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Do you have any mentors in the restaurant industry? —Drew B., St. Louis
It’s safe to say that we all have at least one mentor, a person we respect and have taken cues from over the years. Like most people, I can cite a handful, though some in the restaurant industry–specific list below (the ones I don’t know personally) would more accurately be described as role models.
Don Asel (owner, The Harvest Moon, Columbia, Missouri): A first time restaurateur when I met him, he listened to the suggestions of his employees and often acted upon them, a valuable, morale-building asset. Don gets the credit (or the chiding!) for nudging me into the restaurant business.
Dave Livengood (general manager, The Original Bobby Buford Restaurant, Columbia, Missouri): This former multi-unit manager for Gilbert-Robinson taught me a lot of what I know about the business, including to let out a long, loud scream in the walk-in freezer to destress and then emerge a few moments later smiling.
Dennis Harper (owner, Harpo's and The Harvest Moon, Columbia, Missouri): The hardest-working food-and-beverage guy I ever worked with. He continued to be that guy long after he needed to be.
Jonathan Gold/Pete Wells (restaurant critics): Two guys who make food writing look easy when it’s anything but. Their stuff is so good, you want to savor it twice.
Anthony Bourdain (wayfarer): Besides exposing the public to what goes on behind a kitchen's double doors, this laid-back but complicated storyteller was the first to masterfully knit together regional food and culture.
Danny Meyer (restaurateur, Union Square Hospitality Group): As I noted in this Q&A, when interviewing Meyer, “he looks you straight in the eye, and you're convinced that every question is a thoughtful one, maybe one that’s never been asked, even though he’s probably answered it a hundred times. In a roomful of people, you're the only one in the room.” Meyer gets the credit for his now-famous, hopped-up version of The Golden Rule. He calls it Enlightened Hospitality.
Mike Emerson (co-founder, Pappy's Smokehouse): I’ll wager that Emerson was applying Meyer’s hospitality principles at Pappy’s even before he read Meyer’s must-read book Setting the Table. Nobody made you feel like a friend and welcome guest in his restaurant better than Mike. He was St. Louis' answer to Meyer. Fortunately, a handful of local chefs and operators were taking notes.
Vince Bommarito, Sr. (Tony’s): As founder of the city’s first five-star restaurant, the so-called “dean of the old school” gets the credit for putting St. Louis on the national restaurant map. In 2018, a year before he passed away, Tony's was named a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Service, a national category. The systems, the brigade-style service, the food, the décor—to say nothing of escorting guests up a flight of stairs backward because he believed that a host should never turn his or her back on a guest—were exemplary. The man was a fascinating individual and restaurateur, one St. Louis may never see the likes of again.
Dr. George A. Mahe, Jr.: My dad wasn’t a restaurant guy, but he’s at the top of any mentor list I could ever cobble together. “Doc” was an old-fashioned, black bag–carrying, houndstooth fedora–wearing, house call–making medical doctor. He was a diagnostician non pareil and a master of proper bedside manner. (He even taught a class on it.) Unfortunately, it's an art that has all but vanished from modern medicine. A patient, humble, and religious man who never seemed to get too upset with any of the chaos surrounding him, he was a constant source of inspiration to me, our family, and countless others. It might be a stretch to say that I inherited even bits and pieces of his selfless personality.
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