Pierre Gagnaire brings Paris to Vegas all over again

When I wrote yesterday about the growing importance of molecular gastronomy in the United States, I didn’t realize I had become a prophet. This morning, I opened up nytimes.com’s dining page to find an article previewing Twist– Las Vegas’ next big restaurant due to open on December 4.How is this relevant? The restaurant is the new project of Pierre Gagnaire, the renowned three-starred French chef who is the friend and collaborator of Hervé This – cofounder of molecular gastronomy. The two men have coauthored a book (Cooking: The Quintessential Art) and created a website that presents a new recipe inspired by principles ascertained from the latest molecular gastronomy research each month. Gagnaire supplies the creative, artistic counterweight to This’ scientific discourse, infusing aesthetic vitality into the mechanical framework of molecular gastronomy. The relationship between these two men exemplifies the manner in which molecular gastronomy questions the supposed dichotomy between science and art – chipping away at the barricade that has been socially constructed between the “objective” and the “subjective.”

Twist will be Gagnaire’s first restaurant in the United States, and will supplement his global fleet – including outposts in Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, Dubai, and Seoul. He is still working to articulate his vision for the new restaurant, but told reporter Glenn Collins that “It will not be a brasserie, and not be a gastronomic restaurant. My way of cooking is very poetic and emotional. I would like this to be a place of tenderness — a word not often used in Las Vegas. After all, my only way of expressing myself is through my cooking... I am going to listen to try to understand the psychological profile, and the gourmet profile, of people coming to dinner.”Personally, I am willing to trust his judgment, and am thrilled to see another culinary institution bring attention to molecular gastronomy.

Molecular Gastronomy Newsflash!

My fascination with molecular gastronomy was a major impetus for the creation of this blog, and I am currently engaged in the research phase of a paper that will explore the role this field has had in shaping the public’s relationship to science. This continues to be a remarkably relevant matter, as evidenced by a fascinating article in the science section of yesterday’s New York Times. The article profiles Microsoft’s former chief technolofy officer (and master French chef) Nathan Myhrvold in his latest endeavor. Dr. Myhrvold has created a molecular gastronomy wonderland, a kitchen laboratory equipped with distillation apparatuses, autoclaves, hydraulic presses, and even the ex-food research manager at the Fat Duck – Heston Blumenthal’s world-renowned restaurant in Bray, England. Out of discoveries from this lab, which very nearly replicates my vision of heaven on earth, Myhrvold hopes to author the “authoritative reference for chefs wishing to employ so-called molecular gastronomy — adapting food industry technologies to restaurant cooking.” The book is headed toward 1,500 pages, and doesn’t sound like something most people would pack for a trip to the beach, but this will represent a departure from the only molecular gastronomy-esque instructional books thus far available in English, which are all written from a chef’s perspective (including The Big Fat Duck Cookbook, Under Pressure, Alinea, A Day at El Bulli). Myhrvold’s plans are incredibly exciting, as this type of work is still relatively rare in the United States, and reflect the growing importance of molecular gastronomy as a serious enterprise in this country.