My problem with Fusion

Okay, so D and I went to Fish last night, and it was OK.  From an execution standpoint, it was really nice, but compositionally, I was left cold, and after a little while I figured out why.

I have a serious issue with fusion cuisine.  Technically, fusion can mean any 2 (or more) types of cuisine fused together.  (Mexican-Indian, Canadian-Vietnamese, whatever...)  However, most times it means using Asian influence in Euro-centric cuisine.

At Fish, they definitely took some of their stylistic cues from Asia.  There were positives and negatives.  On the positive side, the dim sum (pictured) was a great idea.  It was a way of allowing us to choose our own amuse-bouches.  They didn't necessarily use Asian flavors, just the spirit of dim sum dining, and they hit the nail on the head.

The negative is what struck me though.  Think about the great sauces of European cuisine.  Sauce Bordelaise is made by roasting bones, adding vegetables, caramelizing tomatoes, reducing wine, long, slow simmering, adding mushroom trim for depth, straining, skimming, and finishing with the flourish of bone marrow richness.  Ragu a la Bolognese is made by covering pork ribs and italian sausage with canned tomatoes and herbs (and other secret touches like parmesan rind) and letting it simmer slowly for an entire day, until the meat and tomato have become one silken entity, and all that remains is to remove the bones and bay leaves.

Now think about asian cuisine.  Red curry sauce is made by opening a can of red curry paste, mixing it with coconut milk, and seasoning it with ginger and lime.  I am not disparaging red curry sauce.  I love red curry sauce.  But to make it takes 5 minutes.  Any cheap, shitty Thai restaurant in a strip mall can still make an awesome red curry.  I require more out of my sauces at the fine dining level in terms of nuance.

At Fish, we had bread served with a sweet soy glaze that could have been had at P.F.Chang's, Snapper with curry sauce that tasted like a slightly more mild version of the one at Taste of Thai in West Ashley, and Triggerfish with a broth that tasted like the onion soup you get as a starter at Bushido.  It all tasted great, but Asian food is what I get for cheap lunch on the go.  It was all so... familiar, and not in a good way, when plates are $23 and up.

I feel like Asian flavors at western fine dining establishments are like Autotune in a song, or Photoshop Effects in a work of visual art.  They give a quick boost of awesomeness, but ultimately limit the heights to which that food can soar.  An amateur can make a simple, great sauce in five minutes for some shrimp, but may not be able to pull off Sauce Gran Veneur.  Similarly, a kid with an iPhone can make a cool picture, but a great artist would prefer working with more natural media.  Ke$ha can throw together a catchy, lucrative pop song in a modern studio with all the tricks and trimmings, but all Django Rheinhart needed was a guitar and eight fingers.

That is all.  For bonus points, what is Sauce Gran Veneur?