You mentioned cooking at home - what was your food experience growing up?
So I’m originally from Bethesda, transplanted to New York City, and then ‘transplanted back'. And growing up, it was a lot of dad’s cooking and we didn’t really go to restaurants – we just cooked at home which I really enjoyed – and I basically ‘cleaned up’. I didn’t really do any cooking growing up. But my dad loves cooking, and he’s an opthomologist by trade – he was an eye surgeon for 40 years. But through a lot of his years he loved to learn how to make bread in Italy and New York. So, when I was in New York I got him short term kitchen jobs in the bakeries at Daniel and Bouley which back then were the four-star restaurants in New York. So my dad came up, took lots of weeks off from work, and lived in New York - as a physician in the prime of his career, and worked baking bread in New York. So then when he retired, he and I started working together, and he’s been baking bread for me for 20 years. He bakes bread here every day. My dad is the best of the best, he is a true genius.
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Where did your dad learn how to bake bread?
He did a lot of research before I was even cooking – as long as I can remember. And, we have good friends from Italy, and he would go over to Italy, and friends would hook him up and he would go and learn how to bake bread there. So he uses Italian/French/New York techniques that he has then enhanced into his own techniques and they are pretty unique. It’s the only recipe that I won’t give out. And that bread is complementary to the table.
But I want to circle back quickly to your first question: "What is so wonderful about having a restaurant in Vienna?" It's that I can sum it up in a phrase – and that is ‘I feel like I’m back in New York’. When you cook in New York, the feeling here (in Vienna) is how your heart feels – and that’s it, period – and not everyone will really understand what that means. It's that unique vibe and excitement – that something good is going on -and I’m not saying you don’t feel it in other places -but in New York, it’s a non-negotiable that you feel it – and that’s what you feel here in Vienna, and here at the restaurant. What do you feel when you walk up out of the train at Madison Square Garden – you feel an energy. If you want a jolt, go to Union Station, catch the acela, in four hours get out at MSG, and go up the stairs and feel that unmistakable energy – then get back on the train and come back down here – and remember that, because that’s exactly what we want here in the restaurant - and Vienna has that. So why Vienna, why northern Virginia – cause I feel like I’m back in New York – it's got a pulse and an energy -and if you come up with the goods – your support will be unwavering, unwavering. Unwavering. And you know what, its not fake -its so genuine -you’re actually friends cooking for friends. When you’re high fiving three quarters of everyone and hugging three quarters of everyone in the restaurant, and you know everyone in the restaurant by the end of the night you know you’re in the right place – and that’s what we do.
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Clarity is located at 442 Maple Ave East, Vienna. Visit them for lunch and dinner on Tue - Fri and dinner only on Sat - Mon, make reservations on SEATME or place an order for delivery on POSTMATES.
What’s the concept of your menu?
We’re always doing something new and hopefully something people haven’t seen before. We use techniques and ingredients from around the world. I get products from around the corner, around the country, and around the world. Our nearest source would be Vienna Farmers market, and our farthest would be Australia where we get our lamb. And excitement through change is what we’ve found that people really enjoy which contributes to the vibe.
When you walk into a restaurant or any business – let’s take an artisan furniture maker – and you’re a furniture person and you go antiquing etc. – and you walk in because you heard this place was good, and you pick something out in your budget. Then, a month later you're back because you’re a furniture person and can’t get enough, and 75% of everything is different. So what do you think the owner has been doing for a month – he’s been busy busting it - curating for you. There’s a vibe there right? Your response is "wow" and suddenly you see another piece and take it. So our vibe here is excitement and innovation as opposed to, going in and seeing the same stuff and people start thinking “I already went over this stuff, last time I only picked 1 and I didn’t pick the other 2 because I only liked 1. There is certainly a chance that maybe a certain type of person liked all 3 and only picked one, came back and said “where’s that piece from last time” - BUT, most people are more excited to see new offerings in the store because they feel that while they were out doing something else, the owner was preparing new things for you. And that’s what’s going on here, and that’s why people come here 2 or 3 times a week. So our product fits what people want, and then the innovation drives that excitement to come back and experience something new. I believe I understand what people want, and it fits really nicely with what I love to do. This is not a job, this is just love. Now, if it doesn’t match, then its work - if it matches, its love.
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Do you ever look at anything on your menu, and consider overall response and make it a mainstay or signature that's always available on the menu?
There are no mainstays. That being said, I bring stuff back, and there are only so many products on the planet. No, the signature of Clarity is the vibe, the vibe makes you feel good, you feel good because of the environment, and the environment is excitement and experiencing something new. And also, I can’t do the same thing all the time, then it would be work for me, I want to have fun, I literally don’t want to work – ever. If I feel like its work, I wouldn’t be doing it. This is not work, it literally is. not. work. It’s a really an amazing feeling to get up and actually feel like you win power-ball, I feel like I’ve won powerball but I didn’t. Like I have to do this to make money, but I actually don’t feel like I have to do this to make money which can be weird. I'm so grateful for that.
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When you think back to your early 20’s, what decision did you make to discover this passion?
I was lucky. It’s kind of a bad question for me -its like asking someone in the NBA when did you want to become a basketball player. It just so happened that the characteristics of the job matched my characteristics which are: loving people, innovation, fun, having a really strong work ethic, being social, traveling, sports (competitiveness), and food. I grew up seeing cooking happen at home all the time. All these things fit me. It would've almost been like a kid picking the right sport – like, thank God Michael Jordan picked basketball and not baseball. So what I tell the staff is – if people stop wanting to eat this stuff, then I would still take us start another business selling something – paper towels, umbrellas, chairs – whatever, and we would be successful together. Instead of serving a client with food, drink and relationships, we would serve that customer with a well-designed chair, and relationships. But its relationships first, and then comes everything else. And that’s what I tell my staff. And that’s why I call them relationship owners, not servers. If you were in big corporate – that’s what they would call you if you were in business development – the relationship owner. They would say “Who’s the relationship owner of this project?” – “oh that’s me” – that person owns the relationship with the client. So I want to make sure these guys have an insane amount of pride in what they do because without them we don’t exist. Just like without the food we don’t exist. That’s another reason why the vibe is so good, because they really understand how important they are. I would love if someone would go from here to big corporate, if they don’t want to do this anymore, and Clarity is on their resume, that the big corporate company would realize that Clarity is a gold star on their resume because of what that person is brining to their team.
MEET VIENNA
CLARITY
RESTAURATEURS:
Clarity has this palpable energy and exquisite level of service that starts from the moment you're greeted at the door up to the moment you walk out. The entire staff is teeming with energy, enjoyment, and a genuine eagerness to serve. This is super hard to find anywhere these days - and we've got them right here in Vienna!
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Ok, ok, we are not hard core food critics - but we think this place is delivering some fantastic options - and if you don't know what you want - you will be coached through their offerings in detail.
And let's not forget, chef owner Jon Krinn's dad - he's making fresh breads that he learned to bake decades ago back in the 'old country', and in New York City.
Trust us, you're gonna be blown away by your experience at Clarity - not just the first time, but time after time - because the two key ingredients for every experience are 'relationships & innovation'. Let's meet Jon Krinn....
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What brought you to Vienna?
I came down here from New York in 2001. I've been in Northern Virginia ever since. I’ve always had great support here, so I’ve never thought of going anywhere else. Vienna is known to be a logistic hub – so without any formal targeting, knowing a lot of people in northern Virginia, and knowing that everything sort of runs through Vienna – its always been a vibrant area that I had my eye on for sure.
Now, finding the right space is not easy. It really is an organic process. There’s one thing that we want to develop - and yes, of course it's about the people of Vienna, but that is certainly an organic process from the people that work with you, to the people you serve, the people you connect with. I tell my staff, this is a truth for me, and I tell my staff, I do things a little bit differently, I’m a bit of a contrarian. Everyone goes to DC, I go to northern Virginia - if someone says the product is the food and the drink; I say the product is the relationships that we make. That’s the actual product – its everything around the relationships – the food and the drink are really only there to facilitate and enable us to develop our product which is the relationship.
So in that respect, for example, if you make cars, and you’re gonna hire someone, they’ve gotta know how to make cars, or at least part of the car – because that’s the product. But I’m hiring to make relationships, so that means you must have that skill set. That's why we’ve been able to create a culture organically, and that’s why people feel the vibe that they do – its organic – its not created – I didn’t press a button and create the vibe. But, I did set the precedent with my staff that the product we produce are the relationships we make, and we can’t fake that. Just like you can’t fake a good car. People that know cars, see right through it. So people that know good restaurants and know people can tell if we’re faking it. So the people that work with me are those kinds of people because those are the kind of people we hire, and hence, those are the kinds of people we attract. Now if someone wants to work here, and they know someone that already works here, it's often a given that they’re like-minded people and then they fit right in. That is why people feel so good here, because it's intentional, and it’s because of my staff prioritizing relationships with our people and with each other. Like I said, people that work here are people that love it here, the people that come here to eat and drink – eating and drinking are the facilitations for us and the baseline is the relationships. It’s such a neat environment to be a part of. Now, the logistics of it - with the open kitchen, the cozy feeling that's small enough, but not too small, big enough, but not too big – those are all logistical points that I made sure that we had, but the rest is about the true product: relationships.
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How do you know that someone is going to be a good fit on your team?
I give all different types of people a chance. You could come here from a chain store – it doesn’t mean you’re not going to cook duck and black cod with some coaching. You can come from anywhere in a path and have Clarity be a part of your journey. And that’s why we call it Clarity, because we’re all looking for it in life. So there really is no litmus test for team members. Just because someone is an introvert doesn’t mean they can’t make relationships – and so there really is no blueprint for hiring people. But, someone quickly sees whether they fit in or not. Just like when you go out with friends, or go out on a date, you can pretty quickly tell whether its gonna go further or not. I let people try, but we often don’t even have space on our staff because my staff stays with me. But when someone comes in off a recommendation, usually from someone that currently works here, they might indicate they’re good at one thing, then we discover together that they flourish at something they initially said they weren’t even good at – which is great, and we love to see that growth.
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