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Dan Neil
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DRINKING
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STYLE
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FASHION
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
TRAVEL
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GADGETS
Saturday/Sunday, November 1 - 2, 2014 | D1
James Ransom for The Wall Street Journal, Food Styling by Jamie Kimm, Prop Styling by Stephanie Hanes
EATING
Meat on the Side
Anchoring a plate with a massive hunk of animal protein is so last century.
But let’s face it: Vegetarianism isn’t for everyone. Increasingly, chefs are finding
delicious ways to strike a balance between health and hedonism
BY JANE BLACK
M
ICHAEL SCELFO used to be
the ultimate man’s cook.
At the Russell House Tavern in Harvard Square,
the 290-pound chef turned
out all manner of charcuterie and innards,
and enormous portions of everything else.
Before he opened his new restaurant,
Alden & Harlow, also in Cambridge, Mass., in
January, Mr. Scelfo put himself on a diet.
He cut carbs and dairy, started eating a lot
more vegetables and lost 95 pounds in a year.
“It dramatically affected the way I cook,”
he said. His menu still features a burger and
a steak. But most of Mr. Scelfo’s dishes use
meat as an accent, if at all. Among Alden &
Harlow’s current offerings are smoked burrata crostini with fried kale, burnt honey and
a thin slice of cured pork loin; crispy baby
bok choy topped with a slow-cooked egg;
and charred broccoli with squash hummus.
“At the beginning, I’d have to send the broccoli out to people,” he said—free of charge.
And they loved it. “When I see that feedback,
my next question is: How do I up the ante?”
Chefs around the country, and the globe,
are pushing meat from the center of the
plate—and sometimes off it altogether.
Trade, in Boston, serves polenta topped with
fall squash, peppers, scallions and a scattering of pancetta, while at Zahav, in Philadelphia, roasted eggplant comes drizzled with
lamb’s tongue vinaigrette. At New York’s
Dovetail, a “vegetable-focused” menu features cured carrots with duck breast, cashews and black garlic. In September, Alain
Ducasse, the godfather of French cuisine, announced that his flagship restaurant at the
Plaza Athénée in Paris would remove most
meat from the menu in favor of organic
vegetables and seafood.
In short, an haute restaurant meal no
longer has to deliver 8 ounces (or more)
of meat plus a vegetable side. Increasingly,
it is the opposite.
Several trends have converged in a perfect culinary storm. Awakened by the national obesity crisis, many Americans want
to eat more healthfully—though perhaps
not enough to leave the table hungry. The
Harvard School of Public Health recommends eating red meat no more than twice
Please turn to page D4
INSIDE
LOONY JUICE
Can mezcal really
make you crazy?
Novelist Andrew
Sean Greer
recklessly guzzles
his way to the
truth D6
PASSPORT TO THE PAST
Uncover traces of ancient Mayan culture
in modern Guatemala D7
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DENIM OF
ANTIQUITY
Looser,
vintage ‘mom
jeans’ are
back in vogue
D3
UPSCALE CABINS IN THE SKY
Bringing a woodsy wow-factor to
the mountain retreat D10
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