Chez 1895: Competition
Chez 1895: (Intro) (part 1) (part 2) (detour) (part 3)
An Excerpt from Dine Time magazine:
Inside Moriarty's: How "the Web" challenges the norm By Kitty Reilly By all accounts, Head Chef Jim Moriarty runs one of the most edgy kitchens in the city. I spent an afternoon with the staff to see what made this restaurant the most remarkable. Most restaurants are built around recipes. Moriarty's is built around people. Every station leads back to the Head Chef. Suppliers, reservations, dietary requests, staffing changes, unexpected deliveries, broken equipment, difficult guests. Somehow, they all become part of a network that Jim Moriarty appears to carry effortlessly in his head. Everyone here calls the strategy "the Web." "He doesn't micromanage," server Jefferson Hope insisted. "We just learn what he needs us to do, and we get it done without complaint." Several members of the team told me the same story in different ways. A supplier arrives early before anyone realizes ingredients are running low. An extra pair of hands appears on the busiest station moments before service becomes overwhelming. A replacement dessert quietly reaches a table before a guest has time to complain. No one described it as a system. They described it as a story, and Jim Moriarty is the storyteller. "When you work here," pastry chef Irene Adler explained, "you stop thinking about just your section. You start seeing how everything fits together. That's what Jim teaches you." Perhaps that's why the restaurant feels so calm despite its reputation for relentless pace. Everyone seems to know where they're should be, often before they're asked. As Sebastian Moran, a long-time member of staff, told me with a grin: "The Web takes care of everything." And that is the goal. At Moriarty's, you've got the reassurance that you will have a well-crafted meal.
