I am thrilled for all of the success of my chef friends in this industry, but I lament the fact that people forget it is not just a chef that makes a restaurant. A great restaurant is a collaboration of effort amongst many people, from the hostess who nightly organizes the flow of the restaurant to the bus person who makes sure that all is set and ready for the guest’s pleasure. A great restaurant is made up of well-trained servers who know the chef’s dishes and can present them to the guest with warmth and sincerity. It is bartenders, who mix the drinks that lighten the mood, and well-educated sommeliers, who can pick and choose just the right wine for that magical dish you enjoy so much. It is the prep cooks who worked all day to make sure all was ready for the service, and the linemen and women who stand for hours ready to make magic with the ingredients they have been given. A great restaurant is not great because Emeril is in the kitchen. It is great because all who stand beside him, whether in the dining room or the kitchen, are working toward one goal, and that is to please the guest, whoever that may be. So I applaud the success of so many of my friends who are chefs around the country. I would like, though, for people to remember the others who work so hard to make their restaurants successful.
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