Grace has been on my mind lately. A co-worker said the Chairman of the Board of the company we work was the “epitome of grace.” Apt, totally, but my thoughts go further, into the public sphere.

Grace and its adjective, gracious, mean many things. My definition, in the sadly crass and ever more obnoxious world in which we find ourselves, goes like this: Being better than you have to be, and better than anyone might expect you to be. (It fits for the afore-mentioned fellow, and for those who I discuss below.)

Grace. In Don’t Try This at Home, edited by Kimberly Witherspoon and Andrew Friedman, 40 all-star restaurateurs offer vignettes about what went wrong at one time or