April Hours at ICOB

It's that time of year again! Baseball season is quickly approaching, and, as promised, we've extended our hours for every day game at Fenway. The rule of thumb is that ICOB will open two hours before every game, and depending on the time of day may be serving lunch or the full dinner menu.

Unfortunately we must close our doors for a couple of days for renovations before the Sox come back to Boston for their first home game, but we'll be in tip top shape to see you as soon as we get all shined up! 

Please see the following for our hours of operation during the month of April:

events

Words about wine

We've been spending a good deal of time this week talking about how we describe wine. Familiar are words like citrus, salt, fruit and floral, but Tom urged us to dig deeper.  

What kinds of fruit, what types of flowers do you smell and taste? he says.  We're all getting better at distinguishing between different herbs and white flowers and what that means in the context of pairing with food.  However, it wasn't until one of our servers described his sensory experience during a blind tasting at our staff meeting that I realized that I've been thinking about wine wrong all along.  As he smelled and swirled, he painted a picture of an afternoon picnic doused in the sun's warm glow, a sepia tone snapshot. As he added bits about what he smelled and tasted and felt, we all stared into our glasses as if they were crystal balls, entering the world he had created.

It all sounds a bit over the top, but it brought to light that wine can be a crucial aspect to the experience of dining, and talking about it as such can drastically alter the occasion.  I was reminded of one of the greatest wine poets of our time, Terry Theise, and the way that he can move masses by depicting his sip by sip adventure through a glass of wine.  

I am lucky enough to work with a dynamic wine list that can tell so many different stories.  We are now up against not only the challenge of matching the story to the guest and their food, but bringing it to life on the floor of the restaurant.  

Here's what Terry Theise has to say:

It's not about how many notes you play; it's not about HOW you play at all. It's about what you play.

And if you're wondering 'What does this have to do with wine?' then say your question out loud. With wine it isn't the notes, it's the music. It isn't the trees, it's the forest. It isn't the parts; it's the whole. And the very minute you learn to see wine that way, you stop fussing about how much flavor, how many nuances, how much intensity, how many 'points': wine becomes either authentic or inauthentic, in every echelon of quality, so that an honest young dry muscat is every bit as valid as the most regal riesling, as long as both are honest. And you grow weary of show off wines, big fake boobs wines, superstar winemaker wines, because life is too short to tolerate the bogus. Once your soul tastes authenticity, it will spit out anything else. Play only the true notes, it will say. It doesn't matter whether they are Albert King's fourteen, or Trane's fourteen thousand; just make them all be music.

See the current ICOB wine list here.

wine, food

ICO Summit: Posing a challenge

You've heard the rumor that chivalry is dead, but all hope isn't lost just yet.  The gang at Island Creek Oysters is sure that there's still potential for a revival.  Down in Duxbury, the ICO team gets their heads together once a week to discuss the evolving culture of their business.  A clear concept emerged. 

Each panel member described their personal experiences with hospitality and humanity as well as their company's core values, and a few trends became apparent.  Andrea referenced the five tenets of enlightened hospitality, a creed upheld among all of Meyers' restaurants, Anthony spoke to the code of hospitality he maintains in his dining rooms every night. While all do not have a clear name for their set of beliefs, it is apparent that the entire panel is passionate about the people they employ, layered guest and consumer experiences and a constant search for inspiration. Hospitality is a word commonly heard within the walls of every restaurant, hotel and even cubicle. If it is so easy for us to utter it to further our careers, then certainly it can become part of the vernacular for social life, right?

events

ICO Summit: From the eyes of the Maitre'D

Good will is fine, but why is it great?

We all strive to be great, but what role does good will play in the road to greatness?  Is it even necessary?  Our Maitre D's musings on why we would claim good will matters.

It was during the requisite Q and A that the zinger came. 

'Tell me,' says a prominent Boston restaurant professional, 'when I can find a Google image of one of the world's top chefs giving the finger to a reservation that no-showed, how do you justify investing in a culture of good will?'

A great question: pointing out that if we are the choir, how do we galvanize support from enclaves not convinced it pays to be chivalrous?  Can we even make the argument that it does pay?  Thomas Keller Restaurant Group's Rudolph wrestled with the question most directly. 

'If you ever want to be more than just a great chef, then you have to invest in a culture of good will,' he remarked.   I agree with the statement, even as I believe it leaves the question unanswered.

The real reason we need cultures of good will, cultures of chivalry, and investment in doing the right thing, is not because we have great aspirations: it shouldn't be argued that if we want to be more, we ought to be kind.  The real reason is the inverse: it is because we are human and we fail.  We make mistakes, shit happens.  A grandmother dies and we can't make it to work at the last minute, the hoods crash and we can only execute food off garde manger for 90 minutes of service, we understaff the restaurant for Christmas dinner and 'ruin Christmas' for hundreds of guests.                                                                          

There are 30 minute ticket times.  The list of things that don't go right, for the best restaurants and the mediocre ones, is miles long. 

There has never been a great restaurant, a great chef, a great manager, who hasn't made a mistake.  It is the culture around that mistake that either allows it to seethe, like a wound, or transforms it into an opportunity to have a deeper, more authentic connection with another person.  If you believe that you can become a God, that perfection is attainable for you, then by all means, do away with good will, you won't need it!  You'll be flawless!  But if you, like some of us, have a sneaking suspicion that try as you might (and yes, you do still try) to be a perfect person, perfect professional, then may I suggest learning a thing or two about what it means to be generous, to believe in the team, and to help educate that team on the value of good will?

Ashley Paige White Stern is the Maitre'd of Island Creek Oyster Bar. For reservations call 617.532.5300

events

Island Creek Oysters: Good Will Summit

Last weekend, we were given the opportunity to have a very cool experience and witness a unique moment in our industry.  A few prominent minds of well-respected restaurants and businesses came together to discuss good will and the culture of good will in their hospitality.

The crew down at Island Creek Oysters called upon an impressive panel to lead the discussion: Andrew Holden, General Manager of Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks in Boston; Andrea Czachor, General Manager of Danny Meyer's Maialino in NYC; Mark McWeeny, President of Rue Experiences (of Rue LaLa); and Anthony Rudolf, Director of New York Operations for Thomas Keller Restaurant Group.  Each brought his or her insight to an industry based on hospitality, warmth and welcoming guests into the home created for them day in and day out. Mark McWeeny added an interesting perspective on bringing hospitality into the online experience, an idea that ICO has been trying harness as they dive into ecommerce. 

The room was filled with friends and professionals from across Boston and beyond,

all eagerly hoping to take a few profound nuggets of knowledge back with them in their own jobs. What we didn't expect was to be inspired to act not only at work, but in our every day lives.

Stay on the lookout for two of our own restaurant managers' takeaways from the afternoon's event.

farms, events

Photo Opp

I went down to Duxbury to spend a day with the crew to photograph and get ideas. I went back a few weeks later to collect more. As I edited the photographs from both days of shooting, a few images rose to the top. The wide organized landscape of oyster traps with the dawn sun reflecting on the sand bar and the crew working on the horizon had all the elements I needed for such a large wall to cover. Simple but epic in scale with the grounding element of the crew working. As I sketched and designed how I could get the image to work within the design of the whole space it became obvious to me that however good and big the photograph was, it was too easy to 'get' when you saw it. I have always been interested in having the viewer work a little harder when viewing my work. When the viewer does not immediately understand what they see, they spend more time with the artwork and are able to have their own interpretations about what it means. It becomes a more personal experience to them. What I needed was to shake things up a bit, and turning the image upside down was the perfect solution. The image became disorienting while still simple, epic and still personal to Island Creek. I don't need the viewer to know exactly what's going on. In fact I really enjoy hearing all of the different interpretations that people have.'

When he's not working on projects like this, Stephen also teaches advanced black and white photography at The New England School of Photography. For a closer look at his work, which includes our new neighbor, The Hawthorne, designed by Stephen and his wife Alison (of Sheffield Interiors), please visit his website, www.stephensheffield.com or get more answers from his blog.

farmers