James Beard Award season is in full swing and the countdown to the big day has begun! Avero works with over 100 James Beard Award nominees and over 25 James Beard Award winners (not including 2014) in every category from Outstanding Restauranteur to Best Bar Program, and the 2014 nominees are no exception. To showcase these remarkable individuals, Avero is interviewing nominees across the country to learn how they started their culinary careers, what trends they’re most excited about, their favorite dishes to create and consume, and much more.
Outstanding Bar Program Nominee: Maxwell Britten, Maison Premiere (Brooklyn)
Avero: How did your career in hospitality begin?
Maxwell: Working front of house at a Mexican restaurant in Arizona, where I’m from. I was a bus boy and bar back.
Avero: What was the biggest turning point in your career?
Maxwell: When I was 22, I was awarded the title of Star Chefs New York Bartender of the Year. I was so young, and standing on the stage next to greats like Morimoto and Daniel Boulud, I just couldn’t believe what was happening.
Avero: Who do you admire most?
Maxwell: My father. He was a food and beverage professional and really inspired me to get into this industry.
Avero: What’s your favorite dish?
Maxwell: It’s too difficult to chose my favorite dish, but my most memorable dining experience was with my current bosses, Joshua Boissy and Krystof Zizka, co-owners of Maison Premiere. I had just started at Maison Premiere and Josh and Krystof were taking me out for my birthday. I thought we were going to Diner in Brooklyn, but instead they hired a car that took us uptown to Monkey Bar where we drank Rose Champagne. After, we went to Daniel and the staff was expecting us and pouring Champagne. It was my first time at Daniel and my first time hanging out with my bosses and it was such an experience to be at that restaurant with them where the service and food is 100% flawless. I felt so lucky to be involved with Maison Premiere and these two guys who were introducing me to all these really luxurious things.
Avero: What trend in dining are you most/least excited Aabout?
Maxwell: More than ever before, I see oysters popping up on bar menus across this city. I am proud to know that Maison Premiere had something to do with that growing trend.
Avero: What solutions help you run/improve your business day to day?
Maxwell: This sounds simple, but having close relationships with everyone I work with from Josh and Krystof to my bar team. I find that we operate at our best when I’m staying in tune with what everyone has going on/is going through so I can help problem solve and play to people’s strengths. Putting in the extra effort to have one-on-ones with my team and my bosses helps us all stay on the same page and united in the direction we’re headed.
Avero: What is your biggest business challenge?
Maxwell: Remaining reasonable with your ambitions. Sometimes in order to achieve the highest quality, you have to hit the breaks and be patient because not everything will always happen at once.
Avero: What’s the one piece of advice that you’d give to an aspiring chef/restaurateur?
Maxwell: Stay true to your vision. It’s really important to not let other people’s opinions about what you’re doing get in the way of what you believe in. Working in an industry that’s so saturated in social media, we can always see what cocktails the new hot spot is doing, the latest concept from another restaurateur, etc. At the end of the day, it’s hard to ignore the peanut gallery, but it can end up hurting you in terms of being true to yourself and what you believe in.
Follow Maxwell’s example and get started with Avero today!
