[Krieger, 6/18/09]
Keith McNally's latest project, Minetta Tavern, opened to an astounding amount of buzz from the blogs and the mainstream press in February, which grew exponentially in volume when the restaurant quickly became a go-to for celebrities and food world VIPs. Raves from the critics soon followed, culminating in a surprising three star from Mr. Frank Bruni, and the joint has been just about impossible to get into for four months straight. If you want in, try greasing the wheels with the cheeky Keith McNally. He won't refuse your tip.
Keith McNally, Co-Owner: We have 75 seats at Minetta Tavern. Favorite seat in the house? My wife's isn't bad as it happens.
It's 8 PM on a Saturday night. What's the wait for a table? Saturday is actually an easier night to take in walk-ins than Wednesday or Thursday. In the end if someone's pleasant and not too demanding we always find something for them. Always. In fact there's hasn't been a single night at Minetta when we haven't taken in walk-ins.
Is there anything I can say to make my wait shorter?...How about gifts or cash to speed things along?
Keith McNally, Sceney, $26 Burger
113 MacDougal St., Greenwich Village; 212-475-3850
Open nightly for dinner.
I never take gifts, ever. It's against my principle. I do take cash, however. And as much of it as I can get.
Tell us about your favorite customers. Any celebs been by recently? My favorite customers tend to be those who slip a hundred bucks for a table. I was given five hundred once. I would have taken a bullet for that guy. But it had nothing to do with the money. A lot of celebs have been to Minetta Tavern lately but I have an unbendable policy of never mentioning their names. Especially when it's Woody Allan, Ben Affleck and Madonna a couple of Tuesdays ago. Or Jude Law and a waitress from Pastis on Thursday.
How do you deal with VIP's, when there are no tables left to give? To be honest it depends if they tip me or not. If they do, they'll have a table within seconds. If they don't then I'll stand rigidly by house policy of first come first serve.
What's the most outrageous request from a customer that you could accommodate? To accompany a very beautiful female customer home who was too drunk to do it by herself. ...that you couldn't accommodate? To leave her apartment when she asked me to. I think the police were called in eventually. But I'd rather forget about it to be honest.
What's the one Gatekeeper tool you need to do your job? Integrity and the ability to lie your head off. I've definitely got one of those qualities.When you're not at Minetta or one of your other restaurants, where are you eating? I don't get out as much as I used to but I love Maxwell's Plum on 64th and 1st. (Is it still open?).
· Previous Editions of the Gatekeepers [~E~]
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