More food adventures!
I grabbed a seat at the bar of much-acclaimed Via Carota and struck up a conversation with the friendly bartender and a single woman on her lunch break next to me. I learned the story of the restaurant mashup that Jody Williams and Rita Sodi established just a few years prior, the details of their newly-opened cafe next door, and the french bistro Buvette down the street. The woman next to me, a 18 year veteran of the NYC real-estate scene, continued to talk to me about the various restaurant groups in NYC, James-Beard stamps of approval, and why Via Carota and Buvette are such special places.
So… I just had to go to Buvette.
The next day I found myself again sitting at the bar. I notice that a kitchen “line” is right in front of me. Three waiters, all chit-chatting in Spanish, swirl around one another in the tight space between the bar counter and shelves. One person is on egg and waffle duty, the other is concocting various salads of the nicoise variety and dressing the dishes coming from the hot area just a few inches away. I am amazed by how they can produce basically all of the items on the menu in such a small space. Adjacent to me is the station where waitstaff pick up coffee drinks and food and deposit various mise-en-place from an unknown origin (maybe a back stock cooler hidden in the basement?). While enjoying my rillettes de saumon and tarte tatin, a thought occurs to me:
The best spot to sit in a restaurant is at the bar. It’s even better when traveling alone.
Why?
On four separate dining occasions on this trip, I have struck up conversations at or experienced an “inside look” into a restaurant through bar dining. Maybe this opinion is because I have worked in the industry since childhood and have a certain restaurant perception having worked for over seven years at eight restaurants, but I argue that the birds-eye-view one gets over the theatrics occurring simultaneously across different scenes by different actors in the restaurant is truly unbeatable.
Furthermore, it also dawned on me that the theatrical experience of each restaurant that I dined at this week is particularly special because of the actors and agents involved. Having walked over forty miles through the streets of NYC this week, I noticed the sheer volume of restaurants that, while spanning quality and clientele, all garner their “pull” of customers from somewhere. Why is Via Carota full of guests with a wait while Fairfax just a few steps away in Greenwich Villiage has an empty bar?
Actors and Agents.
My various bar conversations typically revolve around the “who” of the restaurant and the industry in general. Given that the “what”, the food, is at an indisputable quality, what’s left is the origin story of the people who brought the pieces together and the actors that make it happen. Bar staff are the actors in the plot and the founders and their stories are the agents that fill bar seats.
A sign of a worthwhile restaurant is one where you can sit at the bar and chat with whomever is there about the ins-and-outs of the who, what, and why of the meal and the restaurant.
Next time you have a free afternoon, pick a restaurant and park yourself at the bar. Enjoy.
Oh and everyone needs to try Joe’s classic slice at some point in their life.
Back to Chicago!