ASK ME ANYTHING
Keith McNally Fields Questions From Friends, Fans, and Balthazar Regulars
Keith McNally, photographed by Jeremy Liebman.
Though estimates vary, there are some 21,000 restaurants in New York City, with more than 80% of them lasting less than five years. But over the last few decades, one man has emerged from the culinary maelstrom to become that rare thing: a celebrity restaurateur. His name, of course, is Keith McNally, and by some wicked combination of buzz, provocation, and good food (plus a very public online spat with James Corden), he’s become inextricable from the gaggle of beloved restaurants he’s owned and operated around Manhattan, including Bathazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and The Odeon (the latter now belongs to his ex-wife, he says). Over the course of his distinguished career in the hypercompetitive New York food world, the 73-year-old McNally has collected enough stories to fill a book. And finally, he has: I Regret Almost Everything, McNally’s sharp, sometimes riotous, and characteristically candid new memoir, is out today. To mark the occasion, we enlisted more than a dozen fans, friends, and frequent patrons of his restaurants to submit a question for the man himself. Below, Mr. McNally answers them all.
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PADMA LAKSHMI, AUTHOR AND TELEVISION HOST:
Who, other than James Corden, have you had to ban from your restaurants, and why?
KEITH MCNALLY: Adam Platt, because he gave Pulino’s a diabolical review. (It was fully deserved. The review, not the ban.)
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ADAM PLATT, RESTAURANT CRITIC:
What is the secret phone number to get the AAA-caliber reservations at Minetta? (Just asking for a friend)
MCNALLY: 212-966-7402. But please keep it secret.
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ERIC RIPERT, CHEF:
You are the most Francophile British man I have ever met, which is reflected through your French restaurants. What is it that you like so much about French culture?
MCNALLY: The best sex I ever had was with a French woman in Paris. I was 19. I’ve been in love with French culture ever since. Strangely enough, I met the woman again two years ago. It turns out she was really Australian.
The impression from your social media platforms is that you enjoy stirring the pot and strive for controversy. Is this a strategic way of communicating or more spontaneous? I wonder because the audience on these platforms finds this to be brilliant.
MCNALLY: I don’t strive for controversy. I strive for honesty. I don’t always achieve it. I regret about a third of my posts. I find them either silly, contrived or not entirely truthful.
What do you think of fine dining? Why won’t you come to visit me at Le Bernardin after I have invited you so many times over the years?
MCNALLY: I promise I’ll come to Le Bernardin in the next two months. (I should be so lucky!) Would you ever consider us doing a restaurant together?
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JAY MCINERNEY, WRITER:
Why’d you let James Corden off the hook?
MCNALLY: Because I believe in giving people second chances.
Who’s the worst behaved celebrity that’s dined at one of your restaurants?
MCNALLY: Bret Easton Ellis.
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JULIANNA MARGULIES, ACTOR:
If you could only keep one of your many restaurants open, which one would it be and why?
MCNALLY: Of all the restaurants I’ve built, the Odeon is my favorite. Unfortunately, it now belongs to my ex-wife.
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ZOUHEIR LOUHAICHY, BALTHAZAR MAITRE’D:
Hey Keith—what would have happened that fateful night in Barcelona on May 26th, 1999, with Balthazar barely 2 years old, if Manchester United hadn’t made the stunning comeback that became the stuff of legends that we were lucky to witness in person?
MCNALLY: I would have won $3,000. I didn’t tell you this before, Zouheir, but I put a thousand dollars to win on Bayern at 3-1 in the quarter-finals. So Manchester United winning was a bittersweet feeling for me.
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DORINDA MEDLEY, TELEVISION PERSONALITY:
If Balthazar were a stage and the people dining in it, characters—what role do you play?
MCNALLY: The Fool.
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HELEN ROSNER, FOOD CRITIC:
What would it take for you to bring Pravda back? (The house martini there was the first cocktail I ever truly loved.)
MCNALLY: Bringing back a once-great restaurant is like raising a once-great ship from the bed of the ocean. The longer it remains on the bottom of the ocean, the more extraordinary it becomes. If I reopened Pravda, people would be sorely disappointed. Nothing matches our memory of past restaurants.
What is it about New Yorkers—our temperament? our insecurity? some fundamental cultural frailty?—that makes us so particularly prone to fall in love with British interpretations of French culture?
MCNALLY: What does it say about French people that they eat so often at Balthazar when on holiday in New York?
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ANDY BARAGHANI, CHEF:
Give me a name-drop: who’s sat at your table that made you nervous—or in awe?
MCNALLY: Clint Eastwood was the most charismatic and intimidating customer who ever ate at Balthazar.
Which New York spot would you love to get your hands on and completely rework?
MCNALLY: Padma Lakshmi.
Was there ever a meal that completely changed the way you saw food—or even your life?
MCNALLY: Rose Gray, co-founder and chef of London’s River Café, worked with me at Nell’s in 1986 before opening the River Café. One day she made me a marinated lamb sandwich that was truly out of this world. Nothing I’ve eaten since then has matched that sandwich.
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CHRIS BLACK, WRITER AND PODCAST HOST:
I miss Schiller’s. Which one of your shuttered restaurants do you miss the most?
MCNALLY: Lucky Strike.
How much is a full buyout of Balthazar on a Saturday night?
MCNALLY: Between $125,000 and $150,000. For $200,000 you can go home with one of my servers.
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EMILY SUNDBERG, WRITER:
I’ve been observing the decline of etiquette in society. What’s a notable way you’ve witnessed this in your restaurants over the years?
MCNALLY: I’m afraid I disagree. I find customers much politer and more well mannered today than 44 years ago when I opened my first restaurant.
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KELLY BENSIMON, TELEVISION PERSONALITY:
If I were a steak [at Balthazar], which patron would be my favorite bite?
MCNALLY: Hannibal Lecter.
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J LEE, WRITER:
Marry, fuck (you can say “snog” if you need to), kill: chicken, beef, pork (in all of its forms)?
MCNALLY: Too silly a question to answer.
I was at Balthazar on election night. I certainly did not need any more to drink that night, but I was looking forward to free bottles of bubbles, celebratory or otherwise! What wound up happening to all of that cursed champagne?
MCNALLY: The 15 cases of champagne are actually unopened and waiting for the next election. Perhaps Wes Moore in 2028?
Carbone?
MCNALLY: Expensive and overrated.
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KAITLIN PHILLIPS, PUBLICIST:
How many people have the private reservation phone number?
MCNALLY: About 4,000.
How often do you revoke someone’s privileges?
MCNALLY: On average, I 86 two customers a year.
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