Crafty 'Wichcraft
My friend, who lives in San Francisco, forwarded me this link about the new 'Wichcraft which just opened there. For those of you who don't know, 'Wichcraft is a popular sandwich kiosk in Bryant Park, NYC, serving bourgie sandwiches to hungry lunchtime crowds. Chef Tom Colicchio (of Bravo's Top Chef fame), has just opened a SF outpost of this successful food stand.SF Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer wrote about this restaurant,
"I've never heard as much praise for a restaurant as I did before 'Wichcraft opened in the Westfield San Francisco Centre; and I've never heard so many disparaging comments after people tried it."Hhhmm, a little East versus West Coast rivalry? Your thoughts?
3 Comments:
We in San Francisco occasionally suffer from low self esteem in that we aren't LA or NYC. Our restaurants are pretty great, but as mainstream media plays up NYC restaurants as the culinary creme de la creme, we sort of stand aside and feel a bit provincial, acting like the awkward kid in the schoolyard, wishing we could be as cool as the popular kids. That said, eating at SF's Wichcraft made me realize something. If what is served at Wichcraft is representative of "good NYC cuisine" then I must say that much like what I realized after high school, the popular kids are vacant and empty, all flash and no substance, and we geeky kids are the ones who turn out to be the awesome, creative, savvy adults. There is no need for any other NYC restaurant to open a West Coast branch if all we get is Wichcraft quality food. SF has enough delicious sandwich places (from Luccas Italian Deli's subs to Tartine's croque monsieurs) which make Wichcraft seem like the hollow bitchy blond girl who dresses nice and has good straight hair but is as dull and flavorless as can be.
But I still think Tom Collichio is kind of sexy.
Dull and flavorless? I'm thinking maybe that the SF operation is still going through some practice rounds. Because, at least on this coast, from the tuna-fennel baguette to the poached-egg-with-salsa-verde-and-boquerones to the corned-beef-with-sauerkraut, I'm just not sure how any of these fall under the category of dull, flavorless, blond OR bitchy.
Witchcraft... unless I'm mistaken they're supposed to have renown cupcakes as well. I haven't been in SF lately to try, but a West/East coast "rivalry" wouldn't surprise me. After the Michelin fiasco, there are some Bay Area hackles raised.
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