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David Nayfeld

What Separates a Good Restaurant from a Great One? Everything You Don’t See

20 Minutes read
Journalist

If you care about where your food comes from, how it’s made, and who’s making it, Chef David Nayfeld explains what to look for—and why it matters.

Everyone wants a restaurant to be better. Diners say they care about sustainability, humane animal practices, fair wages, high-quality ingredients, and traditional craftsmanship. But few stop to consider what it actually takes to deliver on those promises.

David Nayfeld, the chef behind San Francisco’s Che Fico, has spent years trying to get people to understand a fundamental truth: if you want a restaurant to do every piece of the experience better—from the food to the service to the sourcing—you have to rethink what that means.

“I spent the past few years just being like, guys, you need to accept the fact that some shit is more expensive because we pay a 401(k), and we pay a livable wage, and all that shit. And the truth is, it just doesn't resonate with people. No matter how liberal they pretend to be. They are liberal right up until they have to pay the bill for being liberal.”

But it’s not just about cost—it’s about standards. If people truly want restaurants that reflect their values, they need to understand what that actually looks like in practice.

Che Fico Interior 1

What ‘Better’ Really Looks Like

Nayfeld breaks it down simply: better restaurants start with better sourcing. But that’s a complex equation—one that most diners don’t fully grasp.

“Everything starts with sourcing, right? And there’s so many things that go into that. First, there’s sustainability, which is this big word people throw around, and it means different things to different people. But when you really break it down, it comes down to either not taking away from the quality of the environment—or even being net positive. That means regenerative agricultural processes, farmers rotating crops, not planting monocrops, not spraying pesticides. It’s better for the soil, better for the planet, and better for the food quality. But that means a less productive yield, and that means they have to charge more, which means we have to charge more.”

It’s not just about the environment—it’s about flavor.

“Monocrops tend to have very little flavor, because the soil is ultimately what gives flavor. So if we’re staying away from the price conversation for a second, the simple fact is, it just tastes better.”

And then there’s humane animal treatment, which diners often lump into the sustainability conversation—but it’s a separate issue with direct consequences.

“When an animal is stressed, when it’s crowded, when it’s literally living on top of another animal, you get a product with less quality and less flavor. A stressed animal produces enzymes that make its meat less tender and less delicious. Plus, that’s how disease spreads. All of the things we worry about—mad cow disease, trichinosis, avian flu—come from animals being kept in these conditions. And yet, we allow it.”

Nayfeld doesn’t expect every diner to become an expert in sourcing. But he does want them to recognize that all of these decisions—whether it’s where the meat comes from, how crops are grown, or how a restaurant chooses its ingredients—have a direct impact on the quality of their meal.

“You can choose any one reason to care. Maybe you don’t want to get sick from your food. Maybe you just want it to be more delicious. Or maybe you actually care about the world and believe animals should live with dignity before they die. But whatever your reason, all of those factors create a better-tasting product. And yes, they also make it more expensive.”

Butchering at Che Fico

A Broken System: Why Restaurants Need to Change

For decades, the restaurant industry has relied on shortcuts—cheap ingredients, mass production, and an underpaid workforce. But as diners demand higher standards, the entire system has to evolve.

One of the biggest misconceptions, Nayfeld argues, is that issues like food quality, sustainability, and even health are separate from one another—when in reality, they’re all connected.

“Look at margarine. We were told for decades that margarine was better than butter. That trans fats were better than animal fats. And now we know that was total bullshit. The same thing happened with eggs—people were told eggs were bad for you. But the reality is, in moderation, things like eggs, red meat, butter, and olive oil are actually good for you. The problem isn’t those things—it’s when we strip all the nutrition from food and replace it with hyper-processed garbage.”

The same industrial mindset applies to wheat, which has been modified and overprocessed to the point where people’s bodies react to it differently than they did a century ago.

“If you went back 100 years ago, nearly no one had gluten issues except for celiac disease, which is an actual allergy. Now, if you ask your friends, probably four of them will tell you they have a gluten sensitivity. Why is that? Did we evolve into that in just a century? No. What’s happening is that wheat, along with soy and corn, has been grown as a monocrop for so long that it’s been modified and stripped of its nutritional value. They refine it down to the simplest form so it has a longer shelf life and a more predictable yield, but what we’re left with is a product that does nothing for us nutritionally. That’s why people feel bloated when they eat it—it’s not real food anymore.”

This isn’t just about sourcing better ingredients—it’s about returning to traditional techniques that prioritize quality over convenience.

“In our restaurant, we work directly with farmers who grow heirloom grains, who don’t spray pesticides, who actually care about their crops. We naturally ferment our dough instead of using commercial yeast. We use traditional techniques that take longer and require more expertise, but the result is food that not only tastes better but is better for your body.”

For Nayfeld, it’s about undoing decades of industrial food production and helping diners experience what real food should be.

“You know why people go to Italy and eat a ton of pasta and pizza and don’t feel bloated? Because their wheat isn’t the same highly refined garbage we have here. It’s not processed the same way, so your body actually digests it properly.”

With that foundation laid, the next step is understanding what actually sets a great restaurant apart—from technique to transparency.

“This isn’t about money—it’s about standards,” Nayfeld says. “If you want better products, if you want food that actually tastes better, if you want people to be paid fairly, if you want sustainability, if you want all of these things—then you have to understand what it takes to do that. And you can’t turn around and say, ‘Oh, but why is it so expensive?’”

Extruding pasta

How to Spot a Truly Great Restaurant

For diners who care about quality, sustainability, and craftsmanship, the challenge is figuring out which restaurants actually live up to those ideals—and which ones just use the right buzzwords. Nayfeld has a simple answer: pay attention to the details.

“The truth is, a lot of times, the restaurants will tell you everything you need to know on the menu, on their social media, or on their website,” he explains. “You’ll read a menu—does it say Parmesan, or does it say 12-month or 24-month Parmigiano Reggiano? Does it say Pecorino Romano? Does it list the olive oil source? Do they actually showcase the producers they work with?”

Menus are just one piece of the puzzle. Nayfeld also encourages diners to look at how things are done—both in the kitchen and on the plate.

“There are so many different choices and steps you can take—even for the most simple food—to make it extraordinary,” he says. “That’s the difference between a dish where you’re like, ‘Wow, why is that the best bowl of pasta I’ve ever had in my life?’ versus one where you think, ‘Okay, that was good. It was serviceable.’”

Take something as basic as garlic. “There are so many restaurants using pre-peeled garlic, or even pre-sliced garlic that’s been sitting in a metal container for days. That’s when you get that funky, not-very-fresh garlic flavor. At our restaurant, we peel and slice all of our garlic by hand, to order. It seems like a small thing, but all of those little decisions add up to something bigger.”

It’s the same with olive oil. “What kind of olive oil are they using? Are they finishing with real, high-quality extra virgin olive oil, or are they using some cheap blend from a jug? Are they using single-origin olive oil, or is it some random bulk product? These are the things that separate an okay restaurant from an amazing one.”

Then there’s the craft itself. “One of the hardest things to do is make pasta by hand,” Nayfeld says. “So many restaurants just buy a pasta extruder, throw in some flour, water, and eggs, and say they’re making fresh pasta. But they don’t actually understand how different flours react, how much hydration it needs, how gluten elasticity works. A lot of times, what you end up with is pasta that wasn’t dried properly before cooking, so it doesn’t absorb the water right. And when that happens, you’re basically just eating raw flour.”

At a great restaurant, the difference is in the technique. “Understanding pasta means knowing how to mix the dough, how to roll it, how long to dry it, how to shape it properly. It takes years of refining to get it right. And then, what are you serving with it? Are you grinding your own meat for a Bolognese, or are you just buying pre-ground meat? Are you using beautifully cured whole-muscle pork products, or just whatever pancetta you can get your hands on? Are you cooking with garbage boxed wine, or are you using a great bottle of Sangiovese?”

None of these things are hidden from the diner—you just have to know what to look for. “In a restaurant, you can usually see it,” he says. “Is there an open kitchen? Are you watching them finish dishes with olive oil? What does their Parmesan look like—are they grating it fresh, or is it coming pre-grated with anti-caking agents in it? These things all tell you something.”

At the heart of it, a great restaurant is one that makes the right decisions at every step—not just for the sake of a higher price tag, but because those decisions add up to a better meal.

“People think they need to be sourcing experts to know if a restaurant is good, but you don’t,” Nayfeld says. “You just have to be paying attention.”

Che Fico Pasta

Why It All Matters

At the end of the day, all of these choices—sourcing, technique, service, expertise—lead to a simple truth: a truly great restaurant isn’t just a place that charges more. It’s a place that invests more. More care, more time, more integrity. And if diners really want better food, they need to recognize what that actually takes.

“This isn’t about money—it’s about standards,” Nayfeld says. “If you want better products, if you want food that actually tastes better, if you want people to be paid fairly, if you want sustainability, if you want all of these things—then you have to understand what it takes to do that. And you can’t turn around and say, ‘Oh, but why is it so expensive?’”

For Nayfeld, this isn’t just an argument—it’s the philosophy behind his own restaurant.

“What makes our food better is the process. The fact that we use heirloom grains, the fact that we naturally ferment our dough, the fact that we don’t use commercial yeast, the fact that we make our own mozzarella—all of these things add up,” he says. “It takes years for someone to master rolling out pasta by hand. It takes over a year to make culatello properly. It takes a ridiculous amount of expertise to do things the right way instead of the easy way.”

And that commitment extends beyond the food itself.

“People don’t realize how much it matters when a restaurant invests in its staff,” he says. “If a restaurant offers a 401(k) with a 4% match, if they offer profit-sharing, if they actually take care of their people—guess what? Those people stick around. Your server remembers your name and what you like to drink. The person rolling your pasta has been doing it for years, not just a few months. And that shows up in the experience.”

For diners, the takeaway is clear: if you want better restaurants, support the ones that do things right.

“Every decision matters,” Nayfeld says. “A restaurant can cut corners at every step, or they can make the best possible choices. It’s up to you which one you want to eat at.”

Pulling mozzarella at Che Fico
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