When the economy goes sour, there are three different kinds of restaurants that do well: the smaller-scale neighborhood restaurants that don't ask much of you; those that have banked enormous goodwill by offering great value during the boom; and those with proven records of excellence, a sure thing.
— Danny Meyer
Human nature doesn't change. When enough people are comfortable enough financially, there is going to be human nature that wants to spend more money on better quality and, to some degree, status symbols as well.
I gasp for air if I don't get to breathe Italian air once a year.
London has become one of the great world destinations for someone who likes food.
I think that more and more and more really talented restauranteurs and chefs from the fine dining world are going to try their hand at fine casual. They're going to say, 'Why not us?'
It's always imperative to improve and to remain dynamic - or you'll become lunch, as opposed to serving it.
People who have come to appreciate well-sourced and well-cooked food refuse to pay too much for food that they wouldn't want to pay anything for.
How can you franchise hospitality?
I couldn't sit in a chair in an office all day.
I grew up in a reform Jewish family in St. Louis. Our idea of Judaism was no bar mitzvahs and a Christmas tree that had a skirt at the bottom embroidered with the names of my grandparents.
I throw 14 parties a week.
People use restaurants to do business, to do politics, to socialize.
What you can do is present existing flavors in a fresh way, in a fresh context.
A great restaurant doesn't distinguish itself by how few mistakes it makes but by how well they handle those mistakes.
Union Square Cafe is all soul, not brain.
I've been in love with Washington ever since renting my very first apartment there many years ago while working as a Senate intern.
My favorite place is whichever sidewalk is beneath my feet because I am just constantly fascinated by walking and looking and learning. If I've already walked a street five times, then the next five times I walk it looking up, and I learn something about the cornices.
Restaurants with small courses that give the customer choices, and that don't obligate them to spend a fortune, are going to do very well.
I run in London, in San Francisco - any city that's got a waterfront or park.
One of the things that may get lost among all the hubbub when a company is 'going public' is that the business can now be owned, in part, by its greatest fans.
I think that any business that thinks that the transaction is 'you give me money and I give you food, next, you give me money and I give you food, next,' without understanding that people deeply want to feel restored is in danger.
'Fine casual' means taking the cultural priorities that fine dining, at its best, believes in.
Restaurants are like kids. You hope you understand their innate gifts, and then you let them realize their aspirations.
Museums are like sports stadiums, hotels and hospitals: they are in the category of captive-audience dining.
There are a zillion variables to a hamburger. What part of the animal went into it. What coarseness. What temperature.
If somebody doesn't want to cook at home or has more family members than they have room for, then it's great to be in a city that's got restaurants that are actually busy on the holidays.
The only thing I hate is when bad food is paraded as something great, and people are charging a lot for it.
I don't get to cook in my own restaurant.
Festive cocktails mean color, lots of color.
Hospitality knows no gender or race.
Life is a series of waves to be embraced and overcome.
Steak and its accompaniments - wine, vegetables, potatoes and generous desserts - is a primal source of pleasure to which many people can relate.
I feel like not knowing Joe Torre is a hole in my New York experience.
I don't think there's going to be sustainable demand for restaurants that force you to spend hours there.
I never get sick on airplanes, which is incredible. You're basically in a flying petri dish.
At the base level, a burger is a piece of meat and a bun with something on it. It's simple but it seems to make a lot of people happy.
I think that Shake Shack wouldn't exist had it not been for Twitter. I don't think you would have gotten a hundred New Yorkers to stand in line for an hour if they couldn't have made their time really productive and organized snowball fights, ordered free hot chocolate, and, you know, Instagrammed photos.
Good service means never having to ask for anything.
More and more, museums will look at restaurants and chefs differently - as if they are curating art.
You cannot open a major New York restaurant today and not be aware that showbiz will play a role.
My dad gave me the gene to enjoy cooking, and to enjoy consuming good food and wine.
When I was young, I had no choice as to what I was eating.
Ninety-five percent of all brussels sprouts come from California.
The great thing about capitalism is that it's a system that works.
A cocktail done right can really show your guests that you care.
The cooking standards for Italian food are less demanding than for French. All you need are some fried mozzarella and five pastas, and you're in business.
Use your time well. Everyone gets time equally. It doesn't matter how much money you make.
There are three things that people pick up on the instant they walk into your home on Thanksgiving. They will be able to feel the human energy. They'll smell the food. And they will see, instantly, the table.
When push comes to shove, baseball is one of my favorite things in the world.
