Artisan Bistro Austin's French Musings: October 2012

Right now I should be packing. I should have been getting ready for a flight to New York that should have been leaving Austin in about 6 hours. My first flight was canceled. I booked another one and that one was canceled too. Being extremely stubborn I went to go book a third flight and the first and shortest remaining itinerary to pop up was the following :

FLIGHT DETAILS

Mon. Oct. 29 (Arriving Oct. 30) Austin, TX to New York, NY
Austin (AUS) to Los Angeles (LAX)
UNITED 6311 operated by /SKYWEST DBA UNITED EXPRESS
Economy / Coach Class ( T), Canadian Regional Jet 700
Depart 8:25pm Arrive 9:37pm
Duration: 3h 12m
Layover: Los Angeles (LAX) 0h 58m
Los Angeles (LAX) to Palm Springs (Palm Springs Intl.)
UNITED 6311 operated by /SKYWEST DBA UNITED EXPRESS
Economy / Coach Class ( T), Canadair RJ
Depart 10:35pm Arrive 11:29pm
Duration: 0h 54m
Layover: Palm Springs (Palm Springs Intl.) 6h 36m
Palm Springs (Palm Springs Intl.) to Denver (Denver Intl.)
UNITED 6420 operated by /SKYWEST DBA UNITED EXPRESS
Economy / Coach Class ( W), Canadian Regional Jet 700
Depart 6:05am Arrive 9:12am
Duration: 2h 7m
Layover: Denver (Denver Intl.) 1h 17m
Denver (Denver Intl.) to New York (LGA)
UNITED 310
Economy / Coach Class ( W), Airbus A320
Depart 10:29am Arrive 4:07pm
Duration: 3h 38m

Total trip time: 18h 42m | 3,737 miles

Ummmm, I think not. So as I came to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to be traveling for a few days this song popped in my head. A one hit wonder from the eighties and princess Stephanie of Monaco's claim to fame (other than being the daughter of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco, of course). Stephanie sang "comme un ouragan..." literally translated that means, like a hurricane.

Enjoy!

I have been in the restaurant industry for the last 20 years, which is to say all of my adult life. When people say to me how difficult they imagine it to be, I wonder if they could ever imagine truly. But in my experience it's something you have flowing in your veins, it's a part of who you are and you'd never have it any other way. I have owned 3 restaurants to date before Artisan Bistro. After the blood, sweat and tears that goes into opening a restaurant, it needs to find its soul. Without a soul it will die.

The soul is composed of 2 things for me. The first, is its staff. I am very untrusting of restaurants with high turn over rates. I think it is palpable when you walk into any establishment whether it has a positive or negative vibe. I also firmly believe a positive vibe can only be achieved when the people welcoming you to said establishment are genuinely happy to be there.

My staff is my family, we are not a large team. Each and every individual pulls their weight and then some. I consider them to be like my kids. I don't mean this in a condescending way as they all have my complete respect and admiration, but I care for them like family. My very first rule is I only hire very bright people. This is important because being a "server" to me means you are not a plate slinger. You are an individual who is sensitive to the needs of others, and who is quick to react in adversity. You are person with above average general culture, wit and intelligence because you are catering to part 2 of the soul of the restaurant, the customers. I will get there in a second. I have had essentially the same people with me since opening almost 3 years ago. Occasionally, we have made a wrong choice in picking new colleagues and luckily that relationship never lasted long but, generally we paid dearly for it. Some have come and gone to open their own businesses or to take on more responsibility elsewhere and remain very close to the family. Even those I have with me now all have other plans for their lives. They are waiting to gather finances to launch their own business ventures, or continuing their education with other goals in mind or for the younger ones, just gaining experience.

Regardless, most have the capacity to run or manage an establishment of their own, and the others have all the prerequisites and need a little more training. To me, this is pure peace of mind. I trust their initiatives and know they run Artisan as they would their own place.I am thankful to have them with me for now and for as long as they enjoy being there. I firmly stand by my choice to hire only people with above average intelligence and here is why it is so important to me...

Part 2 of the soul of the restaurant, my customers. If you have been to Artisan something may strike you, and actually many people have commented on it. We have, hands down, the most extraordinary clientele of any establishment in the area (and I mean area in a rather large sense). Coincidence? I think not. I like bright, talented, charming, funny and interesting people. Seems obvious does it? Well, maybe it is, but, how do you explain that all my customers are all those things? Why am I so lucky? Because, not innocently, I have done everything possible to cater to exactly those individuals.

So now, why this seemingly megalomaniac tirade on the success of gathering "beautiful" people every night in a strip mall in Lakeway, Texas? As you can imagine, I am going to explain that.

I have been fortunate enough to be able to distance myself from the daily duties of the restaurant for over a year now because as I mentioned above I have a brilliant, very hard working team. When I do come in now, it's mostly to enjoy the surroundings, my team and my customers. Does it get better than that? No.

Over the past few weeks, each time I have been in I have observed things more closely. I now have the necessary distance to see things objectively. Don't get me wrong, we are a restaurant, we make mistakes. There is always room for improvement and we strive continually to be better and will always continue to do so, however, I am satisfied. I have left the restaurant lately feeling a true sense of pride and gratitude.

I am such a huge fan of the people who frequent our restaurant. We have "old" regulars, those who have been with us since day one. These are the ones who braved a good six months of very intense growing pains and continued to believe one day we would finally get it right. Hopefully, we haven't disappointed them. There are those who have visited us fairly regularly over the years and have seen the changes and followed the evolution and we have followed their milestones as well. The "new" regulars, those who discovered us not long ago but who have quickly become part of the family and who we embrace. Then there are the new "extra new", the people who come for the first time. I love seeing the new customers who I know will very soon be a part of the Artisan regulars. You can feel them. You know something special is brewing and they will soon become one of those relationships I cherish so much. Small things give it away like when they say "next time I'll order that for dessert." "Next time", my two favorite words in the english language.

Anyway, tonight again, we had a perfect mix of all those categories and I watched as Aaron, Dana, and Mike (three of my "kids") did their thing. Tonight again, I felt so grateful to be surrounded by a solid team and extraordinary people. So as I often do I posted my gratitude to facebook but guess what...Now I have a blog and I just had so much more to say and unlimited room to do so.

If you are one of those customers I mentioned in this post you know I have a tendency to ramble. If you are one of those customers, you also know what I mean from the bottom of my heart is thank you.

I love the soul of Artisan Bistro and I hope you do too.