Journal
Notes from the room.
Short pieces, written by the people who run the room and the kitchen. Mostly about cooking, sometimes about wine, occasionally about why we do things the way we do.
- The cellarOn wine, without the lectureWe have three hundred bottles in the cellar. Almost all of them come from people we have met. Some of those people have been making wine for forty years. Some of them only have a few hectares and a borrowed press. None of them are interested in being on a list at a steakhouse.March 2026
- First visitWhat to order the first timePeople email and ask. So here is the answer.February 2026
- The roomWhy the fire is in the backMost restaurants with a wood fire put it where you can see it from the street. The marketing reason is obvious. The cooking reason is the opposite of obvious, which is why so few places get this right.January 2026
- Small thingsA note on the breadI have a rule, which I picked up from an old chef in Piedmont, which is that a restaurant tells you what it cares about with the bread. Not the wine, not the room, not the sign on the door. The bread.December 2025