Books and time. Two of my favorite parts of Christmas. A few new good books and a few stolen moments to read them. Annie’s cousin Helen gave me a copy of Unreasonable Hospitality. Written by Will Guidara and about the restaurant Eleven Madison Park. More about the journey than the restaurant. A New York Times Bestseller, over 1 million copies sold.
I’m on page 92.
I like this part after a review said the restaurant needed more Miles Davis.
Over the next month or two, I worked with the team to create a list of words that came up over and over when critics and other musicians talked about Miles Davis.
Cool
Endless Reinvention
Inspired
Forward Moving
Fresh
Collaborative
Spontaneous
Vibrant
Adventurous
Light
Innovative
These resonated with us and became a road map of sorts. (The list was long, but we wanted eleven). The review had been right: if our restaurant was going to evolve, it did need more Miles Davis.
We printed a large sign with those words underneath our logo and hung it in our kitchen. That sign became a touchstone, a guiding light, a way to hold ourselves accountable. Whenever we were brainstorming or facing a difficult decision, we looked at the list. The restaurant would change radically over the years that followed, but we felt confident that what we were doing would make sense, as long we stayed true to the words on that list.
Good ideas for Riverdee, right?
