Top 99 Quotes & Sayings by Danny Meyer

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.

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.

'Fine casual' means taking the cultural priorities that fine dining, at its best, believes in.

Ninety-five percent of all brussels sprouts come from California.

Service is how product is delivered - the technical aspect.

Every restaurant needs to have a point of view.

My staff's job is to adjust to circumstances with technical precision and artful grace so that every patron has a wonderful experience.

Hospitality exists when you believe that the other person is on your side.

What you can do is present existing flavors in a fresh way, in a fresh context.

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.

If you're constantly making business decisions on behalf of your investors first, ultimately you're going to wear down your other stakeholders. It's going to be potentially hurtful for your employees and your customers and the community you do business with.

The most important thing you can do is make the distinction between customer service and guest hospitality. You need both things to thrive, but they are completely different.

If someone said, 'You've got to eat your next two meals at American fast-food restaurants,' I would do one meal at Chipotle and one meal at Popeyes fried chicken.

I couldn't sit in a chair in an office all day.

The great thing about capitalism is that it's a system that works.

Steak and its accompaniments - wine, vegetables, potatoes and generous desserts - is a primal source of pleasure to which many people can relate.

Some people are near- or farsighted - I'm thorn-sighted. The thorns on the rose are in really sharp definition for me, the rose petals a little fuzzier.

I've been in love with Washington ever since renting my very first apartment there many years ago while working as a Senate intern.

You cannot open a major New York restaurant today and not be aware that showbiz will play a role.

You can't let challenges argue you out of doing what you know is the right thing.

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.

A cocktail done right can really show your guests that you care.

Hospitality is almost impossible to teach. It's all about hiring the right people.

Constant, gentle pressure is my preferred technique for leadership, guidance, and coaching.

A great restaurant is one that just makes you feel like you're not sure whether you went out or you came home and confuses you. If it can do both of those things at the same time, you're hooked.

I gasp for air if I don't get to breathe Italian air once a year.

Comfort food is absolutely moving upscale.

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.

Museums are like sports stadiums, hotels and hospitals: they are in the category of captive-audience dining.

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.

One great worker equals three not-so-great workers, so it's worth paying terrific people not just for today but to find people that we think have upward mobility to become tomorrow's leaders.

When push comes to shove, baseball is one of my favorite things in the world.

In the restaurant business, as opposed to the theater, center orchestra is an 8 P. M. reservation. Orchestra on the side is 7 or 8:30. Mezzanine is 6 and 9. But people don't take it personally when they call the theater and can't get what they want.

It's the job of any business owner to be clear about the company's nonnegotiable core values. They're the riverbanks that help guide us as we refine and improve on performance and excellence. A lack of riverbanks creates estuaries and cloudy waters that are confusing to navigate. I want a crystal-clear, swiftly flowing stream.

How can you franchise hospitality?

Be aware of textural elements throughout a party, like silverware, stemware, and linens. But the biggest element is metaphorical: it's your own touch. How are you making people feel?

My history has been to grow the roots as deeply as you can before going on to the next thing. That's why it took 10 years to go from Union Square Cafe to Gramercy Tavern, and another 10 years to go from Blue Smoke's first location to its second, and five to go from Shake Shack 1 to Shake Shack 2.

I throw 14 parties a week.

Earlier in my career, I needed to be the writer, casting director, set designer, leading man, and producer. I've been eliminating a lot of those jobs. I'm an executive producer right now. I still get to pick the best screenplays.

My dad gave me the gene to enjoy cooking, and to enjoy consuming good food and wine.

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.

There are a zillion variables to a hamburger. What part of the animal went into it. What coarseness. What temperature.

Hospitality is present when something happens for you. It is absent when something happens to you. Those two simple prepositions - for and to - express it all.

Union Square Cafe is all soul, not brain.

A great restaurant doesn't distinguish itself by how few mistakes it makes but by how well they handle those mistakes.

Use your time well. Everyone gets time equally. It doesn't matter how much money you make.

I feel like not knowing Joe Torre is a hole in my New York experience.

The only thing I hate is when bad food is paraded as something great, and people are charging a lot for it.

Festive cocktails mean color, lots of color.

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.

Diners are upset that restaurants aren't honoring reservations, and a lot of restaurants help bring this on by overbooking.

It's always imperative to improve and to remain dynamic - or you'll become lunch, as opposed to serving it.

People use restaurants to do business, to do politics, to socialize.

When I was young, I had no choice as to what I was eating.

Life is a series of waves to be embraced and overcome.

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.

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.

Hospitality knows no gender or race.

I don't get to cook in my own restaurant.