What is the criteria for judging restaurants for the guides?
They have a team of inspectors who go anonymously over a year, maybe 3-4 times at specific times, so they can see the consistency of the restaurant. Usually, the inspectors chosen have a full time job—they could be a lawyer or a banker It’s something like a mystery shopper with good knowledge and taste, also understanding how the business works. At the same time, in my restaurant, I’m the most contradictory case because they gave me two stars which is fine and I’m very happy with it and I’m certainly the best two star they ever had in America and I can certainly kick a lot of butts of two star chefs in France and I can also kick a lot of three star chefs butts. I also think it’s a combination that makes it a unique restaurant—service and a relationship with the customer. Food quality is naturally the top priority. You can have confident service, but you don’t want robotic service. I think it’s important to have a really open hearted personality at the front of house. In Europe they pay
