The Times They Are a-Changin'

(The sparkling Kendall-Jackson tasting room

via jimg944's photostream)

When we opened BIN 36 ten years ago, we opened a concept that revolutionized the way people approached wine. As has been said before on this blog, wine was intimidating. It was expensive. It was a drink for the bourgeois, and the majority of America had little interest in the bottled beverage outside of White Zinfandel, Cab, and Chardonnay. But we identified a curious thing. People were timidly ready to step beyond Kendall-Jackson, and I think a lot of that has to do with the role TV and media played on food at the turn on the century.

Think about it. Emeril had this country shouting bam! at everything from seasoning a burger on the grill to popping the top off a milk carton; Wolfgang Puck had defined California cuisine, which opened the door to redefinition after redefinition after...; and words like mirepois and reduction and emulsion were beginning to enter the home cook's vernacular. So, to an extent, we opened the restaurant at just the right time, helping guide this new breed of curious eaters and drinkers along the way.

And now look where we are. Culinary school enrollment is at a level never before seen thanks to shows like Top Chef and people like Anthony Bourdain (have you seen how much tickets are going for at his symposium in Chicago tomorrow night?!?!) and websites called things like Foodspotting are taking over. And the word foodie has become such a cliche that it's uncool to declare yourself one, and yet a few years ago not many people even knew what a foodie was. I bet, on a nightly basis, there's a diner at your average restaurant who knows more about the classic dish the chef has put a spin on than the chef knows about the classic dish himself... which means, good chefs? Chefs in the spotlight who've pulled the strings in just the right way like Bourdain? They. Are. Rock. Stars.

(How many badges do you have...?)

And that's why we're embracing the paradigm that's reforming the restaurant industry. This morning we added Foursquare widgets to this blog, which is just an early sign of how we hope to expand our involvement with our friends of the restaurant and encourage other social media users who don't know BIN to maybe give us a chance. Our Twitter audience is still small, so we're discussing Tweet-ups to help us expand our network—I know, what's a Tweet-up? What's a Foursquare? And why is there a mayor of BIN 36? But that's the whole point. Right now, there's a generational gap in the restaurant industry, and it's social media and technology that is at the center of the divide. We're learning as we go, and whether you're a Foursquare mayor at ten spots in Chicago or still have yet to jump on the Facebook bandwagon (What's taking so long at this point!? It's the most used site on the Internet!), we really hope you'll join us as we begin this new journey.

But let's take a step back and think small. Start by reading this NY Times piece about Foursquare, and take it from there, one baby-bammin' step at a time...