Sometimes the restaurant business is like a game of telephone,sort of, in away, but not really.  It's funny to see how, through translation, contexts and meanings can be altered simply by not understanding the origins. It's kind of how I feel about most cooking shows and blogs.  There are only few types of shows or blogs these days. The "live to cook another day" reality based competitions where there may be crying involved.  Then there is the other where no credible culinary background is necessary except that one is a self-confessed foodie.  Which is all good and fine but I used to like listening and watching someone with proven skill prepare something very difficult but yet talk you through it removing all the mystery and horror. Back then the probability was that nothing was going to be like what you just saw, but at least the goal was to cook like someone who knew what they were doing that actually had guns. No explanation necessary. Obviously the kung fu was strong from a life of battles. All the rest was assumed. Weekly tests not necessary. Like the Great Chef's series or Cuisine Rapid with Pierre Franey. Before celebrity and marketability even made sense...Pierre, I loved that show. He drank as much wine as he cooked with, his big red nose... but he had guns. Anyway, this is what I was thinking and it reminded me of something I thought I'd share.

I heard a story about Joe Baum when I was working at the Rainbow Room.  It was told to me by a long time maitre’d that worked with Mr. Baum. It had to do with the origins of many of the service elements that have come to be associated with standards of great service that over time have trickled down through the ranks and have ended up as corporate core service deliverables at your local concept family restaurant or hotel dining facility.  I thought I’d share my favorite one. That is, of course, besides the time when I had just started at the Rainbow Room.  It was the seasonal drive for Club Lunch members. I was told, as green as I was, to put a piece of goat cheese on every plate that I saw champagne grapes. Now, in 1992 goat cheese and champagne grapes were the food of gods, unheard of by mere mortals, as far as most people were concerned.  As I'm doing my best to not look like a complete tool, here comes Mr. Baum laughing at me. I think he even had tears in his eyes, a little.  He said, "What are you doing kid." I said I was told to  put a piece of cheese anywhere I saw grapes on a plate. He put his hand on my shoulder, still laughing and said, "Your right, but it's supposed to go out with dessert. It's good stuff.  See if you can make them eat it." He gave me a slap on the back and walked away. Mr. Baum. I didn't stop worrying about how badly I messed that up until, maybe, 1998. I was pretty sure up until then, someone was going to find out about what happened and ask me about it at an interview. Anyway...

First, as a quick reference point that isn’t sufficiently explained on Wikipedia, Joe Baum was a legendary restaurateur/impresario who is fundamentally responsible for creating the concept of “dining out as an all encompassing event” in every sense of the word. It wasn’t uncommon in any of his restaurants that somewhere in the evening there was going to be live music and probably a floor show of some sort. Either it was entertainment for entertainment’s sake or it was the presentation of the food as an event tableside or somewhere in an open kitchen. (So, by extension Joe Baum is the creator of all cooking shows because he realized that seeing what goes on in the creation of the cuisine in the kitchen is fundamentally entertaining. And in lesser degrees created the "action station" that everyone pays extra for when booking a catered event. That's how bad ass he was, in any case.)  There usually was some theme.  At the Rainbow Room he wanted everything to be as it was when the Rainbow Room first ruled the world. Costumes, cuisine, décor, service, music, entertainment all centered around its Hay Day, as if it had been going on for ever and never missed a beat. I remember having to prepare endless quantities of Sole Diamond Jim Brady, for instance. Or at La Fonda Del Sol, where in the middle of dinner in the middle of the floor a guitar player and flamenco dancer appears and dazzles everybody while the open kitchen in the background is flambéing something adding the right amount of additional drama with the smell of the grilled steaks filling the room. And to round out the experience, a guy shaving snow cones for the kids, as far as I was concerned. There were always those types of wonderfully conceived details. And no matter which Joe Baum restaurant you talk about, the architecture, the well thought out environment was as much a part of the experience as any reason to go to a restaurant could be. He changed the trajectory of what the general public has come to experience as a good restaurant and what corporate interests saw as something to decyphr and recreate. His vision made it easy for concept restaurants to exist. It is impossible to understate his influence.  Before there was a Friday’s or Houlihan’s or even going a little further back, Beef Steak Charlie’s, there was Tavern on the Green, The Forum of the 12 Ceasars and Joe Baum. He invented the mold from which all models in whose likeness restaurant chains have been created.

This story, as it was told to me, has to do with the opening of the Four Seasons Restaurant…

He had gotten word that a very influential, wealthy woman wanted to come for lunch and was considering hosting an event there.  However, as it was explained, the opening day was inconvenient for her and wanted to see the restaurant before it opened.  Recognizing that this is someone who could substantially influence the success of the restaurant, he arranged for her to come in for lunch the day before and sample the menu.  It also gave him the opportunity to give her a private tour, work his charm and show her all the spaces that could possibly be used for private events and explain how they could accommodate any function she was thinking of hosting. 

Throughout her lunch, nothing was quite right. She was very generous with her opinions about how she thought this dish or that dish could be better if she ever decided that she was going to host an evening at his restaurant. After she’s through with the food, it’s time to see the rest of the restaurant.  As Mr. Baum was explaining how the different elements decorating the restaurant were brought in from around the world with no expense spared, pointing out this vase was from somewhere exotic, and the fabric was brought in from someplace expensive, she always had a comment.  Something like, “Of course it is, I had one from the same era in the house we sold in Vienna, I always thought it was hideous.  I think I sold the house because I couldn’t stand to look at it any more…” and so on. I think you get the point.  Well, they finally make to the pool room. A big reflecting pool was the center piece of this room. Eventually, after the restaurant opened, it was the room where “everyone” wanted to be seated in or not at all. Finally she was impressed.  This is a room that she thought she could do something with and started making suggestions of how she thought the evening might transpire.  Mr. Baum, finally making an impression, took a moment to direct the woman’s attention to the original Picasso that was hanging over the threshold of the room so that "when you sit in the dining room you could enjoy the beautiful canvass by the master."

She said: “Oh yes, it’s a beautiful picture.  But I believe it looks a little faded.”

Mr. Baum: “But madam, this is an original painting by Picasso that we purchased         because we felt it was the perfect compliment to such a beautiful room. It’s not a picture. It’s an original. It was very difficult to get.  We’re very lucky to be able to have such a great work of art in our restaurant.”

She said: “Yes, I know it’s an original painting. And of course you’re lucky.  It does suit the room very well. Congradulations on your procurement, darling. It’s just that it's a little faded from when I owned it last.”

She was slightly annoyed. The afternoon was over. She thanked him for his hospitality and walked away.  Immediately, Mr. Baum turned to his maitre’d and said, “That’s why the customer is always right.”

Just a little bit different than what that phrase has come to mean, no?