Restaurant VIP dos and don’ts

Bangers & Jams this week features two hours of me talking to two of my favorite people in food. First up,

Brooks Reitz

of the wonderful

A Small and Simple Thing

joins me on a Substack Live to chat about his approach to hooking up VIP diners at his restaurants, why he doesn’t send out free dishes, and what’s changing about the dining out status game. Here are some clips from the conversation:

Brooks’ manager manual

Passionate vs. good service

And I was stoked to join

Eddie Huang

and

HLM

on their pod Canal Street Dreams. We got into a bunch of stuff around kitchen vs. corporate culture, New York vs. LA and the future of Substack. Watch it on Substack or listen on Spotify.¹

Austin Tedesco on Canal Street Dreams

My first time cooking in a professional kitchen

The sterile crowd at Ha’s

Direct feedback in the kitchen

My short and sweet Substack pitch

1. And thank you to everyone who commented on my tan.