Playing the Hits

Dear Pros,

You've got Kat here. My body may currently be next to a barrel smoker in rural New York State, but my brain is still up in the clouds of Aspen, and all the heady conversations I got to listen to and take part in. Magic happens when hospitality people align, and my colleagues and I took advantage of the sheer concentration of star power at the Food & Wine Classic to assemble a new slate of onstage interviews, panels, and storytelling to complement all the tantalizing cooking demos and wine tastings that are the hallmark of this 41-year-old event.

I felt especially lucky to moderate a panel called Off the Menu: How Iconic Restaurants Build a Legacy, with a stacked deck of legends — and legends in the making — including Ti Martin and Meg Bickford of the 131-year-old Commander's Palace in New Orleans; Danny Meyer, who was celebrating 20 years of Shake Shack, 30 years of Gramercy Tavern, and 39 years of Union Square Cafe; and Bobby Stuckey and Carlin Karr who helm the 20-year-old Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado. I'll be recapping the whole thing in an upcoming story, but what really struck me was the permission they all give themselves to take risks and change to evolve with the times.

"Nothing is sacred" at Commander's Palace, said Martin. "I think there are some philosophies that we live by, but as far as the food and the dishes go, I don't feel like anything's sacred." That doesn't mean that cooler heads don't sometimes prevail (Martin shared that she recently contemplated changing the restaurant's iconic aqua exterior to coral and was dissuaded), or that things won't be reversed if enough customers speak up (garlic bread was taken off the menu at one point and the restaurant got hate mail) but it is, as Martin says, a process of filtering through the input with her team, which includes her cousin Lally Brennan.

Meyer said that when it comes to assessing the impact of change, "Sometimes it's as easy as looking at the sales report." But then he hit a different note. "When you go to see a concert of one of your favorite fans, they want to sell their new album and you want to hear all their old songs. And for me, if they play too many of their new ones and they don't give me what I came for, I'm not going to buy the new stuff," he said." "On the other hand, I want to hear the new one because I love this band."

He continued. "What we try to do with the restaurants is almost the exact same thing. I want to give our guests enough of the dishes that they came back to hear, but enough new stuff so they'll keep coming back."

And Stuckey — who Food & Wine had honored with a mentorship award just the night before — said that for Frasca, it's crucial for the team to keep their eyes on the North Star by which they initially set the course for the restaurant: the Northern Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. That can be challenging for young cooks who join the team and want to follow trends they see out in the world. He advises them that it's fine to take that discipline and curiosity, but it's got to serve the restaurant's mission. "I want in 10 years for us to be more Friulano than we are today. We want to be more Friulano than we were 20 years ago," Stuckey said. "So you can keep progressing. But for us, for this restaurant — versus the other restaurants in our group — that region is our North Star."

As we wrapped up the panel, I couldn't stop thinking about Food & Wine, itself. It's a publication that's been around since I was five years old in 1978. I've been a reader for 25 years, and on staff for the past five and a half, and I am constantly buying decades-old issues to admire what was done and note what's changed. My time here is a blip, and my colleagues and I are just stewards of the present era. And that's what I treasure in these restaurants and restaurateurs. I revel in the hits, go out to see the live performance as often as I can, and because their existence is so meaningful to me, I'll show up for every verse, old, new, and yet to be sung. I'd love to know more about the restaurants to which you have returned over and over, and what you've seen them keep sacrosanct, and what new things have thrilled you or turned you off. Drop me a line at the email below or find me on social media and sing the praises of your longtime favorites.

More stories and conversations below.

Be well,
Kat