The next course is called Memory.The Menu · 2022 — Chapter 5 of 13 · 3'55" · B2
The Chef Recounts a Childhood Memory, Explained: on the map
Over the course called Memory, the chef shares a childhood story about his drunken father strangling his mother with a phone cord, and serves it like a taco-night anecdote. "But we're not so smart when we're young," he says. Then the guests find their own faces lasered into the tortillas.
What happens
The chef announces the next course, Memory, at his restaurant Hawthorn. To illustrate it, he tells the room about growing up in Waterloo, Iowa, where Tuesdays were taco nights. One such night, when he was seven, his drunken father choked his mother with a telephone cord, and the boy stabbed him in the thigh with kitchen scissors. Then the tacos arrive, each tortilla laser-engraved with a guest's photograph.
Listen for
on the mapdark sense of humorsignature dishesevoke
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Now
Tap a line to replay it
Phrase of the scene
on the map
to make someone famous or notable
评论家提起当年的评价，说是那句话把主厨捧出了名。
The festival put the small town on the map.
Also in this scene
- dark sense of humor
finding humor in grim things
- signature dishes
a restaurant's defining dishes
- evoke
to bring a feeling, memory, or image into the mind
Everything marked in this scene
43 notes across 76 lines
And that is what it's meant to evoke.So let me tell you a memory of mine.When I was growing up, a child in Waterloo, Iowa, Tuesday was taco night.when-clause
When I was growing up, a child in Waterloo, Iowa, Tuesday was taco night.As you can see, she's rather drunk.This is not unusual.When I was seven years old, one Tuesday, my father came home quite drunk.My mother grew angry and screamed at him, at which point he proceeded to wrap a telephone cordMy mother grew angry and screamed at him, at which point he proceeded to wrap a telephone cordat which point clause
My mother grew angry and screamed at him, at which point he proceeded to wrap a telephone cordaround her neck and pull it tight.I screamed. I begged him to stop.But we're not so smart when we're young.It was, as you can imagine, as a very memorable taco night.Oh, thank God he didn't.elision
Oh, thank God he didn't.I mean, what the fuck was that?Yeah, it's a backstory to what makes him a chef artist.finding humor in grim things
Dude, that guy's got some really dark sense of humor, bro.Dude, that guy's got some really dark sense of humor, bro.Dude, that guy's got some really dark sense of humor, bro.So here you have house smoked Bresse chicken thigh al pastor.a restaurant's defining dishes
one of Hawthorn's signature dishes. Thank you. We change our menu constantly, but as Ms. Bloom knowsthis has been a staple since day one.to make someone famous or notable
Put you on the map.Anyways, because we're always innovating and we fear irrelevancean update to a classic. The images on the tortillas have been made using a laser engraving machine.an update to a classic. The images on the tortillas have been made using a laser engraving machine.It's the first time we've used it.first time with present perfect
It's the first time we've used it.We hope this taco night evokes strong memories for us all.Here you are.liaison
Here you are.Like a gag then.liaison
Like a gag then.Isn't that nice? They remembered us.Jesus Christ, what's with this guy?God damn it. I didn't think he'd really mind.Calling Doctor Sunshine.Oh my God, I forgot about that one. [LAUGHS] Dumb part. Bad script.Hmm. Maybe it's a joke 'cause you're friends, right?It's not good.The Chef Recounts a Childhood Memory, explained
What's really going on
The horror of the story is not just its content but its delivery. The chef narrates his parents' violence in the same calm register he uses to describe a recipe, and the punchline is a threat: "Now I suppose I should've stabbed him in the throat that evening." The guests respond with nervous laughter, some calling it a dark sense of humor, one calling it a "backstory to what makes him a chef artist." Then the tortillas turn the joke back on them: the pictures are of the guests, taken without their knowledge, including shots of Tyler photographing his food that very night. What looked like an eccentric dinner becomes surveillance, and the phrase "evokes strong memories for us all" no longer sounds warm.
Theme
MemoryThe course is named Memory, and the chef serves his darkest childhood memory as a dish the guests must eat.
Dark humorA story about domestic violence is delivered as a joke, and the guests laugh even as they realize they are being mocked.
What you'll learn
- Notice how "remain in" changes the exchange.
- Listen for the attitude carried by "remain in".
- Try the phrase in a comparable conversation.
Listen for
- didn't — elision
- Here you — liaison
- Like a — liaison
But we're not so smart when we're young.The chef's excuse for only wounding his father: as a child he didn't know to kill him. It turns a traumatic memory into a chilling aside.
Anyways, because we're always innovating and we fear irrelevanceA line about restaurant fashion — always innovating, always afraid of being obsolete — that quietly explains the chef's need to keep shocking his guests.
We hope this taco night evokes strong memories for us all.His closing line to the room: he hopes this recreation of a violent night will stick with them. Framed as hospitality, it reads as a threat.
Now I suppose I should've stabbed him in the throat that evening.A calm, almost nostalgic wish that he had killed his father. The line is the clearest sign that the story is not a confession but a performance.
Questions about this scene
Why does the chef tell the taco-night story?
He presents it as the memory behind the course, but he also uses it to unsettle the guests: he narrates real violence the way others narrate a family recipe, then jokes about finishing the job. The story is meant to make them laugh and squirm at once.
Did the chef really kill his father?
He says he only stabbed him in the thigh as a boy, and that he should have gone further. Nothing in the scene confirms what happened to the father afterwards, so the guests are left guessing.
Why are the tortillas engraved with the guests' faces?
The course is called Memory, and the chef has been documenting the guests himself. The images, including Tyler's photos from that night, show that nothing they do goes unseen — the joke is really surveillance.
Why do the guests call his humor dark?
Because he tells a story about his father strangling his mother and his own stabbing as if it were a warm favorite anecdote. Laughing at it is what he seems to want, which is exactly what makes it uncomfortable.
The Menu · 13 chapters
All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 6plausible deniabilityTortillas Expose EchoBrite's Crimes
Chapter 1running interferenceGuests Board the Boat to Hawthorn
Chapter 2on the edge of the abyssTyler Explains Why Chefs Are Artists
Chapter 3not brain surgerySlowik Serves the Island Course
Chapter 4pull this cardThe Guests Beg for Bread
Watching · Chapter 5on the mapThe Chef Recounts a Childhood Memory
Chapter 6plausible deniabilityTortillas Expose EchoBrite's Crimes
Chapter 7aspires to greatnessSlowik Humiliates Jeremy
Chapter 8name droppingA Staff Member Shoots Himself at Dinner
Chapter 9hard home truthsSlowik Serves Tea and Truths
Chapter 10rattle youSlowik Sees Through Margot
Chapter 11refused his advancesThe Guest Reveals Her Real Name
Chapter 12swore you to secrecyThe Chef Confronts His Devoted Fan
Chapter 13bear witness toSlowik Makes the Foodie CookChapter 5 of 13 · about 34 min to go