Welcome to Life and Art from F.T. Weekend. I'm Lila Rapkopolis. There's this thing that I keep hearing about the restaurant world, which is that fine dining might be over. And if not over, that it's starting to feel old, like an outdated ritual. The argument is that the tasting menu, with all these courses of tiny things on giant plates,

has gotten too predictable.

You'll get the caviar course, you'll get the Wagyu beef course,

but there won't be any real character.

I've absolutely felt that myself,

but recently I went to a restaurant here in New York that didn't feel outdated

at all. It felt like it was using the tasting menu to actually have fun, play with our

expectations, play with flavor, and really do something different. The restaurant is called Blanca,

and its executive chef is Victoria Blamey. Blanca's reviews have been excellent. It's been called one of the best restaurants in America, but also a little divisive. One major critic called it not for beginners. Another called it a marathon only for food nerds. The restaurant is also a mix of high and low since it's located at the back of a pizza joint. And all of that makes it a really

interesting case for what fine dining can look like in 2024. Victoria doesn't seem to mind being

known for challenging diners, and she's with me in the studio today to talk about her work.

Victoria, hi. Welcome to the show. Hi, how are you? I'm super excited to be here. We're so happy

to have you. I'd love to start by sort of setting the scene of your restaurant where it is, what it's doing differently for listeners.

We have listeners around the world.

Blanca is fundamentally unique because it's a restaurant within another restaurant called Roberta's.

Roberta's to many is shorthand for kind of the New York hipster movement of around 2007.

It opened there in Bushwick by chef Carlo Miraci.

And then some years later, Carlo opened Blanca as his fine dining.

Offshoot.

It closed during COVID.

And then just this past January.

Yeah.

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