What's the Most Important Thing You've Learned from an Early Restaurant Job?

“I learned a lot over my four years as the head bartender at the Franklin, from technique to cocktail obscurity, but my biggest takeaway was that, while there are a lot of good things a bar can offer, there’s only one thing that makes a bar great. Every bar, from dive to sit-down-only cocktail church, is only as cool as the people in it—staff and patron. Which isn’t to say I advocate face...