Pre-Meal, The Newsletter by Will Guidara

Happy Wednesday!

One of our friends had a big birthday to celebrate, so my wife and I and six of our closest friends splurged and rented a magnificent house together on the Greek island of Mykonos.

Our hosts, Papa Niko and his wife, Hilde, were incredibly warm and welcoming—and absolutely magnificent concierges. They planned dinners for us in town, organized boat trips and visits to pristine beaches, and even arranged an expedition to the coolest nightclub on the island, where I was—without question and to my great dismay—the oldest person in the room.

As we returned to the villa late in the afternoon of our last day, exhausted after yet another jam-packed day, I found myself wishing we could just spend the night relaxing with our friends at the house, with its pool and quiet beauty. But Niko had planned a blowout, an extravaganza to close things out, so I gamely changed my shirt and splashed my face with cold water, determined to rise to the occasion so we wouldn’t disappoint him.

Niko, the consummate host, took one look at us and asked, “Would you rather stay in tonight?” When we nodded gratefully, his pivot was immediate and graceful: he lit candles, opened a couple of bottles of wine, ordered us some dinner, and withdrew.

An exemplary host like Niko isn’t trying to impress his guests at any cost (though he did!) His priority is to take care of them, even if that means ditching a perfectly wrought plan. Throughout our trip, Niko had gone above and beyond, giving us so much more than we could ever have expected—but it’s the moment when he dialed it down and gave us less that made the greatest impression. That’s the difference between hospitality that happens to your guests and hospitality that happens for them.

Have a good service,

Will

It feels wrong to rave about Papa Niko’s incredible hospitality without sharing how you and your friends can experience it yourselves.