Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide

Tyler Cowen posts the seventeenth edition of his Washington, DC ethnic dining guide.

Tyler offers the following four general tips on finding a good restaurant and ordering food.

1. Avoid dishes that are "ingredients-intensive."  Raw ingredients in America -  vegetables, butter, bread, meats, etc. - are below world standards.  Even most underdeveloped countries have better raw ingredients than we do, at least if you have a U.S. income to spend there, and often even if one doesn't.  Ordering the plain steak in Latin America may be a great idea, but it is usually a mistake in Northern Virginia.  Opt for dishes with sauces and complex mixes of ingredients.  Go for dishes that are "composition-intensive."
2. Appetizers often are better than main courses.  Meals composed of appetizers and side dishes alone can be very satisfying.  Thai and Lebanese restaurants provide the classic examples of this principle.
3. Avoid desserts.  Most ethnic restaurants in America, no matter how good, usually fall flat with the desserts.  Especially if the restaurant is Asian.
4. Order more than you plan to eat.

I have not always agreed with some specific recommendations of Tyler's, but overall he does pick winners. For instance, he pans L'Auberge Chez Francois, which I found to be quite good, although I agree that it is probably overrated. I agree with Tyler's assessment of Mexican food (i.e., there are no outstanding Mexican restaurants). But this is true around much of the country, not just in the DC area. I lived in Coronado, California and Corpus Christi, Texas and have experienced excellent Mexican food. I have never had a good Mexican dining experience in DC in thirty years. I don't live there now, and by chance I came across an excellent Mexican restaurant--El Ranchero in Iowa City, Iowa of all places. (Actually, Iowa City is an up-and-coming small city. It is an economically dynamic college town (city), centered largely around the University of Iowa's research hospital.)

But I always questioned Tyler's point #1 above. Why is it that raw ingredients in the U.S. are so below the standards of the rest of the world? If Tyler is correct--and I'm not doubting his assertion, I just don't know--why has the wealthiest and most innovative free market country in the history of the world failed to develop markets in superior raw ingredients? Is it that we simply don't find the marginal value of exceptional primary ingredients worth the marginal cost? (Innovations in agricultural technology have given us quantity, not quality.) Is the palate of the average American simply sub par? (Given the lineup on broadcast television I tend to think so. But then again, I have heard that these same idiot shows are popular around the world.) Are American chefs simply adept at creating sauces and "complex mixes" giving American restaurants a comparative advantage in masking our low quality raw ingredients, sufficient enough to create a superbe meal? Or more likely, is dining in this country not a cultural experience like it is in much of the rest of the world? We simply fill our stomachs and move on to other activities (it is a chore to be endured), while in other countries (Italy, for example) dining is often a two hour social event.