Restaurant Man by Joe Bastianich

Author:Joe Bastianich
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781101583548
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 2012-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

Drew always told me, “When you have the demand of New York, you become the gatekeeper. Then you decide how you decorate the room.” There are very few restaurants that achieve that stature, but when yours does, that’s a very powerful thing. You’re deciding when the captains of finance sit next to the titans of media and who are dashed and dotted by the creative elite. That’s a pretty influential position to be in. We’re in the New York business—what we do is totally ingrained in the socioeconomic fabric that is New York. Elaine understood that.

We achieved that at Babbo, and perhaps later at Del Posto, but Babbo really is the place, because it’s got only eighty seats and it’s not superexpensive—it’s sort of elitist and populist at the same time. Elitist because it’s tough to get in without a reservation months in advance unless you know somebody and populist because it’s not prohibitively pricey. Fifteen years after we opened, Babbo—along with Nobu—is the toughest table in town.

When it comes to dressing the room, we are very hands-on. We block out the prime-time tables. Mario and I decide who gets what at what time, and that’s how the mix is built. There’s no master plan—the rules are that we reward people who are good to the restaurant. People who appreciate the experience add to the room and add to the environment. There are a lot of famous, cool people who are total assholes and are not restaurant-centric. They don’t get in.

Some people might find that haughty or snobby or whatever, but it really isn’t. It’s about adding to your own good fortune. Successful people want to be surrounded by other successful people in other industries. It adds to their experience and stature in society. So when we decorate a room that way, we’re increasing their pleasure and therefore increasing our success. We are definitely facilitators—we weave a certain part of the fabric that is finance, art, creativity, power—everything that New York is.

But at Babbo, once you are seated, in no way are we preferential to celebrities or VIPs. Everyone gets the same experience in terms of hospitality and food. We’re egalitarian, and that’s a big part of it, because we know that no matter who you are, when you come to Babbo you want to have an eclectic mix of cool people around you. We’re creating a better experience for every customer by creating the right vibe. We want people who appreciate the art of the restaurant, the food and experience, who give something back to you—and I don’t mean that they just spend a lot and tip large and that’s it. We give them something personal, and they give something personal back. Everything is about a give-and-take, even if it’s based on a business transaction. So what I’m doing is asking the paying customers to open themselves up to the experience and become a part of the environment. To interact with the maître d’. To engage the waiter, to give feedback, to talk about the food and wine.

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