But What Kind Of Salad Does It Make?

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By Laura Shapiro

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NEWSWEEK ASKED TWO of New York's most discerning tomato lovers to sample the Flavr Savr and compare it with other high-priced tomatoes on the market. Anne Rosenzweig, whose Arcadia restaurant is celebrated for its fresh, vibrant American cooking, and Nahum Waxman, passionate home cook and owner of the popular bookshop Kitchen Arts & Letters, were both curious about the new Calgene tomato. They tasted and pushed aside an insipid tomato imported from Belgium, lingered only a moment longer over a hydroponically grown tomato raised in Pennsylvania and then turned to the Flavr Savr.

""If I were judging these from 1 to 10, they would go: Belgian, 2; hydroponic, 4, and Calgene, 7,'' said Waxman. ""They don't glow with the flavor and aroma of summertime, but I'd be ecstatic to get these year-round. What they don't have at all, to use language from another field, is nose. I don't even try to smell tomatoes anymore.'' Rosenzweig agreed. ""It's so rare you can get an honest tomato,'' she said. ""These aren't bad, considering what's in the marketplace. If they appeared at the door in January, I'd say, "What a great treat'.''

Waxman chewed for a while and then reflected. ""Two things are bothering me,'' he said. ""There's a peculiar aftertaste. And the skin -- it's creepy stuff. It's almost as if they had the pulp and they shrink-wrapped it.'' Rosenzweig also found the skin unpleasant, but she thought of ways to use peeled Flavr Savrs. ""There's no reason to make them the centerpiece of a dish, but I'd love to do a little spring vegetable stew with them, with peas and asparagus and favas,'' she said. ""Or I'd cook them very quickly in a light ragout.'' Will they show up on Arcadia's menu? ""I will not serve them in any shape or form, because the technology is too new,'' she said. ""It's too much of an unknown quantity. When my daughter is a grandmother and they say it's safe -- then I'll serve them.''

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