Jordan Kahn's new restaurant Vespertine - Spring 2017 / Culver City

Interesting. What piece do you have in mind particularly?

Seems like it’s a perfect marketing tool then; it will surely draw in its target audience, while showing those not in the target that it isn’t somewhere they want to go. That’s almost the textbook definition of good marketing I think?

i didn’t have one in particular. one of the piano roll ones.

Perhaps. The prob for this place is that “good marketing” ≠ “sustainable business model in L.A.” We shall see what happens when this place opens.

The video makes it clear that they’re desperately aiming to be an avant-garde place that defies normal categorization. To that end, I think that the food is meant to be ambiguous at times. It blends with the plate, looks like a sculpture, make it almost indiscernible what’s edible or inedible, etc. What dishes are served are merely the experimental intersection of food and architecture, edible sculpture, if you will. As if to prompt questions like: “what is the sensation of taste but the communion of structures - complex chemical compounds and the intricate latticework of man’s apparatuses?”

I also expect romanesco broccoli served on a mirrored Roman Surface. A Möbius strip of vegetable “leather.” Klein bottle decanters. Etc. I’ll be surprised if the desserts don’t explicitly reference works by Richard Serra or Gehry. I’m being a bit facetious.

If they pull this off, it’ll be something, but it has to be masterful for it to work.

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Yes, I get all that. :slight_smile: I just worry that they’ll forget, w/ all the intersectionality they’re trying to incorporate, that the food ultimately needs to intersect w/ my taste buds and my stomach. And, yeah, I know, that’s not the main point.

But, to take from a world that I know a little bit more about, it’s sort of like when Infiniti (the car company) decided to introduce their cars in the U.S. by simply showing a series of rocks and water in their ads. I’m not sure if the brand has ever truly recovered from that.

Also, and I mean this seriously, since I’m not the type to get off on food-as-sculpture and sensory ambiguity, I think I’d be perfectly happy to save my $ and just see the pretty high-res pictures that other people will take (if they allow photos). And I kind of wonder if a lot of other people in LA will feel the same way. :frowning:

Agreed. It will otherwise unintentionally hilarious (except to the folks who spent that $$$ on the experience).

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I completely agree

Oh, darling. How very très ennuyeux.

And to amuse the children:

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Is this for real? :fearful:

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SFMOMA

[Body seems unclear, is it a complete sentence?]

i googled this for you. don’t say I never did anything for you FTC.

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Hi @Bookwich,

LOL, awesome! :slight_smile: Don’t forget the ultimate finishing touch:

At the new restaurant, in those pics you listed, you’re supposed to eat the Napkin and the Paper Plate. The rest of it is fake food, but it’s “art”. :stuck_out_tongue: :joy:

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Stop raining on our parade, homie

But on the other hand, I also heard that the retail sales of water and rocks skyrocketed for a bit there…

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Can you explain what you mean here?

I’m using your definition of “good marketing” (which, if I understood you correctly, meant, “Hitting your target market and not being appealing to anyone else”). If the target market consists of 10 people and all 10 of those people found the ad very appealing, then, by your definition, the ad was successful. 10 people, however, are not likely to be sufficient to keep this place going.

I am intrigued by this, though admittedly balancing on the knife’s edge between ravenous interest and outright mockery. Hmmm …

As someone who enjoyed (mostly) Red Medicine, loves architecture, loves food (obvo!), and well-executed places that pull off avant garde cuisine (absolutely adored the earlier mentioned Mugaritz), I’m right in the middle of the Venn for this place.

BUT … while I’m comfortable paying that price point for what I know (or, have a reasonably strong expectation of “knowing” beforehand) will be a revelatory experience, I’m not sure Kahn has, for me, earned it. If that makes any sense.

I may be rambling again.

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Makes total sense. Not rambling. Much appreciated critical thought process. Reminds me of my mind before I am about to go and plop down a wad of cash on some much ballyhooed. dining experience!

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That’s how I feel too. You articulated it well.

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How do you know that there are only 10 people in the target market?