Comments on: Here’s Lookin’ At You Cook, Michael J. Cirino

By: Vacuum Chambers - vacuumcleanerstore.info

Vacuum Chambers - vacuumcleanerstore.info — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:50:45 +0000

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By: Rachael

Rachael — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:42:39 +0000

I totally mad crush on everything ARASK does. Seriously heart.

By: Heather W

Heather W — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:47:48 +0000

Thanks for the shout out, Cirino!! Love love!

By: Nora

Nora — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:48:01 +0000

Michael is a goldmine. I can imagine the day when Susan Orlean is trailing him for a New Yorker profile.

By: Tim Reynolds

Tim Reynolds — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:38:38 +0000

Nice post. Thank you for the info. Keep it up.

By: anado

anado — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:47:53 +0000

m.thew, as one of the persons in the picture above (pink sweater, thats me ), i can tell you that it is nothing like indentured servitude. part of the whole concept of supper clubs is that it is a hands on educational experience. my knife skills improved drastically from that afternoon under the watchful eyes of michael and daniel (and cathy!), and michael sharpened my knifes. plus i got to eat a great meal, for less than the cost of a knife skills class. though, i do kind of agree with melissa that i feel a little priced out, but hopefully cathy is right about that.

By: cathy

cathy — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:55:28 +0000

m. thew: I always appreciate your thoughts (and wonderful prose) and these are good ones to chew on indeed! Not to worry, I’m not abandoning my cheapskate post! What can I say, it’s been a wacky year, and this is one of the wackiest yet most fun profiles I’ve enjoyed writing up. More wolves to come, I promise!!
Melissa: I remember that cauliflower dish well, too! I think there is a wide range of dinners and according prices and I’m sure there will be less expensive ones to come…
Sarah: Thanks!!

By: m.thew

m.thew — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:28:18 +0000

O, Cathy, come back to the five & dime, we miss you! I just laughed aloud when your boy wonder there waxed on the benefits of a vacuum chamber. No kitchen should be without one!

Whatever happened to simple food, simply produced and simply cooked for yourself and friends? The plates above are decadent absurdities. As I understand it, patrons pay him for the pleasure and then work for him, in a nice update of indentured servitude. The notion that he provides a space for “ideas” is pretty laughable, too. Ideas like which jus to vacuum-pack?

The rococo era of food, symptomatic of the jaded appetites of a ruling class and its hangers-on, is so over.

You quote Thoreau in the About Me section of your blog, so I bet you know this one, too: “Simplify, simplify, simplify.”

Here’s hoping you’ll get back to cooking wolves.

By: melissa

melissa — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:15:26 +0000

I love Michael and I love his dinners, but sadly as his prices have gone up and up, I’ve felt priced out. One of my favorite dishes was a browned cauliflower “steak” – basically a cross-section of a whole head, lightly browned and then plated over a puree of spring snap peas with strips of red pepper. The colors were so pretty. He is definitely a very interesting person – I wish I had half his energy!!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:01:54 +0000

What a fabulous concept.

I love all of the things you introduce us to on your blog.