Restaurants
To Serve and Perfect
By Fiona Morrow published Mar 1, 2008
Great food, check. Stylish room, sure. But what makes a restaurant really sing? At Boneta, it’s flawless service
On the corner of Carrall and Cordova, the staff of Boneta—some 18 assorted servers, kitchen crew, and bar managers—sit down together for a meal, something they do each night before service. This evening they eat fried chicken with honey-Dijon dip and apple slaw-a special request from Mark Brand, one of the owners. The communal staff meal is a team-building ritual that's integral to the restaurant's philosophy; dinner is free for staff (many establishments charge up to $10 per head) and cooked by a junior kitchen member (offering him or her a chance to show their skills).
Next up: kitchen and bar news. There are a couple of new products in the liquor cabinet, and all staff are expected to know what's what. Brand gives a detailed description, and the bottles are passed around for everyone to smell the contents. "How many times have you gone into a restaurant and asked for a drink and they have no idea what you're talking about?" asks co-owner Neil Ingram. "It happens all the time. Isn't that maddening? You ask for a Sazerac and they have absolutely no clue." Meantime, chef Jeremie Bastien brings over two new dishes added to tonight's menu, along with a pile of forks. Everyone tucks in, asking questions and proffering opinions.
With some of the city's best restaurants on their résumés, Brand and Ingram-along with the third business partner, André McGillivray-know a thing or two about how to run a room. McGillivray spent eight years at CinCin before stints at Lucy Mae Brown, Chambar, Lumière, and Le Crocodile. Brand made his name as a top mixologist at Chambar, and Ingram was Lumière's esteemed sommelier before deciding it was time to be his own boss. Last year's dining boom brought in a new guard, a fresh force in the local culinary scene, young people with their own ideas about how to run a restaurant. Boneta-a slick, high-ceilinged, high-energy room serving French-, Italian-, and Japanese-inspired dishes-is a notable case in point.
