Knowing that someone has the potential to succeed is beautiful, but when you get to watch that person come into real success, it feels like the world is right and the stars have aligned and fate feels a little more believable. When I caught wind of Patrick Tafoya’s restaurant being written up by the San Francisco Chronicle and local food critics writing glowing reviews, it seems as though his world is on the verge of changing forever. I always knew he would make it big. And now that he is really, truly, tangibly successful, the world has righted itself.
I have an admittedly misguided pride in his success. I see his burgeoning fame through a prism of memories: I remember trying to encourage his interest in cooking while he was a server at the Courtyard Marriott in Albuquerque, I remember driving a U-Haul of our belongings from Albuquerque to Portland so he could attend culinary school, I remember quizzing him with flash cards covered in measurement conversions, I remember moving to Santa Rosa so he could move up the kitchen ranks.
(Note: this is about all I will offer publicly. The words aching to spill out are best saved for a therapists couch.)
Lucky for him, he seems to have met his match in his wife Christine. She seems to offer equal parts creativity, ambition, and drive. It is clear from concept, design, website, and a robust Facebook marketing mechanism that this is not his endeavor alone. There is an organic coherence between concept and menu, website and interior design; working in tandem has clearly worked out well for them.
For some of my oldest friends, you should also take a moment to be excited. You probably also remember him as a culinary student or a server, or maybe you encouraged us to move to Portland to follow his dream, or maybe you were even there at our wedding. And in this moment of collective pride, I gladly extended the same warmth and well-wishings to my other successful friends – the web guru in Albuquerque, the photographer in Las Cruces, the tech-whiz in Albuquerque, the teacher in Indianapolis, the instructor in Manhattan, the whip-smart SLP in Tukwila. The list goes on and on.
Before this gets too tangential or sentimental, just do me a favor and drop into P/30 if you happen to be in the North Bay area. And in the midst of a kitchen rush, with tickets stacking up and a mob of four-tops waiting to be seated, look up to the chef and give him a polite wave for me.
3 Comments
Wow! Good for him. It’s so awesome seeing success happen.
As much as *I* would love to drop in his restaurant…I cannot. BUT have sent my friend Duilio, Exec. Chef and Co-Owner of Il Frantoio in Mill Valley! (yes, that was a shameless plug).
What an amazing accomplishment for Pat! Thank you for sharing, Serene! Doesn’t it feel good to know those good people who have passed through our lives are doing good and doing well? I’m so proud of Pat, and I’m also proud of us. For what we’ve grown up to become. Hooray for youth, and hooray for maturity.