Charlie Trotter v. Grant Achatz: Two tales of one anecdote

Noted magazine writer David Kamp today profiles Charlie Trotter in a nifty New York Times piece that had me hungry to dine at the chef's legendary restaurant even though the story's headlined, "Charlie Trotter, a Leader Left Behind." Kamp's piece also sparked in me a hunger to know how he came to end the profile with the same anecdote Christopher Borrelli recently employed to lead off his Chicago Tribune profile of chef Grant Achatz. Kamp was kind enough to speak with me about it this morning via phone. But before recounting that conversation, a bit of back story.

Here's how Borrelli used the anecdote:

"Grant Achatz moved up the aisle of the plane, his carry-on draped over his gaunt frame. It was October at Reagan National Airport, a rare moment of calm for Chicago's top chef, whose wary eyes belong to a man older than 36, and whose life has been blessed and cursed with incident. He was traveling with his two young sons, and they had just visited with the parents of his girlfriend, food journalist Heather Sperling. They were headed home to Chicago, trudging through the cabin of the plane toward coach, when his younger son, Keller, swung his backpack into a well-dressed man in first class.

"He smacked the guy in the head. Achatz saw this from the corner of his eye, and he sighed and turned to apologize. The man was Charlie Trotter.

"'Hello, chef,' Trotter said.

"'Hello!' Achatz replied, embarrassed, stammering out something rote like, 'You know how kids are.'

"'But Charlie's looking at me like, "Yeah, and yours just hit me in the head,"' Achatz says, recalling a moment almost too lyrical to be believed (though Trotter confirms the incident, with a chuckle), so rich in meaning that it could be a metaphorical one-act play about the Chicago fine-dining establishment: The culinary guard had changed."

All righty then. Here's how Kamp treated the anecdote:

"...Mr. Achatz still seems cowed by Mr. Trotter, or at least fearful that he’ll never fully be in the older chef’s good graces. Last year, Mr. Achatz said, he was boarding an airplane with his two young sons when 'my 7-year-old slings his backpack right into the head of some guy in first class — and it’s Charlie Trotter.'

"Mr. Trotter remembers the episode vividly. 'I said, "Chef, is that you?," and I think I gave him a little Barack Obama fist bump,' he said. 'I've never had an issue with Chef Grant. I've always liked the guy. Man, I'm just going to have to go over there and just talk to him and say "I have no issues. We recommend your restaurant. You're great, and it's great for the city of Chicago."'"

The day Borrelli's piece came out, I sent a note to TOC's editorial staff pointing out the whole "moment almost too lyrical to be believed" business as an example of a writer placing far too much metaphorical weight on a scene. (In truth, an editor should have saved Borrelli from himself there.)

Had Kamp seen how Borrelli had employed the anecdote, perhaps, and wanted to show him how it should have been used? Or had a miffed Trotter brought it to Kamp's attention?

Neither, as it turns out. "I would agree this is an example of writerly overreach," Kamp said of Borrelli's "culinary guard had changed" bit. But Kamp said he didn't read that piece until after he'd filed his profile with the Times.

And Kamp says it was Achatz who brought up the airplane incident. Kamp recalls that the Alinea chef offered a conclusion, somewhat jokingly, that it showed "I'll never be in good stead with this guy," meaning Trotter. When Kamp asked Trotter about it, the chef gave the response that appears in the piece. Kamp says Trotter told him, "Yes, I remember it vividly and it was no big deal to me." Adds Kamp: "I guess he's fed up with this sense of the manufactured animus between the two men."

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Achatz and Trotter finally hug it out.