Indeed I can answer this question from “Crab Colson”, in Folsom Prison.
Dear Crab- Ironically enough to your plight, I was recently on Alcatraz trying to broker peace between the ghost of a murdered prison-guard’s wife and a few hapless tourists, when I became famished and had to break for lunch. Washing ashore at San Francisco’s Embarcadero, I happened upon Coqueta (http://coquetasf.com/)
Into this place I ventured and had many delicacies while those around me raised strange glass goblets of yellow liquid and made long streams that did or did not end up going `into their mouths like a game children often play. I roasted on octopus tentacles roasted in wood fire and had a very strange liquid donut of manchego cheescake covered in hard caramel that was both very strange and very delicious.
As I talked philosophy with Adriana, the erudite prep cook, and ate these strange and wonderful things, this wisdom occured to me: There are infinite and endless combinations of tastes in the world and the chef is like a painter but instead of 10 or so colors, he has one million- what a challenge and how easy it is to make bad food food with all those possibilities. But, when it is delicious indeed like this (-and more importantly, if there are good people around- because eating without good company, either friends, family, or a decent bar man or comely prep cook… that is like food without salt-)
…then indeed you have the greatest sort or art one can think of.
great zamboni 