Comments on: What happened to Grace?

By: sneakypeteiii

sneakypeteiii — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:28:05 +0000

I spoke with Richard Drapkin, a partner at Grace, last week about this, and he was able to clear some things up; apparently seafood is a major constituent of the “Close to Home” menu, and it ends up dictating, more or less, the final cost of the menu. Given the high price of local seafood this season they had to pull the menu for economic reasons.

They are committed to the local idea, and a mostly local menu can still be had, he assured me. I’ll be going back soon to find out.

By: Chubbypanda

Chubbypanda — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:38:08 +0000

I’ve found that it’s difficult to really make money off of the local menu concept outside of Northern California. It’s still pretty hard up in Silicon Valley. San Francisco seems to be unique in its wholesale adoption.

By: sneakypeteiii

sneakypeteiii — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:11:12 +0000

Kudos to Jonah for sending in an official inquiry. I hope it’s some very simple reason like the one KT suggested, though I do fear the worst. I got the impression that they decided to wipe it completely off the menu, but I could be wrong.

Or maybe Fraser’s fine-tuning the whole thing; I guess we’ll find out.

Thanks for all the support!

By: KT

KT — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:54:41 +0000

Maybe that’s why they are not doing the menu - it’s off until Neal gets back?

I am disappointed too, as I have wanted to try this. But I noticed that the local menu did not get as good reviews as the a la carte menu. I wonder if they are rethinking?

Neal Fraser seems pretty committed to this idea, so I would be surprised if he just dropped it and was like “Oh yeah, I changed my mind.” I am sure there is a reason, although it would have been nice if the waitstaff could have been instructed as to how to address the issue while management is out of town.

By: Jonah

Jonah — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:06:54 +0000

I dropped an email to the folks listed on their website to see if they had comment. I received a couple automated responses saying that Neal and one other member of the team are out of the office for most of November. If I hear anything back that they want to say publicly, I will post an update. It may be worth a phone call too.

Looks like Neal is in Vietnam

By: Jonah

Jonah — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:52:53 +0000

The menu looks amazing, something I would enjoy. If I had called and requested the Close to Home tasting menu and when I arrived it wasn’t there? I don’t think that I would sit down, that is really disappointing.

I wonder how they calculate the “90% of the ingredients come from within a 400-mile radius of the restaurant” statistic. Perhaps the supporting ingredients can sneak the dishes into that category on a technicality.

By: sneakypeteiii

sneakypeteiii — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:50:35 +0000

Yeah, I agree with everyone here completely.

From personal experience I know how hard it can be to get 100% of your ingredients locally sourced, so I do appreciate that Chef Fraser had done anything at all.

I might just call them and see what the deal is. Maybe we can bring it back!

By: foodette

foodette — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:36:01 +0000

I don’t think it would be that difficult to use seasonal, local food here in CA. It’s not like we are in the middle of a snow-drift out here. The whole point of seasonal, local eating is to adjust your menu as the seasons change. You don’t adjust the location of sourcing ingredients. Otherwise, what is the point? To just offer seasonal food when it’s convenient? I am sorry, but I am with you. This just bugs me.

By: Aubrey

Aubrey — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:03:39 +0000

Wow…pretty crushed. I haven’t gone to Grace yet but that was my main reason for it being on my to go list. Kind of disturbing for such a radical about face to have occurred in such a short time.

I doubt the seasons changing would have cause such a complete change of menus. When seasons change you change seasonally. You don’t all of a sudden start having a completely different concept because it’s starting to get cold. I mean farmer’s markets aren’t empty once we hit October.

Only thing that I can deduce is that the close to home menu wasn’t selling very well.

By: H.C.

H.C. — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:22:32 +0000

Given that “local eating” is one of their selling points, I’m surprised the front-of-house staff isn’t better prepared to field the question. Maybe try calling the manager to see why the menu ended?

But personally, I don’t blame Neal for not being able to keep up with being local — acquiring fresh, seasonal (well, as seasonal as California gets) ingredients takes a lot of time and energy. But I definitely hear ya on your shock of finding all these global ingredients when you went expecting to eat local and leave less of a carbon mile footprint - but glad the meal turned out good, nonetheless.