WHEN I OPENED JARDINIÈRE, the first restaurant I owned, I was
coming off incredible accolades [from my time at] Rubicon: I was
a Food & Wine Best New Chef and a James Beard Rising Star Chef
of the Year. Huge expectations. In the opening weeks, I’d go into my office,
have an espresso, sit and collect myself, and then go expedite during
service. I started having panic attacks, had to breathe into a paper bag.
I always trained like a racehorse. The work I knew like the back of my
hand, but the restaurant was a lot bigger, and all eyes were on me. It was
something I just had to work through. I had to talk myself off the cliff
and reorient, do the thing that I know how to do. I still get anxiety
attacks from time to time, but I’ve learned to deal. Sometimes it takes a
Xanax, sometimes breathing exercises, to reground. It’s part of me.”
TRACI DES JARDINS
1995 F&W BEST NEW CHEF AND RESTAURATEUR,
SAN FRANCISCO
PEOPLE LIVE IN CONSTANT FEAR of failing, and that fear
prevents people from actually taking the risks necessary
to do anything of consequence. I believe a lot in language
and the importance of how you articulate things, so I call them set-
backs. Failure seems so resolute or so irreversible. We’ve had plenty
of setbacks, bad reviews, challenging financial times. Whether it’s
the competitiveness within you, or a desire—if you’re in the world of
hospitality—to be loved, you work that much harder. Sometimes it’s
impossible to show a return on investment on paper, or to explain
why practically or pragmatically an idea makes sense. But if you feel
something powerfully in your gut, you just need to listen to that.”
WILL GUIDARA
RESTAURATEUR AND WELCOME CONFERENCE
COFOUNDER, NEW YORK CITY
“
“
FAILURE IS JUST a seven-letter word. Growing is also a seven-
letter word. I have failed many times in cooking, in running
restaurants and businesses, in being a good human, but it
doesn’t mean it wasn’t a formative, maturing experience, each and every
time. The important thing is to learn from the mistake and triage ways to
not repeat it. If the duck is overcooked, then the duck is overcooked, and
your job as a chef is to deduce how to make the duck come out
consistently correct after that failure.”
“
HUGH ACHESON
2002 F&W BEST NEW CHEF AND COOKBOOK AUTHOR,
ATHENS, GEORGIA
