Will Guidara's framework, from Unreasonable Hospitality, pp. 226 to 240.
Do not serve only what you want to serve
That is showing off.
Do not serve only what you think others want
That is pandering.
Serve what you genuinely want to receive
That is where authenticity comes from, and it changes as you change.
From chapter: Chapter 20: Back to Basics, pp. 226–240
Visiting top restaurants worldwide, Guidara and Humm add crescendos and a sense of place to EMP, relaunching with a New York themed tasting menu in September 2012 and scripted speeches that Pete Wells savages in a Critic’s Notebook. Guidara owns two mistakes, going too far and taking away the team’s ability to read the table, the same lack of trust he showed with the GM role. They win four stars from Wells in 2015, but slip to fifth on the 50 Best list. Counting ninety interruptions in a fifteen-course menu, Guidara concludes they are no longer serving what they want to receive, and pares back to a mission of being the most delicious and gracious restaurant in the world, a seven-course menu and a dialogue with no menu. EMP is named best restaurant in the world in 2017.
