Good News for American Restaurants

Usually, journalists who cover food trends like to see at least three strong examples of something going on before they declare it a Trend, capital T. I’m gonna go out on an artisan limb here and proclaim something I see that I hope will spread like bad gossip in a hot kitchen.

We’re going to stop wasting fully built restaurants just so we can exercise our design egos, take what we find, make it a little better and start serving really good food.

It’s very French. And generally European. A place gets sold, the new owners paint the bathroom, fix some of the kitchen equipment, put up a new menu box out front and get going. In New York City, it lives in the form of a newly successful and extremely delicious restaurant christened Calliope.

This is a spot that was previously, well, a few things. The last iteration sported a fairly comprehensive bistro look but just couldn’t make a business on a busy East Village corner. The new owners, a pair of chefs called Ginevra Iverson and Eric Korsh (who happen to be married to each other), have had solid experience on a couple of coasts and wanted to serve good, solid food – that in New York City feels transcendent – and make with the restaurant thing. They have succeeded in part because they seem to be putting all of their resources, talents and efforts into making mouthwatering food and treating everyone extremely well. When’s the last time a server spontaneously blurted that they “just love working for wonderful people who actually care about everyone else”?

So maybe this is a Recession Resulting trendlette, or maybe it’s the wave of the future. Or at least a significant ripple in the sea. In any event, it’s a really good way to go, expecially if you want to build a solid business, and the foundation of long-term success. Please pass the… everything!