Boxerbrand | Recipe for Success

In a beautiful tasting room overlooking a 60-acre estate, visitors sip the wines produced by the very fields of grapes they cast their gaze upon. And as they indulge their senses in the panorama that unfolds, they also learn about the grapes, the soil, the harvests, and especially the glorious effort that goes in to every varietal produced by Alexana Winery. “In a perfect world, if you’re laying out a business model for selling wine, the best possible margins come…

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Three days before Mardi Gras, the seat belts were being fastened at The Roosevelt New Orleans, a Waldorf Astoria hotel at the edge of the vibrant French Quarter. “It’s madness right now,” says Food and Beverage Manager Myles Holdsworth. “The city goes wild for two weeks, and then we have Ash Wednesday. For our part, we fasten our seat belts and go into overdrive to provide the very best experience for our guests.” Guests who expect the finest luxury are…

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Opening a new restaurant is like going to war. There’s a Seal Team Six mentality required, says St. Louis’s 2017 Restauranteur of the Year Zoe Robinson. “You need to be in tip-top shape, emotionally and physically, and prepared for everything,” says Robinson, who threw open the doors to her third restaurant, Billie Jean, in St. Louis this past December. In this week’s Q&A with Recipe for Success @ Boxerbrand, Robinson offers insights before dashing off to manage her Italian, French…

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Some might say that Chef Dominique Tougne rose through the culinary ranks much like his delicious, slow-roasted dishes, with purpose and patience. Seasoned to perfection over time, the popular lamb shank and braised short ribs on the menu at Chez Moi Bistro of Chicago are a reflection of a chef who does not believe in rushing the prep, nor in cutting corners in the evolution of learning one’s craft. A French native who spent years honing his skills at culinary…

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When Belize native Tanya McNab was denied an extension on her student visa a decade ago, and forced to give up her dream job at a Florida design firm, she felt sucker punched. She’d graduated with distinction from the Miami International University of Art and Design, and was flying high with a Ft. Lauderdale design firm, when the rug was pulled out from under her. “At the time that I left (the USA) I thought it was the worst thing…

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Long before it was “cool to cook,” Wade Barkman would sneak back to his dorm room after baseball practice and prepare a new recipe. And while he dreamed in those early junior-college days of playing shortstop for the New York Yankees, a different career aspiration simmered on the backburner. Until finally, after graduating Texas A&M business school with a degree in business management, Barkman turned up the heat on his true passion, answering the calling to cook. After graduating the…

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Lisa Schroeder was unhappily pulling 13-hour shifts in a fast-paced career when the simple question “What’s for dinner?” turned her life around. While deciding between Chinese, Thai, or other delivery options, Schroeder remembers that what she really wanted, and yet nowhere to be found, was a comforting, satisfying meal that only a mother can make. “Back in the early 90s, I worked as a telemarketer for major companies to try to help our family. I worked for Publisher’s Clearinghouse before…

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Ohio isn’t exactly known for its palm trees and tropical weather. But in the Cleveland Historic District, amid bright decorations, cheerful ambience, and a whimsical gecko mascot, Johnny Mango’s World Café & Bar has been pulling in customers like the tropics in the dead of winter. For 21 years, and going strong, Shelley Underwood’s pioneering hotspot has been serving up such delectable and healthy “world fare,” as Bangkok BBQ chicken (a longtime specialty), Jamaican Jerk chicken, Japanese ‘surf and turfo’…

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Providence is a tough city to plant a hospitality flag in. Italian restaurants long ago conquered their turf on Rhode Island’s legendary Federal Hill. And funky, creative eateries hold positions throughout the city, where many chefs earned their culinary stripes at the nearby Johnson & Wales University. Yet, into the fray stepped restauranteurs determined to return the city to “grand hotel dining” enveloped in the glamorous Centro Restaurant and Lounge. Located up what is arguably the longest escalator in the…

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When Martin Amaya arrived in the United States from El Salvador in 1994, he started his restaurant career as a dishwasher. Subsisting on three hours of sleep every night, Amaya worked by day in a bakery, and at night in the demanding kitchen of former Hadley, Mass. restaurant Carmelina’s. “I was always on time and I was so hungry to learn,” Amaya says. “And Damien DiPaola (then-owner of Carmelina’s in Hadley, Mass.) saw something in me. And over time, he…

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