We are kicking off Season 4 with the iconic Daryl Coke, who runs the beloved wine programs at NYC’s Ernesto’s and Bartolo’s, and a deep dive into Spanish and Basque restaurants and wines.

Daryl has been in New York for the past 16 years working at some of the city’s most beloved cult restaurants including The Beatrice Inn, The Fat Radish, Mission Chinese, Contra and Wildair.

She also gives us the inside scoop on where she loves to eat around town (and in Spain), what she wishes people knew about wine service, and what guest behaviors she’d like to see 86ed.

Listen in! You’ll come away hungry, thirsty, and with a long list of new restaurants you want to try. I know I did!

@ernestosnyc

@bartolonyc

@dib

@wildairnyc

@barcontranyc

@bridges.nyc

@missionchinesefoodny

@lefrenchdiner

@thaidiner @mommypais

@cafeselectnyc

@danny_bowen

@fabianvhv

@chefjeremiahstone

@mozzy_sticks_87

@pierrederrien84

@opsnyc

@luckycharliebk

@unclelouny

#SachaHormaechea #chefschef

#porron #sansebastian #galicia #priorat

#valentineday #womenwinemakers

#coatcheck #86list #soigneryourself

Maître d' Diaries is back!

Season 4 brings you more NYC front of the house folks, like Daryl Coke of Ernesto's and Bartolo, Ronan Le Chêne of Le Chêne, Ahris Kim of NA:EUN Hospitality, and Jenna Norfleet of Francie, along with the return of “That’s An Issue,” “We’re Booked,” and a new episode theme, “Destination Hospitality.”

Listen in here for a taste of what’s to come.

And check out our past episodes in Seasons 1 - 4!

Back in the year 2000 the Cherry Lane Theater hosted the premier of Becky Mode's side-splitting, lightening-paced one man show, "Fully Committed", and restaurant reservationists in basements and broom closets all around town felt seen. And maybe not a little bit exposed.

An updated version of the show moved to Broadway in 2016 starring the great Jesse Tyler Ferguson who won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance for his role as Sam, and the other 30-plus characters that populate this 90-minute whiplash inducing romp through the trials--and wins--of a New York City reservationist.

Now Jake Shipley, an actor and FOH restaurant worker since his teens, is performing FULLY COMMITTED at the Phoenician Playhouse in Phoenicia, NY, to great acclaim, for two weekend only.

Jake took an hour during his crazy performance schedule to chat with Maître d' Diaries about the role and the work. And the possible future of taking this behind-the-scenes in the restaurant world play back out on the road.

We are so happy to welcome New York Restaurant World Legend, Melba Wilson, to Maître d’ Diaries. Restaurants are all about creating community. The community that is fostered in dining rooms, across tables, in bars and lounges, AND the community we build INSIDE the restaurants where we work.

One of the best things about the hospitality business is how it gives us the chance to work with and get to know people of diverse ages and backgrounds we might not meet otherwise. And when f&b folk are lucky enough to be out and about sometimes we get to meet friends of friends, or people we’ve admired from afar, and as a result our personal restaurant community continues to expand. This is what happened when Erica had the pleasure of meeting Melba Wilson at an event last year.

Melba is the founder of the beloved Melba’s in Harlem, and she just recently opened the 4th Melba’s in Grand Central Terminal Dining Concourse. She is also a fixture on the New York food scene, a food insecurity activist, and a vibrant beacon of glamour and kindness.

Being “born, bred and buttered in Harlem”, Melba knew she wanted to stay close to home so she could nurture and provide an exquisite yet comfortable dining experience to the community that raised her.

Listen in to our chat to hear about:

~ How Melba learned all aspects of the restaurant business from her aunt Sylvia Woods of the iconic American Classic Sylvia’s Restaurant in Harlem

~ The impact of growing up with grandparents who were gardeners

~ What Josefina Howard said to Melba when she said she wanted to open her own restaurant, and how that changed everything

~ How Melba took Windows on the World’s slow Sunday Brunches and turned them into the wildly successful Gospel Sunday Brunch that ran until Sunday, September 9th, 2001.

~ The inspiration she’s taken from 114th Street, Harlem’s historic Minton’s Playhouse, and gazing at the monuments of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman

You meet the best people working in restaurants! Case in point, this episode’s guest, Tatiana Mejia, maître d’ at Michelin-starred Francie in Brooklyn, and a dear friend.

Folks come to restaurant work via all different paths, many of us finding the right balance of physical activity, mental engagement, social interaction, and reliable income in a place we didn’t originally imagine ourselves belonging.

One of the mission’s of Maître d’ Diaries is to share our love for the vocation of taking care of people through hospitality. To shine a spotlight on how the work of serving and hosting can be a satisfying, fulfilling, and fun way to make a living.

Listen in to hear:

~ What it was like to be maître d’ at the landmark Tavern on the Green (600+ people a night, 1,200 for brunch, in case you didn’t know!)

~ The similarities and differences between working retail and restaurants

~ How working FOH can develop people skills and build community

~ About crying in the coat check–the FOH version of crying in the walk-in

~ How a weekly sauna ritual helps Tatiana sweat out the stress of the work week

~ Her current favor savory martini

Ever wonder what it was like booking out a restaurant ON PAPER, before the dawn of online reservation platforms?

At Maître d’ Diaries one of our raisons d’être is building a bridge between restaurant industry old guard and the vibrant, essential Next Generation populating the new post-pandemic workforce. One way we do this is by gathering and sharing stories from the trenches (or the floor, if you will).

This episode’s guest, Roger Raines, has a LOT of stories. Roger started his illustrious hospitality career with one of the most respected restaurant groups in the country—Union Square Hospitality—back when tables were reserved over the phone by humans using a pencil and sheets of paper.

And like many of the very best maîtres d’hotel, Roger is also a renaissance person with multiple cultural pursuits and passions that make him culturally aware and good to chat with at the front door of whatever restaurant he’s running.

Roger’s first restaurant job was reservationist at Gramercy Tavern. He worked his way up through Eleven Madison Park, Tabla, Maialino, and the opened new location of Union Square Cafe.

Listen in to hear about:

~ How much fun it used to be to run a wait list by phone and on paper

~ What he hates about cell phones in restaurants

~ The difference of how people treat men and women at the door

~ What it was like to be James Brown’s road manager

~ The upstate B&B run by USHG alum that we should all visit

~ What Tabla was like

~ How awesome the Criterion Collection is

You meet some of the best people in the restaurant business. Folks like our guest Olivia Salomon, a server at Le Veau d’Or in New York City, who find joy and satisfaction taking care of other people and helping create memorable experiences for them.

Whether it’s a warm welcome at the door or a server with a wonderful tableside manner, someone who is called to the work and does it with care can really make a difference in how we feel at the end of the day.

The word restaurant derives from the French word for restoration. A place where you can restore your body with sustenance. And perhaps now more than ever, restaurants are places where we can revive our spirits and sense of well being. At their best, good restaurants feed our need to connect with other humans. All the more so if our server or maitre d’ is someone who’s passionate about spreading joy and love and positivity in the world.

Listen in to our chat with Olivia to hear about:

~ How she figured out Pete Wells was coming in and then what happened

~ The importance of mentorship and how we can support the Next Gen

~ Why she loves the Danny Meyer 51% philosophy

~ How to hold the work of serving so it’s empowering rather than demeaning

~ The difference between being a server and a maître d’

~ The unexpected joy to be found taking care of older clientele

~ Why kindness is the life hack Olivia wants everyone to know about

~ How to deal with challenging personalities at the door

Tom Piscitello is a New York maître d’ legend! He ran the door at some of the city’s best Italian restaurants, including Coco Pazzo, Babbo, Beppe, A Voce, and Ci Siamo.

Tom joined us from his terrazzo in Sicily, where he and his husband now live the semi-retired life of private hospitality, making beautiful memories for their guests at a 3-bedroom luxury lighthouse with a view of Mt. Etna, hosting and taking care of visiting friends and locals. Che bella vita!

Tom saw it all working in the hottest spots in the 1990’s and turn of the millennium New York dining scene, and in this episode he shares some glimpses from behind the scenes and among the celebrity-filled tables at the restaurants that had the bella fortuna to have him as their host.

Join us as we talk about:

~ How to make a good first impression on the welcome

~ The two words that people always say when they’re lying

~ The thing he can’t tolerate from guests or staff

~ How great Esca was and what a genius Dave Pasternak is

~ One way to make a guest “yours for life”

~ The time some old guy punched him for a table

~ The qualities he looks for in a maître d’

~ The one thing you should never ask on a first interview

~ Tom's favorite part of Italian hospitality