OK, so when I bought a rotary blade slicer specifically so that I could cut guanciale to make bucatini alla Amatriciana, even I thought it was a silly thing.
BUT when we eat out we often see examples of kitchen trickery where the chef has obviously used a slicer. For example on the cheese tray you see paper thin slices of mimolette cheese (orange and quite strong). At the Harvard club beside the cheese there were toasted slices of bread the thickness of potato chips. And if you order a beet appetizer, the beets will be super thin. It is (barely) possible to get even slices that thin with a knife but very hard to be consistent.
At Thanksgiving one of my contributions was a chunk of Comté cheese and I just could not slice it as thin as I wanted to. So on the way home I thought of my slicer. And for our next party I bought a Dubliner cheese brick and sliced the whole thing into slices about the width of those American cheese slices most of us grew up with. I also sliced a pear the same thickness and suggested A+B. It went like hotcakes! I also made a few paper thin baguette slices and toasted them, people thought they were delicious.
Today I made a couple of large baking sheets of Keller Toast, not paper thin but cracker thin. If you think about it the good tasting part of toast is the toasted part. The layer of bread inside is kind of wasted. So it's not surprising that the resulting bread crackers were way delicious. This time I sprayed with olive oil -- did about 4 minutes on a side at 380 F. I had also bought some mimolette and experimented -- the flavor got more interesting as the slices got thinner.
These are experiments -- we are catering a New Years Eve dinner for our friend Karl. 1-foie gras on Keller Toast -- I may use thicker toast for that, structural strength. Served with Sauternes. 2- the quail egg dish in a spoon by Thomas Keller. You make "Lego" bacon and a brunoise of carrots, turnip, and leek leaves. Serve in a spoon with a little truffle butter. one bite. Paper thin toast at the side. With Champagne. 3- standing rib roast, little "creamer" potatoes, and shredded brussels sprouts with prosciutto. Obviously a good old Bordeaux. 4- vintage port with Stilton ordered from Murray's Cheese shop. Finally some sort of dessert by Louise.