I don’t get it. I really don’t. Please try to explain it to me. I get many restaurant recommendations from many people – whether it’s a local restaurant or somewhere on the East or West Coast. When I make what I feel is a worthwhile recommendation, half of the time I will get one of two results. Either the person doesn’t take my recommendation or worse yet, the person will actually scoff at the recommendation based on some kind of ill rationalization.

Awhile back, I received a restaurant request. I gave this person the name of a new, but reputable restaurant. The person looked at the website and scoffed at the fact that the restaurant had macaroni and cheese on the menu. They couldn’t possibly bring their guests to a restaurant that served a dish like that. Out of curiosity, I looked at the website to see what the fuss was about. The mac and cheese in question was a dish that consisted of not only macaroni and cheese (as the name correctly implies), but king crab, tallegio cheese and black truffles. This is what the fuss is about? I can’t imagine a better flavor combination than these three ingredients. We’re simply talking about Heaven on Earth. I think people get so consumed with the name of a dish that they forget to look beyond the name and see what that dish is REALLY about.

One of the most famous paintings in the world is the Mona Lisa. This is a 16^th-century oil portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance in Florence, Italy. The portrait is currently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. The portrait depicts a seated woman (arguably known as Lisa del Giocondo) whose famous facial expression is described as enigmatic or puzzling, if you will.

The first time I saw the Mona Lisa was when I was 19 during my first trip to Paris. In front of the famous Mona was a velvet rope that kept visitors from getting too close to the painting. There was an armed guard standing nearby and a sign with a warning written in French. Basically it said that if you took photos of the famous portrait, your camera would be not only be confiscated, but would be broken (more than likely by the armed guard standing nearby). Since then, the sign has been taken down and there is… friendlier…protection around the Mona.

Today, you can find all sorts of imitations of the Mona Lisa – good, bad and otherwise. How is this possible? An artists’ work is usually copyrighted, right? Meaning an artist (other than the original) must have permission to publish someone else’s work. However, some artwork, like the Mona, is in the public domain, which means it can be recreated according to that artist’s perspective and interpretation. This is not unlike the culinary world. 

Do you have any idea how many versions of macaroni and cheese there is out there? And to think that each version will have its own flavor, its own flair, compared to that of the original. But to automatically think that the dish can’t possibly taste good because it’s mac and cheese is nothing short of limiting oneself to one’s lack of culinary creativity.

Loyal readers, if there’s one thing that I can impress upon you is this: Don’t judge something by its cover. If you do, you might miss out on something that the artist (or the chef) is trying to share with you: something that could truly be special.