So, this week Tina and I got together with our friend Sarah for a late lunch at a restaurant in town that we’d heard a lot about but hadn’t tried yet. One thing you should know about Tina and I—whenever possible we don’t eat … we dine. But don’t get the wrong impression of what that means. Yes, we’re unashamedly foodies, but fine dining is not getting all dressed up and paying crazy amounts of money for some tiny little artisanal entre on a cracker. No, for us dining is an extension of our design philosophy and our life philosophy. In homes, custom and quality is not the same as luxury. What makes a house a home is the care and passion of the people that engage with it, and the same holds true for food.
For us, truly fine dining is about good company and good conversation over plates of good food prepared with care. That can happen in a fancy restaurant, it can happen at home, or at a sidewalk cafe, or a taco stand. It rarely ever happens in some chain restaurant and it never happens when whomever you’re with is committed to trying. It almost always happens in some independently owned place where everyone is there, including you, because they want to be. All that’s required is people who care—about the quality of the conversation, about the quality of the service, and of course, about the quality of the food.
So we’re there loving our lunch … By the way, the place is called The Moody Rooster and if you live in or anywhere near the Conejo Valley you should grab a good friend and go. It’s truly brilliant … So we’re loving lunch and Sarah asks me something about the show if I’d ever imagined it being what it is. And I said no, and we got talking about people with “it”, the x-factor that makes everyone flock to them. And I had to tell her that I know a lot of people now with “it” and I’m not one of them. That’s not false modesty, honestly. I like to think that if I had “it” I’d admit it. But I will admit, and did admit to Sarah, why I think the show is doing as well as it is. And it’s the same reason we love our definition of fine dining. Bottom line: people love passion. People love and are attracted to people who care deeply enough to try to do something right. I love any restaurant, be it haute cuisine or hot dog stand, where people truly, passionately, care enough to try to get it right.
When people try it makes everyone around them feel better. When you’re around people who try it raises the bar for everyone and for me—these days especially—restores my faith in humanity. I may not have “it” but I know I am truly, authentically passionate about what it is we’re trying to do here, and I believe it’s that passion that people connect with, because everyone is attracted to the kind of passion that tries to get it right.
So just a reminder for all of us today … you don’t have to have “it” to make a difference. Your life may have a haute cuisine budget or a hot dog budget… doesn’t matter. What’s important is not the size of your pocketbook but the size of your passion. Care enough to take whatever meager talents and resources you may have, add some creativity, find a great relationship or two to help you along the way, and before you know it, you just might discover you’re building yourself a beautiful life.
