Eliza has subscribed to New York Magazine for years. Most of the content doesn't appeal to me, but sometimes during a meal I'll flip through, skim the articles and photos, and put it down.
Yesterday morning, as I ate breakfast and the girls got ready for camp, I stopped on a piece about a new Argentine restaurant. Yes, I love steak, but for reasons I couldn't quite explain, I kept reading. By the last paragraph, I understood why.
The restaurant, Graciela, is opening this month in the West Village from the team behind Don Julio, the Buenos Aires parrilla many consider the best steakhouse in the world.
Yet when the conversation turns to the food, chef Pablo Rivero shrugs: "The food is not important. What is important is what we can make for our guests to feel better."
Then, a few lines later: "Maybe ten years ago, people wanted other things, but today, the people want cariño."
Care.
The man behind the best steakhouse in the world says the food isn't the point.
I took a photo of the page and sent it to my new co-founders because that one word captures what we're hoping to create over many years.
Looking back, I realize the businesses I've loved most all share the same quality: cariño. Apple. Patagonia. Union Square Hospitality. A24. gestalten. You can feel it immediately, and you can feel when it's missing just as quickly.
