Friday, June 24, 2011
Food Chain / Food & Drink Grant Achatz justifies the Office
Posted by Mike Sula on 06.24.11 at 12:35 PM
- via @Gachatz
- The Office
I generally don't make a practice of doing restaurants' public relations work for them. When a new place sends out its menu, I like to leave it to others more skilled in the art of cut and paste. But last night Grant Achatz e-mailed the menu for the Office, the superexclusive invitation-only bar in the basement of the Aviary, and while food bloggers across the land were busy fantasizing about the $25 sundae for two and the $65 foie gras terrine, I sat pondering the cocktail list. The drinks certainly look interesting, incorporating unusual ingredients such as tonka beans, lovage, and corn husks, but the prices are higher than any other cocktail lounge in town.
While most of us will never access the Office, Achatz himself is nothing if not accessible. He was kind enough to quickly reply to a few follow-up questions explaining the steep prices. What he said after the jump.
I think $20 across-the-board sets a new (ahem) bar. I realize it is an exclusive space, but are you ready to tell us anything more about the cocktails that might explain that price point?
Achatz: "While I understand it is the natural assumption to look directly at the $20, especially with the association to Alinea and the Aviary being on the high end of their respective categories in Chicago, I will say a few things.
Aside from the room's exclusivity, which you mention (and I also agree) the ambience and size adds value, I also think that the $20 mark is not out of line compared to some other establishments in town, specifically given the quality of ingredients we are using to craft the cocktails.
-The Elysian $15-16 cocktails
-Rebar Trump Tower $17 cocktails
-Peninsula Bar $15-16 cocktails
-Drawing Room $15
-Even the Palm Court at the Drake has cocktails for $16.50
I do feel that the service we will provide in the Office will be at the level of Alinea, which also adds a certain amount of value, even before the gratuity.
Going back to the drinks themselves—from a product standpoint, our "well" would constitute many places' higher-end products; from small-producer cognac houses to defunct bottlings from the late 80s to allocations. The back bar consists of highly allocated bottlings and one-offs. Not to mention rare Chartreuses (vintages going back to the 40s), very very Old Fitzgerald, Knappogue Castle, etc. We have about 30 different syrups, 165 different tinctures, eight different fresh juices, five different fresh herbs to complement our drinks, as well as house-made custom ice that is hand chipped and/or molded in Japanese press molds. The drinks are served in actual period-piece antiques that we sourced from outlets around the midwest.
The cocktails themselves are flavor combinations you can't buy in a bottle. In other words, the Office is the only place you can experience these drinks. They are created with idea of perfuming, flavoring, and balancing the drinks in a way that precedes the pre-Prohibition-style drinks that have become very popular today.
All that being said, in my mind, it is the the cost of using the quality of the ingredients that we are that requires us to charge more then $12 a cocktail.
The food menu is intentionally vague. To give you an idea of what we are offering, I will go through the items.
-The caviar is sustainable osetra from Uruguay served with house-fried Yukon Gold potato chips and Kendall Farms creme fraiche.
-The shrimp cocktail is served with house-made cocktail sauce, celery hearts, and Belgian endive.
-Foie gras terrine is grade-A Hudson Valley foie gras, garnished with toasted brioche, black truffles, frisee salad, and black mission figs.
-The Iberico is hand sliced from the bone-in leg and served with pan con tomate and toasted and salted marcona almonds.
-Morels Semeta is a classic speakeasy dish of morels cooked with shallots, thyme, and sour cream served with grilled bread.
-The beef tartare is a 50-50 mix of Wagyu strip loin and dry-aged USDA prime beef with rye toasts and traditional garnishes.
-Ice cream sundae is house-made vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce with quintessential garnishes of candies, whipped cream, and cherries.
All of the food items were selected from research on classic speakeasies in New Orleans and Chicago."
Is there any reason drinkers in the Aviary can't order drinks from the Office's menu?
Achatz: "Yes. The experiences are totally different by intent, not to mention the ability to produce the drinks in the Office are formulated on the fact that we only have 14 seats, compared to 70 upstairs. There is one bartender manning the drinks in the Office, meaning he is fully consumed with his 14 guests (there is a bar, so he not only has to produce drinks but chat and be social as well). If we opened it up to another 70 he would get crushed. Plus we would have to transport the drinks upstairs, which takes time (reducing control of dilution rates and overall quality of the cocktail) and manpower to move the cocktails, plus..... the aesthetics of the glassware in the office is inherently antique where upstairs the identity is clearly progressive. It seems like it would clash on many levels....."
So there you have it, and here's the menu.
Comments (19)
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I am a huge Grant Achatz fan. However this rings the "starving children in China" bell in my head. I have a hard time watching AC360's film clips of people in Syria and Haiti drinking contaminated water, while fat cat American's sip on $20+ cocktails. I know that many chefs, including Chef Achatz are big hearted and support many charitable organizations. But still, "invitation only"? This just ends up putting a spotlight on the rich getting richer and the poor working slobs who can only press their noses against the glass to glimpse a life they will never know.
An invitation to buy a cocktail for $20 when I can get a bottle of top-shelf booze for the same price at Binny's is one that I could easily turn down! Not to mention that those horrid amalgams that they call cocktails look mostly undrinkable.
Beats the crap out of $200 bottle service at every lousy club in Chicago and NY and LA. Not sure why everyone thinks $20 is off the charts. Plenty of places charge that for a cover with NO drinks.
I've got a suggestion borrowed from William S. Burroughs for Mr. Achatz's next restaurant.
SAMPLE MENU:
The Clear Camel Piss Soup with boiled Earth Worms
The Filet of Sun-Ripened Sting Ray
basted with Eau de Cologne and garnished with nettles
The After-Birth Suprême de Boeuf,
cooked in drained crank case oil,
served with a piquant sauce of rotten egg yokes
and crushed bed bugs
The Limburger Cheese sugar cured in diabetic urine
and doused in Canned Heat Flamboyant
kochimom, I think you're being hypersensitive with the "starving children in China" comment. You have no areas of your life that would look excessive to others? For some reason, some people have issues with spending money on nice food. But they have no problem with spending money on other things they could probably do without, like cars, TVs, golf, the gym, spacious apartments, etc. Driving looks ridiculously excessive to me. Using a car to get down the street when I could use my own two feet or a bike to me is like using a chainsaw to cut a piece of paper. I don't have a car and never want one. Rich getting richer? It costs thousands of dollars a year to own a car, while "working slobs" are stuck on the bus in traffic behind your car. I live in a 750 sq. ft. condo with my partner. But we live far below our means, which leaves much more money for us to donate to charities and to enjoy some other nice things in life. I would have no problem spending $20 for a really great cocktail, using a bit of the money I save by not driving. I enjoy a nice drink. To each their own.
"I would have no problem spending $20 for a really great cocktail, using a bit of the money I save by not driving."
That's one of the reasons why you live in a cracker box and I live downtown with a nice car parked outside.
FGFM,
People who live downtown don't have their cars parked outside.
"People who live downtown don't have their cars parked outside."
I'll bet you $10,000 that I have my car parked outside my window right now.
Reminds me of a bunch of exclusive NYC restaurants I never went to in the 80s and haven't missed. Can't remember their names. Sounds good though for the "Great Dates on Someone Else's Dime" list.
Actually I think what I like least is the smarmy defense. I think he's a jerk for making an invitation-only, stupid-expensive bar, but if you're going to do that, the only thing you have to say is, "Yes. It's fucking expensive."
I was wrong wrong. What I like least is this:
"-Ice cream sundae is house-made vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce with quintessential garnishes of candies, whipped cream, and cherries."
Quintessential, mind you. Well, I'll just hop on down to the Dairy Queen and order me something with a quintessential cherry on top. I'll toss 'em a 20 and tell 'em to keep the change.
Fucking A quintessential. No sundae in the world can be good enough to justify buying from a guy who abuses the language like that. You know what, Grant, don't talk, just cook. Charge whatever the hell you like, just -- don't do that with words. "Manpower to move the cocktails", I have to stop reading, it's like an ocular hemorrhage.
Achatz is just shwredly exploiting the fact that the super rich have bounced right back from that whole unfortunate Great Recession business while everyone else is still floundering and worried about the unemployment rate. A lot of people aren't splurging on a mid-upscale night out any more so why bother even pretending you're catering to them? Just go all out for the tiny precentage with all the disposible income.
Guys like Achatz might be pushing the artisinal cocktails because there's a higher markup. You can mark up steaks 100%, sandwiches 250%, but these cocktails are more like 1000%!
Pretty much. I did read an article a while back in one of the dailies that claimed that restaurants were pushing $10-$15 drinks with food in them, etc., because they are so profitable
$20/cocktail and people are complaining? Many will not want to have cocktails in NYC and LA.
Talking about profit and markup, FGFM, educate yourself. High-end restaurants and exclusive bars/lounges are the least profitable. Do you know what's really profitable? A hot-dog stand. Truth.
While there may be some thoughtful and even persuasive objections to the Office, it seems that those presented here are not them. True, there are many good things in the world to which we should devote our resources. But what happens when you pay your bill after an evening at the Office? Does the money disappear? It may, but I suspect it goes to pay the salaries of the hard working people who work there. Assuming this to be the case, what do they do with their money? Unless they bury it or use it to destroy opportunities for others to have livelihoods, I suspect their spending creates other jobs. Seem like an o.k. thing, even if not perfect (perfect being something like sponsoring an orphanage).
As for the invitation process . . . the Office seems like a rather enjoyable place that lots of people would like to enjoy. Many will. How to allocate the 14 spots? (1) They could price everything much higher such that only a handful of people could afford it; they might even increase profit margins that way, hard to say. As it is, the extra $2 per cocktail over similar places probably does not, on margin, price too many likely customers out; (2) They could just make it a first come/first serve place like Aviary. This would not magically make the 14 spots turn into 30 or 70 spots; it would just make for an amazingly long line; or (3) They could do what they are doing. No line. And, assuming that they know their customers, the best way to match supply and demand: which is to say that they will try as best they can to offer the 14 spots to those who seem to really really enjoy their time at Aviary (or Alinea, Next, whatever). Why, in the name of “fairness,” would be best to offer it instead to someone who shows up with a ton of money who will be whining the whole time about how he could get the same thing at Binny’s?
Related Locations
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The Aviary
- 955 W. Fulton St., Chicago Fulton Market IL 60607
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312-226-0868
- nextrestaurant.com
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