The bizarrely enticing combination of SoMa night spot and culinary laboratory known as Orson opened late last week after a ton of googly-eyed local foodie speculation about the unlikely flavor pairings, the twist of molecular gastronomy and the nonhierarchical menu power structure: yes, you can eat appetizers (known as "teasers" and "shorts") all night if you like. No, you don't have to order an entree at all. Hell, have a dessert first, and if you like your desserts to taste a little less like dessert and a little more like breakfast try the "pigwich" -- a pizzelle ice cream sandwich with maple bacon ice cream.
First impression are slowly dribbling onto the internet today and Becks & Posh offers particularly keen early observations ("only a whisker short of perfect") and 12 dos and don't for enjoying Orson. Here are some favorites:
That's a definite yes for me. Can't wait to check it out.
The Sci-Fi freaks over at io9 have been regularly delighting with their forays into the apparently rich cultural intersection between food and science-fiction. The latest tidbit concerns the possibility of pneumatic tube meals, as predicted in a 1918 letter to the New York Times penned by former science writer Waldemar Kaempffert:
"If letters are conveyed almost to your very door by the pneumatic tube, why should not the same means supply you with breakfast, lunch and dinner? Imagine a kitchen of unprecedented immensity ... a place where an army of cooks is busily engaged in roasting meats, in preparing vegetables, in concocting entrancing sauces, in mixing salads, in stirring dreamy desserts. Imagine pneumatic tubes leading from the delivery floor of that mighty building to thousands of homes and apartments."
Where do I sign up? (via io9)
