Mastering the Ballet of High-End Dining: A NYC Maitre’d's Tale of Passion and Perseverance

Book Review: Your Table is Ready by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina

I was attracted to this book because I watched the series “The Bear.” It captured the addiction so many have to the restaurant business. It showed the people in this industry at the highest level of professional attainment. But also the insane hours and dedication to excellence of these perfectionists.

The best restaurants in the world are owned by people who want to provide others with a unique and unforgettable dining experience. To this end, they spend millions of dollars building their vision into a reality. Then, they hire the most talented BOH (back of house) and FOH (front of house) professionals. These people complete the owner’s vision and, in many cases, improve upon it. A new restaurant is their pallet. They are not only chefs and servers; they are artists. And there are so many variables to get right to make the owner’s vision an award-winning reality. It is so unlikely the concept will work, but when it does, it is magical for all the diners.

About the author

The author of this book is a thirty-five-year restaurant professional in NYC. He started as a nobody, knowing nothing. He advanced in the industry in one of the biggest cities in the world as one of the best and most capable in the FOH of restaurants. He is a brand name in NYC, Maitre’d de Hotel.

And like many wait staff in NYC, his desire was to be an actor. This didn’t work out for him, but through this experience, he learned to tell stories and write. In fact, he became great at both. This book was written while NYC was closed for COVID-19. It afforded him an everyday life with normal hours, allowing him the energy to create this industry memoir.

On par with the TV series “The Bear,” he captures the business complexity, the people who make it work, their artistry, and their frustrations on missing the mark. And it includes the elation when they come together as a team and get it right.

Making a high-end restaurant successful for one night is like a ballet. The music, the choreography, the timing, the experience, the creativity, the dedication, the pride, the environment, and the audience all have to come together in a moment. It must be perfect, and when it isn’t because of the people involved, it must have people who can recover and make it perfect.

I loved the epilogue of this book. He shared what he learned and what it takes to be great. He shared the sacrifices we all make to be great. Here is what he wrote.

“But the demands of the business never change. The temptations get harder and harder to indulge. The lifestyle wreaks havoc on relationships. It takes a special person to be a partner of someone who works in hospitality. You do your best to make the relationship work, but for many, it doesn’t. The stress of not being home for dinner five or six nights a week or coming home after midnight while your partner spends most of the week home alone or taking care of the kids and putting them to bed. What many winds up doing is cycling through partners. And the cycle can be endless till you wake up one day and you're older and alone."

Thoughts on Being an Entrepreneur

This reminded me of my dedication to my life as an entrepreneur. I was a slave to my business. And a slave can only have one master. Everything else in my life everyone else in my life suffered from neglect. I was addicted to making the vision a reality. And I worked to attract the best people in their professions to help me get there. And it worked only one time. Looking back, it worked because we were all slaves to the business. We saw in our mind’s eye what needed to be done to get there, and we did it.

I left entrepreneurship for a time after selling to a corporation. For ten years, I worked for this new master’s in this new environment. But it didn’t do it for me. They were really gifted people, slaves to what they were doing. But they were different.

They were chasing a vision of increased revenue and quarterly earnings. Their goal was to meet or exceed the expectations they set with “the street.” That’s the corporate game.

I left to get back to my addiction, entrepreneurs, and startups—this time as an angel. I just couldn’t stay away.

And neither could the author. After Covid, after publishing this memoir, he couldn’t stay away from the restaurant industry. He was addicted. He wanted back in. He wanted the drug to be a part of achieving a vision with flawless execution. But this time, he wanted his own restaurant to fulfill his own vision and not someone else’s.

He wanted to watch the Maitre’d in his restaurant tell an expectant guest, "Your table is ready."

A Word of Caution

I loved the book but almost put it down. Early in the author’s career, sex and drugs played a role in his development. These stories were included, in part, to help describe the restaurant industry culture but also for entertainment value. Some stories were a bit too graphic for me, and that is when I almost put the book down. But then, he just stopped and never mentioned these types of stories again. The focus was on upscale restaurant experiences. Thus, I finished the book.

Have you ever found yourself #addicted to the rush of turning a #dream into reality? Comment on LinkedIn