'Service is transactional, hospitality is mutual'

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Jordan Anthony-Brown opened his Cincinnati restaurant, The Aperture, less than two years ago, but it has already made its mark. His restaurant was named one of the New York Times’ best new restaurants in 2024. Then in January, Anthony-Brown was listed as a semifinalist in the James Beard Emerging Chef category.

It’s been a long time coming, Anthony-Brown told The Prep. Between the pandemic and the other delays, it took nearly six years to get The Aperture up and running. Now Anthony-Brown and his restaurant seem to be making up for lost time, raking in accolades and quickly becoming that rare restaurant that is a neighborhood favorite and a destination hotspot. -Gloria Dawson

What do accolades, like those from the New York Times or the James Beard Foundation, mean to you personally?

It does mean a lot but we really focus on being a team here. I think it's a nice milestone, but not the end of the journey by any means. The James Beard Award, in particular, that one is really special. I think that the biggest thing for me is just feeling like it's a little bit of a confirmation that you're at least doing something right, which in this industry, in this game, it's always easy to question whether you're doing anything right at all. 

What do those accolades mean for the business?

The New York Times article came out on September 24, if I remember correctly. I try to pretend I don't remember exactly what day it was, but I probably do. [We checked. He is correct.] And then I think from September to October our sales doubled. We were holding on for dear life in the best way possible, and then, of course, we go straight from that into the holiday season. And then January, we're like, "oh, things will slow down." And then, of course, the James Beard Award announcement happens on January 22. Again, you never forget the date. It's just been crazy ever since. I mean, we've broken record after record in terms of how many dishes we sell. 

And [the accolades are] a good thing in terms of internal expectations. It does put a little pressure on, but what we like to say is let's set our own expectations, hold ourselves to a high standard, and everything else should take care of itself.

How do you help your team meet those expectations?

The first thing I'll say is that we really emphasize using the word hospitality over service. Service is transactional, hospitality is mutual, and that's kind of what we try and preach to our team. Someone once told me that services is giving people what they want; hospitality is giving people what they need. And that's kind of the big thing with our team, they figure out what does this person want out of this experience.

Above: Jordan Anthony-Brown (center) prepares for dinner service with his staff at The Aperture in Cincinnati. (Courtesy of @theaperturecinci/Instagram)

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