Thermidor can feel as hard to penetrate as Don Draper's psyche. On one hand, chef Bruce Binn's dinner rolls and baked Alaska and pommes dauphine leave a buttery trail through memory, depositing you smack in the middle of a midcentury-modern childhood you might know only from Mad Men. On the other hand, there's a reason why chicken Kiev ended up in the freezer bin of history ― we've moved on, gastro-culturally.

That's the line Jonathan Kauffman walks in today's “Eat” review of Thermidor for SF Weekly, “Rocking the Retro.”