i'm ryan sutton, the new york food critic for bloomberg news.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Here’s a photo collage of restaurants whose websites you can’t view on the iPhone or iPad, a follow up to our earlier post on menu transparency in the mobile world. We’re running with this visual element because chefs are visual people. They like to have infinite control over every aspect of every ingredient on every plate. Those chefs would likely be disappointed if they knew this is what diners saw when they logged onto their websites. The diners would likely be disappointed too. We think these chefs can do better with mobile. Editors note: in a few cases, we added a sad faces for dramatic effect. (Source: The Price Hike/The Bad Deal).
If 86-Year Old Paul Bocuse Has iPhone-Compatible Website, So Should Masa
The iPhone was born in 2007. Paul Bocuse was born in 1926. And because Bocuse is an adaptable guy, not to mention a reasonably famous chef with a global culinary competition named after him (The Bocuse D’Or), one can view the website for his three-Michelin starred Lyons restaurant on the iPhone or iPad without too much hassle. It’s all quite convenient.
Thomas Keller, the great American chef who literally wrote the go-to book on modern sous-vide techniques, and who’s the president of The Bocuse D’Or USA foundation (see above), does not have iPhone compatible websites at his two high-end restaurants, Per Se and The French Laundry, a five years after the debut of the iPhone. It’s all quite inconvenient.
Yes, yes, Chef Keller does have a pretty cool iPad wine app, which we’ll discuss in a little bit. And Keller, of course, isn’t alone in all this.
Here’s a list of some of the world’s great chefs and restaurants, some of the world’s most famous restaurants, one very good neighborhood restaurant, and STK, none of which appear to have iOS-friendly sites. Try out the links below on your iPhone or iPad and see what happens. It ain’t pretty.
- Masa & Bar Masa
- Per Se
- The French Laundry
- The Fat Duck (click on “menu” and Flash icon pops up)
- Jean Georges
- Del Posto
- Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester
- Pierre Gagnaire
- Le Cirque
- The Brooklyn Star (I like this place)
- STK (whatever)
