Hospitality in the Restaurant Kitchen: A Chef’s Perspective

I am a chef and I work in the hospitality business. I spend some time in the dining room, but mostly you’ll find me in the back-of-the-house: the kitchen. Having owned and operated a catering business for 14 years and two restaurants for the past six years, I have managed almost every aspect of each of these businesses at different times. I have worked with corporate clients, young and older couples getting married, families, groups of friends, gala fundraisers for non-profits and guests coming to eat at my restaurants for a variety of meal periods. The clients and guests I have work with all vary in personality, tastes, budgets, needs and desires. Needless to say, I have pretty much seen it all.

Everyone who comes through my doors is different. It is my main responsibility to make sure they feel cared for, appreciated and relaxed. And, as a customer, this is what I want to experience when I dine in a restaurant.

So, now there are the Alan Richman and Elizabeth Gunnison Dunn articles of late. I like them. In fact, I totally agree. Some of the food and chef craze has just gotten out of hand. Yes, I said it. And, I will say this: I don’t think there is any difference between a really talented chef and a really talented musician. Both are creative, and in order to be and continue to be successful, they must push themselves constantly to be better and better, and more creative. Now, what musicians do not face, but chefs do, is the practice of hospitality. As fun or as creative as cooking at a restaurant may be, the diner’s experience is paramount. All chefs know that unless you make your guests happy, they will not return to your restaurant. And, your happy and returning guests keep all of your bills paid.

That said, there are limits. You, as a chef, cannot please everyone all of the time and you have to stay true to your culinary focus and point of view. It takes a special kind of balance for sure. We are familiar with the idea of hospitality in the dining room: The focus of directly caring for guests, what everyone calls customer service, but the practice of hospitality also extends into the kitchen. (Whaaaat?) YES! It is a part of the discipline or craft of cooking in a restaurant — and, it can be very tricky.

In the age of notations at the bottom menus reading, “Substitutions Politely Declined,” it is hard for guests who have any special needs to feel a sense of hospitality. What if the guest has a heart condition and requires a low-sodium diet? Can the salt be left off of the steak prior to grilling? Or, are guests with dietary restrictions not welcome at the restaurant? As a chef who is married to someone with a dietary restriction (a medical condition, not a preference), I understand completelyhow much this affects a diner.

I battle with some requests, but ultimately, I want to practice hospitality in the kitchen. I want to be a role model for my cooks so they practice hospitality in the kitchen too, and so they always remember what industry we work in. We’re in the people-pleasing business, and I want my guests to feel cared for in my restaurants.But, I cannot alter everything, and I cannot bend to every whim. There just has to be limits.

As a chef, I do have intention when creating dishes and pairing ingredients together. There is always a method and reason for what ends up on the plate. My choices are careful and deliberate, and I want my guests to experience the dishes as I intend them to taste. Now, I will leave nuts out of a salad to accommodate a nut allergy, but I draw the line at substituting another dressing that was not intended for the flavor profile of a specific salad. My general rule of thumb is that I will leave an ingredient out, but will not substitute or add ingredients that are not intended for a specific dish.

There are two issues I face with altering dishes:

1. Consistency matters. Cooks are taught to focus on repetition and to make the same dish over and over. This ensures consistency and that in a given evening the first and last preparation of that dish will be the same. Additionally, a dish has been tested multiple times before it makes it onto a menu. This testing in advance gives the kitchen team confidence that everything on the plate works when it comes time for service. On busy nights, alterations break cooks’ rhythms, and sometimes special requests do not get the same level of attention as their order-as-is counterparts. When you are firing dishes from the line in rapid succession it is not always possible to test if a newly altered dish will work as well when compared to the original.

2. Flavor matters most. I measure heat, acidity, texture and other flavors to ensure balance in a dish. I have been cooking professionally for almost 20 years and my ingredient pairings are purposeful. The style in which I cook is a personal reflection of who I am, and I do not always want to change dishes to accommodate the whim of a guest. Specifically, when I don’t feel the dish will be represented best. (In the practice of hospitality I make sure that my menu can accommodate a range of ingredients and dishes that will appeal to a variety of guests.)

Number 1 is just logistics. That’s just how it works. Number 2 is more complicated. Here’s the thing: not all flavors go together. And then comes the curveball: Everyone has different palates. This can be a matter of taste, and not who is right or wrong. One of the best things about being a chef is choosing what you want to pair together, and having your menu represent your experience. And, when you work chef’s hours — that’s usually more hours every week than everyone else — you tend to take your job pretty seriously and really care that you give your guests a great and delicious experience.

I care. I care a lot. In a perfect world I want every customer to be happy with every experience they have with my businesses. I want to think of hospitality as part of what we do in the kitchen. I want to write a menu with intent and confidence, knowing guests can make choices to suit their needs, but I know that doesn’t always work out as perfectly as I hope.

Many times I have had guests call prior to their reservation to discuss any concerns of dietary restrictions. I am always more than happy to have a discussion with them and make sure they will be accommodated. Hospitality should not be an occasional practice, and sometimes finding the right solution takes a little give and take. The goal of the chef is to delight guests and treat them with care and hospitality, while also maintaining the integrity of their craft and the careful intention that goes into each dish.

Richa, Laundry MiT

City Restaurants Multiply, Despite High-Profile Closures

The widely held notion that rising rents are making it nearly impossible to survive as a restaurant in the city received its ultimate endorsement this summer when celebrity restaurateur Danny Meyer said the Union Square Café would move from its longtime home on East 16th Street.

Mr. Meyer’s high-profile indictment of his rent bill played into the narrative of the struggling New York restaurant that has been amplified by a growing number of food blogs that chronicle every cafe and bistro’s closing in granular detail.

The numbers suggest, however, that the last decade has seen a boom for the industry, despite higher rents, a more demanding clientele and additional layers of red tape, including a letter-grade health-rating system from the city. The number of permits for restaurants, bars and cafes rose more than 27% to 23,705 at the start of fiscal year 2015 this July from 18,606 in fiscal year 2006, according to the city Department of Health.

Industry observers say more chefs looking to have their own place and dinner-party impresarios going pro have defied the odds and taken on rents that can climb above $15,000 a month in some Manhattan neighborhoods.

The Union Square Café had been in its location for nearly 30 years and is credited with helping to transform the once-dodgy neighborhood. A representative for Mr. Meyer declined to disclose the rent increase and said they planned to move when their lease is up at the end of 2015.

Last month, the owner of Angelica Kitchen, a vegetarian institution in the East Village, put out a plea to patrons to come often to help the restaurant stay afloat. The rent has risen to more than $22,000 a month. In its early days at a different location on St. Mark’s Place, the restaurant paid $450 a month. “How many more dragon bowls can I sell?” said owner Leslie McEachern.

September saw the closure of Yaffa Café, an East Village restaurant with simple food and a popular backyard. These are just a few high-profile examples from recent weeks, though actual numbers of closings are difficult to obtain. Some experts said many dining spots had fared poorly in part because they opened 15 or 20 years ago—the typical life of a lease—when rents were much lower.

“The ones that have been around that are very successful probably are surprised when their lease expires because they’ve had a nice run,” said Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, a trade group.

Mr. Spinola said landlords had raised rents because of increased costs and increased demand for retail space—in part from more restaurants. “Higher rents are happening because there’s greater interest in opening up restaurants so there’s a greater demand on space,” he said.

Brooklyn, where retail rents are significantly lower than in Manhattan, and where the dining scene is light on haute cuisine and heavy on craft beer and homemade pickles, has seen the biggest percentage increase in new restaurants over the last five years.

The number of eating establishments in Brooklyn grew 10% to 5,658 at the start of fiscal year 2014, from 5,151 in 2009, according to the health department. Manhattan saw a 6% rise—to 9,654 establishments.

Veterans of New York’s unforgiving culinary scene question the staying power of the thousands of new dining spots.

“The restaurant industry is a high growth industry, but it is also a high turnover industry,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, a trade group.

Drew Nieporent, the owner of Tribeca Grill and the Nobu chain of Japanese restaurants, said the phrase “fools rush in” came to mind when he looked at new restaurateurs. “If the rents were reasonable, I would have opened 20 more restaurants than I have today,” he said.

The numbers don’t indicate how much of the rise in permits has been driven by bars, casual cafes and takeout spots—which industry experts cite as the engine of the sector’s growth—as opposed to traditional sit-down restaurants.

Knowing the odds are stacked against new restaurants, Jake Eberle still decided to open a French bistro in Greenpoint two weeks ago. Mr. Eberle, 35 years old, a former chef de cuisine at the Lambs Club in Midtown, said it helped that rents in Greenpoint were about a third of even nearby Williamsburg. Le Fond has enjoyed a few glowing reviews in its early days.

“My father is a business owner, and I just always wanted to be my own boss and have control,” he said.

Still, Le Fond is likely to face challenges drawing clientele to a side street with few other restaurants. On a recent Tuesday evening—to be sure, a traditionally slow night in the restaurant business—it had about 10 customers at peak dining hour.