American gastropub: what's in a name?

Art Culinaire, Spring, 2007

"No, Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn."

--SAMUEL JOHNSON

In Britain, the gastropub is easy to identify--it's a pub, with all the great cultural weight one little word can carry. But what is it in the U.S.?

For the British, the gastropub is instantly recognizable as a pub first. That it has a gastronomic component, whether traditional English or otherwise, simply defines the type of pub. But the British pub is an institution with no meaningful equivalent in the U.S. Sure, we've got plenty of watering holes, but none of them have sheltered medieval pilgrims or poured inspiration down the throats of Renaissance poets. They're also not the places we go to celebrate family events or catch up on local news. They're not public houses, like extensions of our own homes, and their existence doesn't inspire the same genuine affection.

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Intuitively we see the problem if not the solution--just consider the alarming usage of the adjective "gastropubby" in American restaurant reviews. We skirt the issue out of uncertainty. Maybe we're afraid to commit because deep down inside we know our purported pubs aren't the same. We don't have establishments with the same sense of place, so can we really have them at all?

The good news is, gastropubs sprang up virtually overnight. Even the term itself is of traceable origin: David Eyre and Mike Belben coined it in 1991 to advertise their restaurant The Eagle in London. Others followed suit, giving life to a dining trend that redefined a healthy portion of pub culture and helped create a truly British culinary scene. They were not born of the evolutionary forces of history; they arose from a conscious effort to promote great food in well-loved places. The gastropub is a concept, plain and simple, and as such is open to imitation. Without the traditional pubs, the U.S. can only import the idea behind it, but that's appealing enough.

In truly American style, it's the freedom we're after. Because they are pubs first and foremost, British gastropubs are unfettered by culinary categories and cheerfully serve whatever they desire--British, French, Italian, Thai, Indian, even American cuisine--in a welcoming atmosphere. Their chefs are free to invent what they see fit and pub-goers are free to relax.

Yes, we can do that. In the U.S., a gastropub is as a gastropub does. It's the spirit of the thing that counts.

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Seriously Into It

BORN IN BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, April Bloomfield originally wanted to become a police officer in her native city. But when she missed the application deadline, she found herself forced to choose another path. With two older sisters already taking culinary courses at the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism & Creative Studies, Bloomfield decided to see if she shared their interest. "I had to fall back on something," she recalls, "so this was my career I fell back on, and I've been doing it ever since." She has since focused on it so intently, her days in culinary school seem a distant memory. "It might have been '90 to '91--I can't remember."

After school she immediately began gathering experience at restaurants that were redefining British dining in the '90s. "Some of the chefs that I worked with were pretty revolutionary for that time, you know, good food but cheap," she explains. She started in London as a commis chef under Rowley Leigh at Kensington Place, and followed that with stints at Bibendum under Simon Hopkinson, The Brackenbury under Adam Robinson, and Roscoff in Northern Ireland under Paul Rankin. Finally she became sous chef at The River Cafe, where she spent four years learning the food and philosophy of Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, whom she names her most important mentors. Although she had an introduction to gastropub cooking at The Brackenbury, she considers her time at The River Cafe to be pivotal in the development of her own style.

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Being sous chef at The River Cafe led directly to her becoming executive chef of The Spotted Pig in New York in 2003. Ken Friedman, who now co-owns The Spotted Pig with Bloomfield, originally had River Cafe veteran Jamie Oliver in mind for the job, but, as Bloomfield puts it, "he was kind of busy at the time, so he recommended me." The choice was agreeable to both Friedman and investor Mario Batali, who reportedly was impressed enough to hire her without a cooking trial. However, before The Spotted Pig opened in January, 2004, Bloomfield took the opportunity to travel to Berkeley, California to do a three-month stage at Chez Panisse, fulfilling a wish to work in a place she had long been admiring from a distance. "It was great," she says simply. "Perfect produce, great chefs ... everyone was really into it."

Bloomfield, who had never even been to New York before, was undaunted by the prospect of the gastropub's guaranteed high-profile opening. "I was ready for an experience," she says. "Not just for my career, but for my personal life too." Settling into the city, she found co-workers and colleagues to be friendly and welcoming, and didn't let the media's scrutiny distract her from her task. "I just really focused on the food," she shrugs. Her cooking, which is a combination of updated British pub food and contemporary Italian, made The Spotted Pig an overnight success. It famously led to an eyebrow-raising Michelin star for 2006. The awarding of a star to a gastropub with a signature burger and fries prompted mixed reactions from industry critics--even Batali himself questioned it. Nevertheless the star was retained for 2007. Of the honor Bloomfield says, "I'm very grateful. It's a lot of hard work and it's nice that people appreciate it." For now, Bloomfield intends to maintain her focus and make sure The Spotted Pig remains a favorite. "It's my baby," she says with a laugh.

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American gastropub: what's in a name?

Art Culinaire, Spring, 2007

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