An imagined gathering
1990 · Washington, D.C.
Clark cooks a modern American menu for Franey and Smith, and the talk turns to where American food is going.
Clark's kitchen at the Hay-Adams is one of the most closely watched in Washington, and tonight he is cooking for two visitors with very different ideas about American food. Pierre Franey represents the French tradition that shaped so many American chefs; Jeff Smith represents a populist, thrifty, television-fed cooking that reaches millions.
Clark's menu is his own: crab cakes, shrimp and grits, and short ribs, dishes that claim an American lineage without apologizing for it. Franey asks about technique and Smith asks about cost, and Clark answers both. The three of them end the evening agreeing, more or less, that American cooking had finally stopped looking over its shoulder.
Host: Patrick Clark
Pierre Franey — French-trained chef and New York Times columnist, a link to the classical tradition.
Jeff Smith — Television's Frugal Gourmet, curious about a young chef's take on American food.
First course
This gathering is an editorial recreation grounded in the biographies of those present; it did not necessarily take place as described.