How does it work? How do I get on the "invitation" list?
Richard
My understanding is someone who's been has to invite you.
Gypsy is really not that secretive. They even have a website:
http://www.gypsydinners.com
It's obvious that you were at Dana's dinner, so, unless she asked you not to, why not identify her? She does great work at Eva and her blog is awesome. Given that she's chosen to advertise herself already, I would (naively) assume that she'd like the attention.
More problematic with the "secrecy", is that it's particularly self-aggrandizing, an unfortunate tendency that tends to appear when Lampreia and Nishino are discussed as well. I love TM, but Scott and Tatsuo are on a first name basis with many, many people and have created special menus for many, many people. Yes, you're the only one to create cookbooks with them. But, the tendency to self-aggrandize and focus on your special relationships, IMO, is at odds with your desire to make people smarter, excited, and want to seek out great food.
Again, you've got a wonderful site, it's just marred by a little bit of arrogance that's difficult to understand.
To address Richard's comment, membership in Gypsy, from what I've heard, is not that difficult. They've even got a webpage!
http://www.gypsydinners.com/apply.html
I echo the comment above by Curious. My enjoyment of this review was seriously marred by the obvious non-identification of the Chef, and by the self-aggrandizing, congratulatory tone regarding the "secret underground" status of Gypsy. The line that truly ruined it for me was - "And frankly, since you need to be invited, you probably won't either".
I found that statement to be nauseatingly pompous. As with Curious, I've enjoyed TM tremendously over the years. This article, however, represents a low point for me.
Thanks for the link Curious. I was a "member" for a few Speakeasy dinning establishments in Hong Kong. Those establishments exist primarily to allow the customer to enjoy the food created by the head chef (as we all know, inconsistency of a restaurant is partially contributed to the varying degree of experience and style among the many chefs in the kitchen.). The "Speakeasies" require membership purely for legal purposes only and a way to reduce overhead a typical restaurant requires. In my (naively) mind, I think Gypsy operates with the same philosophy. If the members of Gypsy are mostly arrogant food snobs and self proclaimed foodies (a requirement in the application among other wierd questions), then I guess I would be disappointed. As a member of other not so secretive organizations (slow food, IWFS), I believe sharing a passion for food and wine might be better off without involving a self-aggrandize attitude but a heart with true appreciation for good food. However, sometimes when I express my excitment, it can appear to be self-aggrandizing too. 
Spare the poor guy, he is just excited about this experience.
Wow.
I think you guys misunderstood my statement.
When I said: "And frankly, since you need to be invited, you probably won't either I was making a statement about the odds of random folks reading the site getting an invite, not a value judgment. Just math.
And as for my tone being: "self-aggrandizing" I'm not quite sure how that came across. I don't think I'm special because I finally got an invite? I had to be familiar with someone working there for the night for it to happen. And believe me I don't think I'm particularly special.
Sorry for bumming you guys out. I'm sure you're much more worthy than me of getting an invite.
As for lampreia, nishino, etc. believe me I don't think I'm special. As I've said many times, at a good restaurant, anyone can be treated well by being a loyal customer. Certainly as well as any restaurant reviewer. I don't think I'm getting any treatment that's more special than any other loyal customer. And even if I was, my assumption wouldn't be that it was because I'm better than anyone.
Hmmm... I'll have to do better editing.
I never had to ask Hillel to keep my identity as the chef of this Gypsy dinner off the internet. It was a use of discression that Hillel doesn't need to be told to understand. The owners of the restaurant I work at do not support Gypsy, as do quite a few others in the industry. While we are of different schools of opinion, I respect them greatly and have made efforts not to tie their restaurant to this program, or flaunt the fact that I am participating. Yes, the information is out there for those that want to make the connections, thus it's no real secret. And in limiting the distinguishing information in the review I assume Hillel was not holding a secret over his readers heads to taunt them, that's not his style. Rather he was practicing humble discression, letting those that want to make the connections do so, and letting other things left unsaid.
Not to defend myself, or read the comment as an insult, but to clarify a little about the chef I am, I would never do a Gypsy dinner for attention. Attention is not the end result I am seeking when I labor to create a dish, or menu. The gratification of realizing my own vision for the meal, and pleasing the 16 people at the table is truly enough for me. I stand by what I do, and am very proud of the dinner posted here. I don't hide behind secrets, or use them to deceive, but I think it's ok to leave a few things descretely unsaid, particularly on the internet.
It all sounds so good, but really, what's the point? No one outside the closed circle of friends gets an invite, its not a restaurant, its a dinner party.
The point is it is a chance for chef's to really create a menu of whatever they want and not be dictated by the restaurant they work in or the customer's tastes they normally cater to. I have had an amazing meal at Gypsy with ingrediants I would never have tried on my own. It was a fabulous experience, one I will be repeating next month I hope!
As far as the exclusivity a lot of it comes from being done in a private house- there are laws that don't allow this type of thing (licenses, insurance and the like) so the guests are encouraged to be selective of the people they pass the info on to and there is a clandistine atmoshpere- and you know what? it's fun!!!!
bd0dc1 b5230429d8
Commenting by HaloScan
