A recent article in the NY Times regarding Daniel Boulud's latest restaurant DBGB on the L.E.S. mentions the importance of music. In the search for culinary mecca perfection, there was concern about the crowd of people the background tunes might bring in. The Times quotes operations director of Dinex Group, Brett Traussi as saying, “It’s hard to get a liquor license around here, as you may know, and one of the things I heard when I canvassed people who live here is, ‘You’ll get kids in trucker hats and they’re never going to eat food and you’re going to turn into a bar before you know it.’ I think that’s an important concern. We’re not looking for that kid, right out of school who is 22 or 23. I think music is an important way to run a food-centric restaurant rather than a bar-centric restaurant.” One of my concerns is why they're opening a restaurant on the L.E.S. if they're not open to that kind of crowd. But what do I know?

What does seem to be happening though is that folks like Ear Networks, DMX, Royalty Free Music, and Audiostiles are responsible for the vibe surrounding your dining experience. Creating playlists based on times and menus, they are hired by restaurants all over the globe as an additional marketing tool and add to a particular atmosphere albeit Latin, Pop or Indie. Some restaurants, however, like Buddha Bar, create their own playlists, and even sell CDs in their restaurants. Other places, like Alinea, prefer not to confuse the diner with unnecessary background noise, while those like Momofuku Ssam Bar are blessed with delicious playlists created by their own music guru owners & chefs.

Just a thought, to listen to what's playing overhead in your fave food joints, and see how it affects you. The food-music combo only seems to be growing. From what I've seen, rockers want to be chefs and chefs want to be rockers. Seems a pretty spectacular combination to me. Bon appétit!

For other interesting music/food articles check these out:

From Frisée to Finance, It Has to Be Perfect
If Food Be the Music: Fraîche
Music and Food? The Pros Step In
3 chords and a dream: Chef/musicans gladly would sing for supper
Alex Kapranos, Musician/Chef
Chef/Musician (Alan Miceli)