"Loire21" > wrote in message
news:20040525153159.19095.00001483@mb

<snips>

> The Boston cream pie was not topped by a chocolate glaze, but rather by
a thick
> round of hard, rather tasteless chocolate. The cake itself and the cream
were
> quite nice, but the flavor of the banana overpowered them both. The
banana was
> a case of gilding the lily. Just leave the lilies alone!
>
> The strawberry shortcake was encased in a shell of hardened white
chocolate,
> which, I'm afraid added nothing to the cake. The angel food cake
absorbed the
> syrup so that it was a soggy gop. The strawberries and cream were fine.
The
> truth is, a dessert of just strawberries and cream would have been so
much
> better!
>
> To our restaurant chefs: Just stick to the basics and we'll all be
better off.

It seems to me that you had experience of something being done poorly, and
the problem with it was how it was done more than what it was. To me, the
moral of your tale is, "Whatever you do, do it well" Doing something poorly
isn't a case for not doing it well.

I have in mind a recent Stilton Cheesecake with Peppery Port Compote
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/da...wit_4790.shtml)
I recently made. It's scarcely classically simple cheesecake but no-one who
ate it seemed to think there was any reason why I shouldn't have made it.
Guess I got it right.