in general, no: How quickly the new and unfamiliar becomes ho-hum. And so that delicate dance of having our choices — be it with food or in a larger context — be ones that make the familiar new and the unfamiliar part of our ken.