Episodes
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Welcome to the final episode of Season One of MaĆ®tre dā Diaries.
Like most restaurants, the podcast has taken much longer to get up and running than we could have imagined, with lots of starts and stops, largely out of our control. To wrap up Season One we figured it would be a good time for you to get to know us better.
Dante and Erica are old friends who met at the Four Seasons Hotel Boston in the 90ās. We followed our hospitality dreams to NYC, worked in some of the finest restaurants in the city, were here through 911, and within years of each other left New York to move back to our respective home states (Hawaiāi and Pennsylvania).
Working fine dining restaurant operations can take its toll on a spirit and a life, and we each had our own cocktail of reasons for leaving town.
Then, ājust when we thought we were outā¦ā we were unable to resist the allure of the city we love. Now we are both back, rolling up our sleeves and pitching in to do our part in post-Covid New York restaurant life.
We started the podcast as a way to build community and foster conversation amongst other FOH folks. We are having a wonderful time reminiscing about restaurants in the 90ās and 2000ās, for sure, but we are also enjoying real talk about the state of hospitality today, and gazing forward at what it can be in the years to come.
Join us as we interview each other, and find out how Dunkinā Donuts and TGI Fridayās figure into our pasts.
#hospitality #restaurants #restaurantpodcast #restaurantlife #maitred #foh #service #nyc #nyrestaurants #86list #soigneryourself #wecantransferthis #werebooked #maitred
@dante_camara @ericawcantley
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Aloha and welcome to our first Pop-Up episode of Maitre dā Diaries the Podcast, where we record interviews from our visits to colleagues in restaurants around the country and the world.
On Danteās most recent visit home he had lunch at Fete in Honolulu with his dear friend and sustainability proponent, Natalie Aczon, after which we had the pleasure to interview the co-owner of Fete, James Beard Award-Winning Chef Robynne Maii.
Dante has been boasting about Robynne and her husband Chuck Busslerās restaurant Fete since it opened, and he was bursting with hometown pride two years ago when Robynne won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific.
Robynne and Dante have more than Honolulu and a love of sustainability in common, though. During our chat we discovered that both Dante and Robynne boast Rocco di Spiritoās Union Pacific as their first job in New York City. Listen in to hear about how she came to work at the world renowned Kitchen Arts & Letters, how it connects to her unique New York 911 story, what made Robynne and her husband Chuck decide to move back to Hawaii and open Fete, and much more!
@robynnemaii @asknataliehawaii @fetehawaii @chuckbussler @beardfoundation @roccodispirito @kalnyc @mattsartwell @zunicafe
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Aspen Maye, Food & Beverage Manager at the Arlo Hotel in Williamsburg, is relatively new to the hospitality business, but sheās a quick study and has already put a lot of thought into how to run a door, make people feel welcome, and add some silliness into training her front of the house team. Listen in as we learn about the 10 to 5 rule, what a Sasha Bar is, and why Aspen thinks everyone should work in hospitality for at least a year. (We wholeheartedly concur!)
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We are so honored to welcome Drew Nieporent to MaĆtre dā Diaries!
Drew is one of America's great restaurateurs. He has been an integral player in the NYC food world landscape for decades, supporting the community, making connections, and always bringing the good time and warm welcome.
Drew has played a significant role in shaping the dining scene in this country into one of our premier cultural, artistic, and recreational pursuits, with iconic venues including Montrachet, Nobu, Batard, Rubicon, and Tribeca Grill.
A stellar career like Drewās doesnāt happen by accident. Augmenting his studies at Cornell, he worked his way up from the bottom studying the rise of McDonaldās, learning fine dining service on international cruise ships, and working with the great showman Warner LeRoy at Maxwellās Plum and Tavern on the Green.
Listen in as we chat about those early days, how his fatherās job impacted his choice of profession, how Drew met and ended up hiring David Bouley as the first chef at Montrachet, the storied evolution of the 239 West Broadway space, how Drew feels about Instagram and what restaurant behavior heād like to see 86ed!
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MaƮtre d's may be the gatekeepers, but here at MaƮtre d' Diaries we will frequently step away from the door and talk to front of the house hospitality professionals who play all different roles in executing the service in restaurant operations.
Join us this episode for our chat with Maddy Maldonado, the beverage director of Jose Andres' Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards on the West Side of Manhattan.
Maldonado grew up in New Jersey, the daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, surrounded by the wonder of food, love, and warmth while she helped her mother host large family gatherings. Maldonado first caught the hospitality bug doing pick up work with a caterer: listen in as she tells us how helping out at a party in the home of a wine collector with a 1,000 bottle cellar sparked a mentorship that led to a lifelong passion for learning and teaching about wine.
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Welcome to the first episode of We're Booked! where each season we will chat with people who write books about restaurants!
Where better to kick off this deliciously decadent series than at the venerable Kitchen Arts & Letters, the world renowned bookstore opened in 1983 by the legendary Nach Waxman?
For almost four decades Waxman was a veritable biblio-maƮtre d' whose by-hand sales and curation made Kitchen Arts & Letters a beloved and important gastronomic library and research center.
Join us in the stockroom at KAL--goosebumps!--as we chat with managing partner, Matt Sartwell, about the history of the store and some of our favorite books about restaurants.
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It's been quite a year for Chef David Viana and Managing Director Neilly Robinson, partners in New Jersey's Heirloom Kitchen, Heirloom at the St. Laurent Social Club, and the systemically innovative, vibrantly delicious, Lita.
Last summer we visited David and Neilly six weeks after Lita, their Modern Iberian Restaurant in Aberdeen Township, NJ, opened. Since then, Esquire Magazine and the James Beard Foundation have recognized Lita as one of the country's Best New Restaurants.
We agree, and we think Lita also boasts an important new approach to restaurant staffing. You're going to want to hear about how Viana and Robinson are blending BOH & FOH to foster growth and career sustainability for their team members.
Join us for our chat about the vision and intentionality behind this beacon of exciting hospitality and its creators' game-changing model for sharing the wealth.
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One fine August afternoon Dante & Erica met up at Cafe Spaghetti and had the fortuitous pleasure of running into chef/owner Sal Lamboglia, who gave us a preview of their new venture, Swoony's.
Of course we pulled out the microphone to record the impromptu visit! Listen in to hear about Sal and Dante's meeting at Andrew Carmellini's A Voce and the inspiration behind the newly opened and already warmly embraced Swoony's on Columbia Street, a block away from Cafe Spaghetti.
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Giovanna Cucolo is the managing partner and wine buyer of Brooklynās Cafe Spaghetti and the recently opened Swoonyās, two of Carroll Gardenās most comfortable, fun, popular restaurants. She's worked in many of the city's top dining establishments with some of the country's great restaurateurs, and brings all that experience home to Brooklyn and the Columbia Waterfront district.
Giovanna is a true renaissance woman and a consummate host. She loves the hospitality business and brings a dose of stoicism and ādonāt take yourself too seriouslyā to her management style, which translates directly into the vibe in the dining rooms she pilots. Her multilingual background and education in the classics informs both how she thinks and how she builds her team.
In this episode youāll hear about:
Her time at Club Med
Her pollinator garden and bird watching
Her wine mentors Josh Nadel & Jorge Riera
The importance of speaking more than one language
What restaurant behavior sheād like to see 86ed
And much much more!
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It was a maƮtre d' reunion! One of the many things chef Daniel Boulud taught those of us lucky enough to have worked with him is the importance of recognizing and celebrating milestone moments.
In that spirit, to partake in the @30atdaniel celebration in the spring of 2023, Dante and Erica invited seven former Daniel maƮtre d's to talk about what their time working the door for Daniel meant to them and to their careers.
You'll hear stories and tributes to Daniel from:
Markus Draxler
Elvir Dzananovic
Karim Guedouar
Cherif Mbodji
Maite Montenegro
Carrie Sumner
John Winterman
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Join Erica and Dante as they chat with mentor, inspiration and former boss, chef Daniel Boulud, during an epic dinner at Restaurant Daniel in April 2023.
Daniel shares his thoughts about the fine dining scene in NYC when he arrived in 1983, who were the maitre d's who held the power, how the role has changed, and the gastronomic history behind his award-winning restaurant Le Pavillon.
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Who better to have as our first guest on MaĆ®tre dā Diaries than maĆ®tre dā extraordinaire, Michael Cecchi-Azzolina? Michael has had two huge hits in a row this past year. His memoir, Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York City MaĆ®tre dā, is a best seller that's being touted as a front of the house Kitchen Confidential; and his Greenwich Village boite, Cecchi's, opened this summer to great acclaim and has fast become one of the hottest tables in town.
We interviewed Michael this spring before his restaurant opened, and checked back in with him last week to hear how it's going. Come join us for our chat!
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Join Erica and Dante as they talk about their new Front of the House industry podcast and what you can expect to hear in Season One.
Set in part at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Fulton at the South Street Seaport in New York City, you'll experience dining out with two OG maĆ®tre dās, and hear what it was like when the New York Times food critics showed up at the door circa 2000's.
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Welcome to MaĆ®tre dā Diaries!
Thank you for joining us!
Please come in and have a taste of what you can expect in Season One of our much anticipated front of the house restaurant podcast.
