“What makes things memorable is that they are meaningful, significant, colorful.”
– Joshua Foer, author of “Moonwalking With Einstein”
What follows may seem like a blatant restaurant recommendation — and it is.
It’s also much more than that.
Saturday evening, our guests and we settled in for our 7:45 reservation at Searsucker. After a long afternoon in the sun at Austin City Limits Music Festival and perhaps too many appetizers at the original Chuy’s, it occurred to us that we weren’t really all that hungry, and that maybe we’d just take in some of Austin’s exceptional night life on a beautiful autumn evening downtown.
Enter Richard.
“I got this,” he said. “Give me those menus, relax and enjoy your drinks.”
“Look, we’re really not hungry, and besides, one of us is vegetarian,” we insisted, and repeated that perhaps we’d just move along — and maybe come back later.
Richard was having none of it.
About 45 minutes, five small plates and one dessert later, we were hooked.
The food was really, really good, but even if it had been average, Richard made the experience memorable.
Equal parts culinary expert, sommelier and comedian — he read the table, and each of us at the table, and made the experience worth remembering. And, he assured that we will, soon, in fact, return to his restaurant.
In our workaday lives, do we often enough take time to consider whether the experience our customers and constituents get from interacting with us is memorable — worth remembering?
I wonder if more of us approached our gigs the way Richard approaches his, whether that might make a bigger difference.
BLATANT RESTAURANT PLUG: If you’re in Austin, San Diego, Del Mar or Scottsdale, check out Searsucker. If you happen to check out the one in Austin, ask for Richard, and tell him I sent you. I bet he’ll remember — because the memorable experiences are memorable for everyone involved.
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