Who does your fries, my love?
C. Joe Decker 3. Sole Mio
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When nouvelle cuisine was in its heyday, a Chicago critic wrote, “The greening of America must refer to the mandatory sliver of kiwi fruit on top [of almost any dish].” Now that nouvelle cuisine has gone the way of the dodo bird and kiwi fruit has become a culinary commonplace, more raffine embellishments, without which no chef would dare to harbor immortal longings, put the finishing touches to entrees all over the city. Nasturtiums, squash blossoms, and similar flowery edibles head the list, giving new meaning to the phrase bouquet garni. Sun-dried tomatoes, whose popularity may stem from the fact that the fresh variety these days has as much flavor as a Christmas-tree ornament, garland everything from sea bass to pasta. Most rarefied have been quail eggs, but expect to see a lot more of them in the next four years . . .
Quail, a diminutive bird of little substance, has been appearing on menus all over town since the Republican National Convention. Some argue that the quail on the dish is preferable to the one around the bush, while others contend that the whole thing is a diabolical plot hatched by card-carrying members of the Quail-Growers Association, a powerful lobby funded by the NRA.
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