A Matter of Taste
| A Matter of Taste | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Sally Rowe |
| Starring | Paul Liebrandt, Thomas Keller, Heston Blumenthal, Grant Achatz, Eric Ripert, Frank Bruni |
| Theme music composer | John M Davis |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Sally Rowe, Alan Oxman, Rachel Mills |
| Editor(s) | Amy Foote |
| Release | |
| Original network | HBO |
| Original release |
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A Matter of Taste: Serving Up Paul Liebrandt is a documentary that follows the career of chef Paul Liebrandt over the course of a decade in New York City. Directed by Sally Rowe, it premiered on HBO on June 13, 2011.
The film follows the career of Paul Liebrandt as a British chef in post-9/11 New York City. In 2002, at Papillon, he is serving sophisticated cuisine which is out of place with the restaurant's decor, which is described by former New York Times critic William Grimes as "a dump". Grimes still awarded the restaurant two stars and called Liebrandt "enormously talented". The owners of Papillon decide that they will make more money as a neighborhood restaurant, serving bistro fare. Liebrandt is shown three months later, plating hamburgers and pretending to fall asleep. He complains that preparing the bistro food is making him brain dead, and he tries to entertain himself by arranging French frie tastings. He decides to leave the restaurant, and the owners wish him well.
Without a restaurant, Liebrandt turns to food consulting. He creates his own company and takes on jobs like designing gourmet marshmallows. Eventually, he returns to a restaurant with the launch of Gilt at the New York Palace Hotel. His hopes are high for a prolonged return to the kitchen, but the Times has a new restaurant critic, Frank Bruni, who prefers comfort food to high cuisine. Bruni appears on camera to describe the star system which is used in Times reviews. Bruni only bestows two stars on Gilt, citing the empty virtuosity of the dishes. At the same time, the owners of Gilt had begun to make menu demands on Liebrandt, such as larger portions. Shortly after Bruni's review, Liebrandt is fired.
The chef returns to consulting, and he is seen designing cocktails like a vodka tonic encapsulated in flavorless gum like El Bulli's liquid olive. His hiatus from the kitchen is ended by Drew Nieporent, the successful restaurateur behind Nobu. Nieporent wants to remake his first restaurant, Montrachet, in Tribeca. He hires Liebrandt on the basis of verbal recommendations from other people in the industry. The restaurant is renamed Corton, and the final section of the film shows the relentless demands of preparing for the opening.
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