Even before I downed the first of several cups of Peet’s from my $30 Melitta FastBrew this morning I was slapped in the face with the smug arrogance of a cookbook promotion in my inbox offering me a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime chance to “Live the Tartine Way” for two days by entering a sweepstakes.
Maybe I’m still stuck in the Larraburu Way or the Graffeo Way, but for all my 55 years of trying to absorb the San Francisco experience I’ve yet to feel the need to enter Tartine’s sacred premises (though I’ve had their breads and not been impressed) to feel I’ve really lived, nor have I yet availed myself of the services of AFAR, Good Eggs, or Hedley & Bennett (whoever the hell they are).
Maybe I’ve got it all wrong. Maybe "The “Tartine Way” is not tied to San Francisco, but is some Middle Kingdom, halfway between San Francisco and Heaven. Perhaps someone can explain what living “the Tartine Way” is and why I should aspire to it.
Do you live the Tartine Way?