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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Chow / Theater Who Is Nordo?

Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 3:38 PM

cafenordo.com
Silhouette with sharp knife.

Cafe Nordo's Modern American Chicken opens in Seattle tonight, and vegetarians are invited to kindly recuse themselves by the mercurial, mysterious (and possibly fictitious) chef Nordo Lefesczki. The production has garnered rave reviews from newspapers across the country and a pan from the Mormons (at least according to the production itself; none of the papers quoted on chef Lefesczki's Carnal Food movement website have any web presence whatsoever).

"The much clamored for ticket to the prix-fixed wonderment that is Cafe Nordo administered a fierce dose of culinary comeuppance to the stuffier of Houston's foodies." - The Cypress Times-Gazette

"Like a house of mirrors, Chef Nordo Lefesczki simultaneously laughs at and outdoes his peers with the sheer audacity of his food, his wacka-doodle-drank-the-kool-aid servers, and his ability to transport his patrons out of their comfort zones and into his strange and original mind. A chicken will never again just be a chicken." - Dover Journal

"Chez Panisse meets Medievil Times. On Acid." - Black Valley Post

"A complete farce...(with) ridiculous arrogance permeating from all levels of the establishment. The fact that the food was outstanding does not make the insult worth it." - Salt Lake Intelligencer

Modern American Chicken is an exploration in food, music, and performance of the life of a chicken, brought to you by Lefesczki's Seattle team Terry Podgorski and Erin Brindley (of the late Circus Contraption). I was lucky enough to attend a dining-only preview of Chicken recently and can assure you that the culinary component of the work is likely to be excellent; as for the show, who knows? Rumor has it that lovely and hilarious local actor/comedian Becky Poole is involved in the Seattle production, but no further reviews of the show's incarnation in other cities are to be found.

As for Nordo Lefesczki himself, Wikipedia is unenlightening, but from press materials he sounds like a character of high standards who brooks no foolishness:

Before inquiring after a vegetarian option, please consider two things: Our chicken is a vegetable, if she is what she eats, and Chef Nordo carries a large knife. Dietary restrictions? Certainly you have a shrink who will care. Nordo Lefesczki is a man of vision, not compromise. We will promise you that the meal will rely almost exclusively on the bountiful Northwest fall, and Nordo is intensely passionate about local, sustainable, and seasonal food. Cheat on your tofu; our chicken will convert you.

Also please note:

Do not refer to Cafe Nordo as Dinner Theater. Chef has been known to shut down entire restaurants at the mere whisper of such a term.

Modern American Chicken runs for 17 nights at a restaurant especially constructed inside the Theo Chocolate warehouse in Fremont; price is $85, which includes five courses with a flight of wine. Ticket information may be found over here.

Comments (16) RSS

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God that sounds so obnoxious.

Posted by boxofbirds on October 15, 2009 at 4:03 PM

re: pan from Mormons

The paper doesn't exist, it is a gag. duh...

It says nothing about Mormons. Slogs obsession with Mormons renders you humorless and tiresome.

Posted by not so hip after all on October 15, 2009 at 4:05 PM

Mormons' obsession with The Gays renders them far worse than humorless and tiresome.

Mormons themselves have made Mormon-bashing fun again. I left their team just so I could join in.

For the record: I reside in Salt Lake. I'm straight.

Posted by katallred on October 15, 2009 at 4:18 PM

This sounds hilarious and funny and along the same type of over the top fun performance stuff that circus contraption did, and I would completely go to it if I wasn't allergic to gluten.

For those offended by the tone, think about what they're spoofing.

Posted by Zeitgeist on October 15, 2009 at 4:22 PM

So is this basically a spoof on the trendy wannabe soup nazis who berate their customers who feel honored to experience an "original" and "intense" chef?

As long as this is not one of those communal tables where some inconsiderate losers are bogarting all of the food then this looks rather interesting.

Posted by Reg on October 15, 2009 at 4:40 PM

$85.00 --- for what?

Do these people know there is a recession going on?

Shit, how silly can you get. Really, and the Stranger gets sucked in to hype it, shit again.

My family could give cooking classes on chicken by the way - we raised our own fryers - nothing better.

Posted by Fred and Annie on October 15, 2009 at 4:52 PM

@6: People who can't afford $85.00 won't go. People who can should be spending their money so the recession can end faster.

Posted by Harry And Louise on October 15, 2009 at 5:46 PM

Ugh.

Posted by Love that sentient creature carcass! on October 15, 2009 at 9:26 PM

To all the skeptics... Go to Cafe Nordo and then talk. I went last night for the dress rehearsal and the food was exquisite. Is $85 really that pricey when you're getting 5 courses, 4 wines, and 3 hours of funny and edgy live theatrical and musical performance? Shit, some theatres in this city charge $65 just to watch people talk.

Posted by stuffed on October 16, 2009 at 1:04 AM

In response to the "vegetarians are invited to kindly recuse themselves" and the below paragraph from Lefesczki's blog

"Before inquiring after a vegetarian option, please consider two things: Our chicken is a vegetable, if she is what she eats, and Chef Nordo carries a large knife. Dietary restrictions? Certainly you have a shrink who will care. Nordo Lefesczki is a man of vision, not compromise. We will promise you that the meal will rely almost exclusively on the bountiful Northwest fall, and Nordo is intensely passionate about local, sustainable, and seasonal food. Cheat on your tofu; our chicken will convert you."

. . . . .

A) I have never heard of a vegetarian or vegan restaurant asking omnivores, or non-soy eaters, to "recuse themselves" from their restaurant. If that is what they are truly asking.. I haven't read that straight from the horse's mouth anywhere

B) In the paragraph above from the chef's blog, he is basically saying, if you're a vegetarian you're a fucking fool, no matter what your principles or reasons for your diet, and hey, after I openly mock you, I'm going to have you eating chicken again. I'm a vegetarian but even if I ate chicken I'd still think this is some pretty arrogant shit. What kind of a business is this to express itself this way to any demographic of diners?

Posted by i'm pro-science and i vote

on October 16, 2009 at 3:07 AM

@ 10 I totally agree with you. I can't stand meat eaters or vegeatarians that have a chip on their shoulder about their diet. Fucking annoying.

Posted by PussyDunkinHines on October 16, 2009 at 9:15 AM

Based on the way these sorts of meals are usually prepared and served, special requests are a pain in the ass. Think of the disclaimer as a particularly obnoxious way of making that point.

Posted by Sean P. on October 16, 2009 at 11:47 AM

@10 and 11 - I think you're perhaps without a sense of humor? The pretentious attitude seems pretty clearly over-the-top to me. The menu is chicken. Chicken isn't vegetarian. So... why would a vegetarian want to attend? I don't think they have a chip on their shoulder. I think they're just being cute about the fact that they're obviously not applying to all audiences.

Posted by petri dish on October 16, 2009 at 3:06 PM

Does it strike anybody else as ironic, to call someone else obnoxious in a pretty obnoxious manner? Take the stick out of your ass. There are plenty of meat eaters who have enjoyed a soy burger on occasion. This nordo guy actually sounds hilarious.

Posted by saltine on October 17, 2009 at 2:38 AM

Hm.
We went.

one of the wines was fantastic, two were good, one was not.
five course meal:
weird grass shot that the waiter accidently spilled down the back of one of the patrons.
salad course with poached egg that was really good.
soup with chickenliver dumpling that was ok;
roasted chicken that was too small to be divided between 7 people.
weird chicken lung shaped chocolot thing with plate sprayed with raspberry 'blood'

somewhat insane feeling performace by all the waitstaff. at end maitrede pulls out baby chick that somehow horrified me that I had just eaten its mother yet made me hungry at the same time.

went home, still hungry, had perogi. checked really good wine that they offered to sell us for $50 at petes wine for 20$ == will probably get some there. really good red, actually.

feel more aware of where my food comes from.

Posted by Womyn2me $http://http:\\www.shelleyandlaura.com$ on October 19, 2009 at 4:40 PM

@15: I attended opening night. Our table of 6 shared one chicken and had leftovers-- at least enough for two more servings. I finished none of my courses (and not out of distaste, for each course was delightful) and left completely satiated.

All restaurants charge a minimum of double the store price for a bottle of wine. It's just industry standard. Check out the $8.00 bottle of vinho verde sold for $21 at Cafe Presse.

Number 15 aside, I have paid $85 or more for a dinner a handful of times in my life, and I must say this meal was more than worth that bill. Add a show to that and it's a no-brainer. I enjoyed every course (the salad and chicken in particular, though the amuse bouche was a close runner-up), the wines were well-chosen (red was my favorite, too), and the performance elements were well-timed, funny, and informative. Our table of half-friends, half-strangers entertained some lively conversation between the performers' action, much of which was sparked by the dinner and show at hand.

I'm recommending this night out even to my less-than-wealthy friends, and plan to go once more towards the end of the run to see how it has developed.

Posted by ScrambledEggs on October 21, 2009 at 9:31 AM