Stardate: 08.20.2026
Yesterday, at the end of my shift at my day job, I signed up my last member of the day.
He happened to be a bartender.
We started talking about restaurants in the area, sharing some of our favorites. Before we finished our conversation, he recommended a place I had never visited.
"Have you been to Artisan 179?"
I hadn't.
That was enough for me to make a visit.
After work, I headed to Pewaukee. As soon as I arrived, I was drawn to the view. The restaurant overlooks the lake, and I immediately hoped I could find a seat outside.
The restaurant was full.
I was invited to sit at the bar.
That turned out to be a pretty good seat.
I met Mili, one of the bartenders. She had an accent, so I asked where she was from.
"Argentina."
She handed me a menu, and I decided to take her recommendation: the 16-ounce bone-in Iberico pork chop.
The menu describes Artisan 179 as committed to local, sustainable, and organic practices, with everything prepared in a scratch kitchen and a farm-to-table approach.
While I waited, I met Ted, the managing partner. I told him it was my first visit and that I had come because one of my members recommended the restaurant. I also told him I was a writer and planned to write about my experience because I thought my readers would enjoy it.
He welcomed me warmly.
As the evening continued, the bar became busier. Angela joined Mili behind the bar, and soon I found myself surrounded by people who had become my dining companions for the evening.
There was Tamma. Zeynup was there too, along with Darla, her husband Glenn, and their daughter.
We talked.
We laughed.
At one point, we even posed for some pictures that would become part of today's review.
Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I asked Mili a question that comes naturally to me.
"What is your secret to success?"
Her answer was immediate.
"Teamwork."
That answer stayed with me.
I spend much of my working life building teams at my day job. I've learned to pay attention to the little things that reveal whether a team is working well. People communicate. They help each other. They handle pressure together. They make room for someone who is new.
I saw those things happening around me last night.
The food arrived, and Mili's recommendation was excellent. The Iberico pork chop was everything I hoped it would be.
Then Ted surprised me with dessert.
The dessert was a sachet, a box made out of chocolate with all kinds of sweet delights inside.
I offered to share it with my new friends.
They politely declined.
So I enjoyed it myself.
Before I left, I promised Ted that I would have the story written today.
That promise brought me back to the experience this morning.
A member I had met only minutes earlier sent me somewhere I had never been.
Mili welcomed me at the bar.
Ted made me feel at home.
Angela joined the team.
A group of people I had never met became my dinner companions.
And somewhere in the middle of the evening, one word connected the restaurant experience to something I have spent years learning myself.
Teamwork.
It matters wherever people gather to do something together.
Last night, I got to see it from the other side of the bar.
And I got a pretty memorable pork chop and dessert along the way.
Scripture says:
"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour."
— Ecclesiastes 4:9
I'm grateful for the member who made the recommendation.
I'm grateful for Mili, Angela, Ted, and the people who shared the bar with me.
I'm grateful for an unexpected evening that turned into a story worth telling.
Sometimes a good recommendation takes you somewhere you didn't know you needed to go.
Join me here:
Captain's Addendum
Bones: "Michael, you realize you went to a restaurant to write a review and ended up asking the bartender about teamwork."
Spock: "Doctor, Michael has a pattern."
Bones: "Of course he does. Give him a team and he'll start asking about their goals before dessert."
That made me smile.
They may have a point.
I've spent enough years working with people to recognize the feeling of a team that works well together.
Last night, I felt it.
And I got a pretty memorable dessert, too.
I'm grateful for the people who keep teaching me, sometimes without knowing they are doing it.
One percent better.
One good conversation at a time.
Live long and prosper.
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