The Prix Fixe Menu

Every Night Vale tour, we have a Family Dinner. The touring party finds a day off and has a big dinner together. It's always a bit of a gamble bc we're always in a different city on a random night of the week (though it's usually a Monday or Tuesday). 

For the most part we've landed on some great restaurants, though The Little Rhein Prost House in San Antonio, TX, was comically not that at all. (That's a different post for another time.)

In September '22, we were on tour in Europe. Our first full day off was in Copenhagen. Cecil and I (along with our assistant tour manage Lucia) spent a sunny afternoon at Tivoli Gardens riding rides, some of which tested (and greatly exceeded) the limits of my acrophobia. But all in all it was magical. 

Later that evening the three of us met up with the rest of the Ride-or-Die (Symphony Sanders, Disparition, and musical guest Dane Terry). Every tour, we have a Family Dinner on one of our nights off. And I chose for us a fancy Danish restaurant that had a prix fixe menu with five courses and wine pairings. I'm nothing if not giddy for great dining experiences. 

On the walk to the restaurant, Dane told me he'd never done prix fixe before, mostly because the idea that there's no real menu didn't seem exciting. I understood, but I tried to make the case that a prix fixe menu is wonderful.

The prix fixe is a daring choice by a chef. It's a power move. It's telling their diners that "I, the experienced and talented chef, am so confident in my abilities that I won't even bore you with options. The lineup I have curated not only tastes delicious but it is also a narrative journey, thematically linked. You will feel satiated physically, of course. But I will also fill your soul and your mind. Food, as I make it, is art. And art is to be devoured."

So, yeah, I love prix fixe menus. And this is what I told Dane. 

Dane smiled (very smugly I will add) and said: "I get it. You're a food bottom."

Have you ever been read so hard that you just had to laugh? Well, that's what happened to me.

Though, I will argue, that while "food bottom" is much funnier, the correct term for me in this story about my love of prix fixe menus would be a "food sub." I want to be submissive to the chef. I want them to dominate me with culinary talent. "Bottom" can imply submissiveness, but it's not always that.  We shouldn't get those confused. 

So yes, chef daddy, tell me what we're eating tonight. 

Also, we have a night off in Cologne, Germany in a couple weeks. So if you have any ideas for a food sub like me, let me know.

Jeffrey Cranor
February 22, 2024