Book of the Month: "Your Table is Ready... " by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina
A deliciously provocative and informative read.
This book is truly an unexpected pleasure to read. I don’t know if it was the allure tied to being in one space and meeting a million different types of people that got me or simply the possibility of getting pure New York tea after my travels to New York that made me choose this read at the airport, but it got me and I love it!
How’d I Find it?
It’s always important, to me, to look to the source of my information or recommendations. I’ve learned, even on my recent trip to New York, that you guys are suggesting anything these days and creating those similar-looking videos to get people to go to a place with disgusting food, terrible service but a picture-worthy play area and I am not falling it anymore. Seriously, y’all are praising the most disgusting food and the most tourist-heavy areas just because someone else did and you’re the group, in food and travels, that I want to remain as far away from as possible.
Anywho! As I was leaving New York, I met an amazing Greek man and talked about his time in New York and his time as a bartender. He mentioned all the woes of the people who were rude, didn’t pay, didn’t tip, treated him like crap, etc for a job that he chose to do. We talked about life, Greece, and of course, New York.
This was largely why I wanted to travel more this year. So that I could meet people like him and have the conversations that make my day-to-day life not feel so small. Talking to him for an hour made my world feel vast.
After leaving his good graces, I strolled past a big bookstore and couldn’t help myself! The way that I justified purchasing a book was that I needed it for my four hour flight — which, those are the worst, prepare yourself.
I’m strolling through this bookstore with a couple of options: one on self-help and improvement, one romance (of course), and something else that probably just had a cool cover when I saw this book: “Your Table is Ready - Tales of a New York City Maître D’” I read the back synopsis and the glowing reviews from The New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, etc. and determined that this was either a scathing/steamy pick or it was flat-out entertaining. Either way, I was in!
This is no review. what’s it to me?
No, no. This is not a book review. This is simply me giving shine to a book that deserves it for keeping my undivided attention from page 1 through.
I am someone who loved going to restaurants. On my Dad’s side of the family, my Grandmother made it a point growing up to spend everyone’s birthday at a restaurant. As we got older, we even got to pick the different restaurants.
There would be a group of about 15 of us for each meal. We’d pack into whatever pushed together tables they had and we’d laugh from the moment we sit down until we leave (with only a short break to scarf down our food whilst still warm). We did not play about our restaurant experience and, of course, always tipped for it.
After reading this book, I have so many questions that I’d love to ask the author someday. The author who now owns a restaurant in New York called Cecchi’s, mind you. For starters:
How the heck do you feel about restaurant and food service today?
While there are still restaurants whose first order of business on any given day is cleanliness, preparation and freshness like that described in the book, I have a gut feeling that many restaurants could care less. The vast majority of restaurants excluding the super high-end ones are disgusting if you look around. I never knew that I had a preoccupation with baseboards until I was sitting in a restaurant and terrible service afforded me the opportunity to take stock of my environment. Gross. So I’d love to know how Mr. Cecchi would react if he were to “Secret Shopper” restaurants of all star-levels around New York and even California.
Are restaurants more about the hype or are they about the food?
I’ve been to restaurants of all types. I’ve been to the 5-stars and to the Michelins, I’ve been to the fast-food and the down-home. But, what I’ve noticed as of late is that, it’s not really about the food anymore. No one is serving life-changingly delicious food, with great service at a worth-while price anymore. So, I’d also love to ask the author about this. Is this his experience as well? Is the competition actual competition or is social media hype about surface-appeal all that’s needed (just look pretty and they’ll flock to you)? In the book the author describes being asked a similar question and coined it one of the most important questions to answer. Is it about the food or the service? I want to bet further and add onto this question: is it the hype or the food?
Standout statements:
"Life was getting a bit easier in the Big Apple”
This statement truly imparted upon me the fact that everyone has a '“moment”. That time where life just seems to click for them and things start to get easier. The author’s moment came from his own humanity breeding his future successes — a moment of helpfulness on his part led to more trust by his peers which assisted in catapulting him within his career of service. Things clicked and started to come to him because of this moment.
“A well-run dining room is an art, a ballet, a confluence of pieces that come together to bring a guest a meal.”
I’d love to solely eat at the restaurants where people view service this way. I want you to think of your work as a beautiful work of art to be admired by whoever graces your restaurant that day.
I can also take note of the fact that ‘not everyday will be a good day’. But in knowing and acknowledging how human we are, restaurants of all sorts should be prepared to put their best people and their best feet forward. I just don’t feel like that’s the standard anymore. There’s just no pride in this type of service anymore and it’s so scary.
In just the last month, I’ve paid for food that’s had long, disgusting hairs in it, has been cold and stale, has been underprepared or under-seasoned, and/or just not delivered at all. This should not be the norm of any type of food service!
On the one end, with this post, I’m saying: food service, what’s good? And, on the other end I’m simply saying: “run to grab this book”. It’s just a full-on delight to read and I know at least one of you will love it.
Best,
Bree