I have two final thoughts on Distrito. First, the horchata was horrible. It tasted like Big Red Gum. Horchata can be made from almonds, rice, tiger nuts or barley plus cinnamon and sugar. I never heard of it being made from gum. Hrm.
I guess I should be happy that is wasn't overpriced as everything else was. Only three bucks. I guess that is because gum is cheap, as is rice milk. The "chef" just bought a big case of gum at Costco and then they toss a few sticks in a blender with rice milk. I wonder if the waitstaff has to unwrap sticks of gum when the restaurant is empty. I know this sounds nasty, but there is a big difference between the flavor of a cinnamon stick or ground cinnamon in a drink and the taste of cinnamon gum. Don't get me wrong, I love Big Red, but not in my horchata. I will post more about horchata. I have a couple of shortcut recipes I like for it. I also want to try to make it directly from rice and almonds. Plus, there is always hot-chata... but that is for another day.
Final thought: design elements at Distrito create user issues. The chairs and tables don't work for tall people. I am nearly 6 feet tall and my dining companion is 6'4''. We both had serious issues trying to arrange our legs under our table. If you look at the interior designer's site,the first two Distrito pictures show the striped plastic/rubber chair and rattan seats that caused issues for us. Perhaps we wouldn't have focused on the seating if we hadn't been ignored by our waiter. We had plenty of time to consider how uncomfortable we were. Did anyone sit in these chairs or at this table before finalizing the order for the restaurant? Did anyone consider the fact that people have coats and bags, let alone legs? (You can see more the interior here.)
The chips and guacamole were served in bowls similar to these from CB2. The CB2 versions are stainless steel, but the Distrito version was made of some of sort metal or plastic scratched easily. I can imagine the designer's pitch: "We carried the carried the free-spirited interior to the tables. As guests arrive, each table will receive chips in these bowls that are fun and shiny." But since the rims of the bowls were scratched, it made the new restaurant feel unmaintained. I don't like in the inconsistency of making strong design decisions throughout the restaurant but then not carrying that thought process through to consider the bowls, which are on the table throughout the meal. These bowls are where restaurant patrons interact with the design, each time they reach for a chip. The scratched rims show a lack of attention to details. This inconsistency is what take the design from being strong and different to making it seem gimmicky and cheesy. The bowls pose another issue. This isn't the best photo but you can see that in order to dip your chip, you have to turn the bowl. Based on the weird menu, it isn't clear if the restaurant owner wants people to share their guacamole, but that is what people typically do. So, turning the bowl to face you, in the case of two people sitting across from another, means turning it away from another person. That seems anti-social to me. You would think that a restaurant with so much plastic, rubber and pink would be all about socializing and having fun.
I am very interested in the tension between design and use (form and function). This tension is made more complicated when the third dimension of the business model is added to the mix. So I guess that I will post more about this from time to time.
