Just the name seems a paradox.
I couldn’t resist snapping this picture of an actual menu of a very upscale restaurant. You know, one of those places someone like me can only afford maybe once every other decade. Golden Corral is a nice restaurant and anything higher is a rare luxury.
So when I found this dish listed with a hefty price tag befitting the setting, I had to laugh.
Mac and cheese is a kids’ dish. It’s what I let my kids fix when I don’t feel like cooking and end up dumping garlic powder and salsa on it just to bear eating it.
But this lobster entrée was no kids’ meal.
Nor was it alone in it seemingly commonality. It stands surrounded by fries, green beans, mashed potato and baked potato. Take away the variations and you find the regular old standbys.
Someone obviously had a lot of faith in their culinary art skills to take these, sell them to me at twice the price and me walk away satisfied enough to be a repeat customer.
Yet, as I thought about it, what did I expect them to serve? A bunch of unrecognizable names or exotic food types that I didn’t have a clue if I’d like or not?
I guess not. People like to know what they’re eating and find some comfort in some familiar dishes. Then they trust chefs like …er … Remmie to add some special flair to it and make it scrumptious.
Now, I admit I didn’t actually try out the Mac and Cheese, but mostly because I’m not a big lobster person. However we did try their clam chowder and I must say that the bowl must have had a hole in it. That soup vanished about as quick as the Ratatouille served to Ego at the end of the show. I still couldn’t afford such luxuries oft, but I was impressed.
I’ve heard the sentiment that you can’t do anything truly new these days because everything’s been tried already. Fantasy seems infamous for “cheap ripoffs” of past successes. Even I have to admit that many of my stories were sparked by books I read. It’s easy to worry about if maybe they’ve been done to death already. I’m pretty good at redlining clichés.
I’ve fretted about this or that element at times and wondered if I should try to junk it and spring for something more original. Sometimes I brood about it until a great idea or twist grabs me. However, some elements cling on. They feel natural and just fit.
Maybe it’s just like those mashed potatoes and fries. It’s not so much about hunting down every cliche and stressing out about reinventing every wheel in my world building. Looks like I ought to focusing on making sure that each and every dish has my own flair on it and tastes good enough to Wow.
And an enigmatic name or title helps too…
