In his excellent 2022 book Unreasonable Hospitality, restaurateur Will Guidara recalled his extraordinary attention to detail while operating Eleven Madison Park on its path to best restaurant in the world. As he explained it, “We trained the people setting the dining room to place every plate so that if a guest flipped it over to see who had made it, the Limoges stamp would be facing them, right side up.” Why? It was more about work culture than it was about the location of the Limoges stamp for diners. Guidara wrote that “By asking the person setting the dining room to place each plate with total concentration and focus, we were asking them to set the tone for how they’d do everything over the course of the service, how they’d greet our guests, walk through the dining room, communicate with their colleagues, pour the champagne to begin a meal and the cup of coffee to end it.”
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