Q&A with 2016 James Beard Award Hosts Carla Hall & Ming Tsai

Olivia Terenzio, January 13, 2016

Features

On Hospitality: James Liakakos, Jean-Georges’ VIP of Operations

Jean-Georges Vongerichten owns 11 restaurants in New York and 19 around the country and the globe. The guy who jets around the world launching his new restaurants, all while making sure the day-today operations of those restaurants are running smoothly—from teaching servers how to properly make a latte to instructing them on the seven essential napkin folds— is James Liakakos, VP of Operations.

Born and raised in a restaurant family in Long Island, Liakakos graduated from the Cornell Hotel School in 1999 and went to work with Daniel Boulud before joining the Jean-Georges group in 2003 as part of the management team at Mercer Kitchen. Since then he’s become Jean-Georges’ right-hand man, working to execute the JGV vision while ensuring quality of operations and financial performance. Andrea Strong spoke with him about reservations, faster dining, and how to get a guest to put down their phone and order.… Read more

Andrea Strong, January 29, 2016

Chefs

5 Questions with Chef Charlie Palmer

Few modern restaurateurs are more celebrated than Chef Charlie Palmer. His “progressive American” cuisine at Aureole, Charlie Palmer Steak, and Dry Creek Kitchen, among many other restaurants, made him an early pioneer of the local, farm-to-table movement in the U.S. It also earned him acclaim from the James Beard Foundation, Michelin Guide, and countless more organizations in the industry over the past two decades. Who better to share advice for fellow restaurateurs?

We asked Chef Palmer five questions about his career, his approach to hospitality, and how he’d like to see the industry evolve as a whole. Read on for words of wisdom.… Read more

Olivia Terenzio, January 26, 2016

Features

Celebrating the 100 Best Restaurants in America with All-Clad

Last month, OpenTable closed out 2015 by celebrating the 100 Best Restaurants in America, our annual list based on more than 5 million reviews from verified diners in our network. These are the restaurants that consistently get it right — they make every guest feel like a VIP, every time.

To recognize the winners, we partnered with All-Clad, the preferred cookware for professional chefs. With All-Clad, we created customized, engraved pans to gift to each of the restaurants in the top 100 to mark this achievement. See the teams with their one-of-a-kind pans below, and learn more about All-Clad’s Chef Program here.… Read more

Open for Business, January 25, 2016

Links

This Week in Restaurant News: Millennial Chefs, Most Instagrammed Bakeries, Eater’s Essential Restaurants

Every week we’re rounding up some of our favorite articles with trends and tidbits from the world of restaurants. Tell us: what made your reading list this week?

America’s Essential Restaurants 2016 — Eater

Millennial Chefs Who Are Changing the Face of the Industry — Thrillist

How to Build an Army — Journee

Why I Quit My Restaurant Empire to Start from Scratch — Munchies

Chefs Are Changing How Farmers’ Markets Operate – But Is It For Better or Worse? — LA Weekly

Is Fine Dining on the Way Out? — Forbes

David Kinch on the Dietary Restriction Epidemic in America — Eater

Boston Rising — ChefsFeed

The “Most Environmental Restaurant In The World” Just Opened — Fast Company

Uber Prepares Meal-Delivery Service for 10 U.S. Cities — The Wall Street Journal

Past Pollo: How One Chef Is Redefining NYC’s Peruvian Cuisine — Bloomberg Business

4 Trends Shaping Tomorrow’s Dining Rooms — Restaurant Business