Power lunch, 12/27/99

Error 404--Not Found

Error 404--Not Found

From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:

10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

If the server does not wish to make this information available to the client, the status code 403 (Forbidden) can be used instead. The 410 (Gone) status code SHOULD be used if the server knows, through some internally configurable mechanism, that an old resource is permanently unavailable and has no forwarding address.

Error 404--Not Found

Error 404--Not Found

From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1:

10.4.5 404 Not Found

The server has not found anything matching the Request-URI. No indication is given of whether the condition is temporary or permanent.

If the server does not wish to make this information available to the client, the status code 403 (Forbidden) can be used instead. The 410 (Gone) status code SHOULD be used if the server knows, through some internally configurable mechanism, that an old resource is permanently unavailable and has no forwarding address.

Power lunch

While real estate magnates schmooze on the golf course and stockbrokers win new clients on the racquetball courts, people in the network business say the proverbial power lunch is still the best venue for cooking up deals. After all, technical people rarely stop working except to eat and sleep, and you can't sign a contract in your sleep.

But not every lunch is powerful. If you want to convince that brilliant network engineer to come work for you or get that venture capitalist to review your business plan, you've got to know the rules. The first is picking the right eatery.

To make an impression in the Valley, for instance, no place beats a Menlo Park or Palo Alto address for business lunching. These enclaves are close to numerous business parks, including the campuses of Hewlett-Packard and Sun. They're also near Stanford University and its prestigious business school, as well as a bevy of venture capital firms.

Top on any list is Palo Alto's Il Fornaio, an Italian restaurant frequented by the who's who in networking. Cisco execs love hanging out there, says Amy Hughes, a corporate spokeswoman. Or, when the network elite tire of Il Fornaio's, they head to Scott's Seafood Grill and Bar or Spago, also in Palo Alto, or over to neighboring Menlo Park to dine at Chantilly II or Zibibbo.

To scope out Stanford talent, try the Blue Chalk in Palo Alto, says Servane Briane, the Silicon Valley guide for Internet portal About.com. "The business school is where you want to network. Here is where the next venture capitalists are coming from," she says.

On the other coast, in the Boston area, Cambridge is the place the technical crowd and venture capitalists do their power lunching. No. 1 on the list of Cambridge power eateries? Legal Sea Foods - or as the locals say, Legal's.

Elsewhere in Massachusetts, Papa Razzi in Wellesley and the Green Papaya in Waltham make good choices, says Todd Dagres, general partner for Battery Ventures, a venture capitalist in Wellesley.

If you're after the banking crowd, head in to the city for a meal at Aujourd'hui (located inside The Four Seasons Hotel), Julien (inside Le Meridien Hotel), the Bay Tower Room, Radius, Biba, L'Espalier or the Capital Grille, says Paige Brown, concierge team leader for Circles, a Boston-based company that provides concierge services to high-tech companies. Rules to lunch byThe overriding rule when choosing a restaurant: Never make people drive into the city if they're in the 'burbs, and never make the city folk leave.

Also, consider what you want to accomplish. If it's important to impress your lunch mates with your personality, think out of the box. A new business-lunch trend in California is dining on unusual ethnic foods, such as Ethiopian cuisine, or even home-style American, at diners, About.com's Briane says. If you're courting a busy venture capitalist or wooing a famous CEO to join your board, go for the power breakfast. It's faster - "power breakfasts force people to be brief," Battery Ventures' Dagres says.

The second rule: Skip the alcohol. While the two-martini lunch may have been the classic power gig in 1962, slamming down that much gin today is a major no-no. While a glass of wine is OK when lunching with co-workers, better to just say "No" at a power affair. Also off-limits are heavy meals, so make sure the restaurant offers salads, wraps and soups. The third rule: Remember you're on stage. Much of your character is on display during a meal, Dagres says. "I won't look favorably on people who:

drink or smoke;
make me pick up the check;
have difficulty making a menu choice or repeatedly change their minds;
are rude or condescending to the wait staff - I used to be a waiter."

Related links

Reviews of Il Fornaio and Legal's

Directions to Il Fornaio
With links to menus and recipes

Japanese Etiquette Quiz
Sushi for lunch? Make sure you have the proper table manners.

Palo Alto restaurant reviews
by Skyline.com

Restaurant menus
No time to go out for lunch? Check out this listing of Boston/Cambridge take-out spots.

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Power Struggles

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