Chef Thomas Keller on Creating Destination Restaurants

For chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller, the sense of place in a restaurant is defined by the quality of the establishment. And for Keller, service — not food — is most important in creating a quality restaurant. Keller spoke with Skift Table on stage at Skift Global Forum this year alongside Kenneth Himmel, the CEO and president of Related Urban, the real estate development company behind the massive Hudson Yards project in the works in New York City. (Once completed, Hudson Yards will be one of the largest private real estate developments in the United States.) Keller and Himmel have worked together since the early 2000s, when Kimmel was building out the Time Warner Center. "You begin all of these projects by wanting to find best-in-class operators," Himmel explained. For him, that meant calling up Keller, who then agreed to work with him. Himmel said that the layout of the Time Warner Center was panned while in development because the restaurants were all on upper levels of the space, and wouldn't attract the footprint they needed. Needless to say, Keller's Per Se survived just fine, and Himmel noted that all of the restaurants in the space have recorded upticks in volume continuously every single year. Now, the pair is looking ahead to Hudson Yards, which will be opening up its dining program in mid-March 2019. "There will be a broad range of check averages," Keller said, calling it a "canteen for those who live and work in Hudson Yards," but it will also have fine dining options for those visiting the space specifically for the restaurants. "When you walk into an urban restaurant, your experience begins when you walk in the door," Keller said, contrasting the experience to The French Laundry in Yountville, where there's actual acres of land that the restaurant sits on. At Hudson Yards, Keller is building out TAK Room, a '50s-era restaurant built on the Americana of that time frame. Kimmel isn't worried whatsoever about building out yet another mall-like space in New York City; in fact, he claims that people call him the "anti-mall" guy. "I've never given up on [brick-and-mortar], not for a moment," Himmel said. "There's not anything I would do differently. I think we're on the perfect path to success." Read More Recaps and Interview Transcripts From Skift Restaurants Forum [Updated with full transcript] Full Transcript of Discussion With Keller and Himmel Skift: On Monday, we hosted our first annual Skift Restaurants Forum which was a ful