The Cockney who became king of New York’s restaurant scene: How Keith McNally, 71, the twice-divorced boss of celebrity hotspot Balthazar, refuses special treatment for stars and hands out free champagne ‘but never to Al Pacino’
Brit-born Keith McNally rose from a working class background in the east end of London to become the king of the New York downtown restaurant scene. The influential restaurateur, who owns a string of eateries including the celebrity hotspot Balthazar in SoHo, Manhattan, is famed for his no-nonsense approach to diva-ish stars. The outspoken boss of who confronted James Corden over his ‘abusive’ behavior towards servers has rules for his waiters, including not to give stars any special treatment. The fiery restaurateur, a twice-divorced father-of-five, branded James Corden a ‘tiny cretin of a man’ after claims the Late Late Show host yelled ‘like crazy’ at staff over an omelette and fries – and previously demanded free drinks ‘this second’ at Balthazar.
McNally is no stranger to putting celebrities in their place and is famed for refusing to give special treatment to stars. In 1986, while running the nightclub Nell’s in Manhattan, he turned Madonna away for refusing to pay the entry fee. Recounting the story, he told the Guardian : ‘Every customer had to pay $5 to come in. Madonna, used to waltzing into clubs for free, refused to pay so I didn’t let her in. She was so pissed off she called me a [expletive]. McNally has told how he is happy to hand out champagne to single diners to make them feel at ease – ‘but never to Al Pacino.’
McNally moved to New York in 1975, intent on becoming an actor after starring in Alan Bennett’s Forty Years On in the West End – but instead he started working in restaurants. McNally, 71, built his reputation as the ‘restaurateur who invented downtown’ by opening a string of upscale Manhattan eateries including Cafe Luxembourg, Odeon, Minetta Tavern, Morandi, Lucky Strike, Pravda and Pastis.
His celebrity-loved restaurants attract the likes of Mick Jagger, Cher and Andy Warhol, but McNally has strict rules for how he deals with customers at his eateries – including not to give stars any special treatment. ‘Never get them drinks on the house, always talk to the person they’re with more than them,’ he told the Sunday Times . ‘Famous people get really [expletive] off by over-elaborate service. They just want to be left alone.’ The owner insists that waiters should never rush a guest and that they shouldn’t give stars any special treatment. He is seen here with Anna Wintour at Balthazar.
Not hovering around tables and always repeating orders back to customers to ensure no mistakes are made, are also part of McNally’s requirements he sets for his servers to make sure that diners have the upmost experience at the restaurant. ‘Be friendly, but never chummy,’ he began in a lengthy Instagram post, which he titled, ‘Rules for restaurant serves.’ ‘Always repeat the customer’s order back to him. Skate sounds like Steak after one martini.’ Pictured: McNally with Sienna Miller.
McNally was born in Bethnal Green in east London in 1951, to Joyce, a cleaner and Jack, a dock worker and amateur boxer. Before turning to restaurants, McNally did a stint in acting after he was discovered at 16 by American film producers in 1967 while working as a bellboy at the Hilton on Park Lane. He was cast in a film about Charles Dickens starring alongside Michael Redgrave, before starring in Alan Bennett’s Forty Years on at the Apollo Theatre in the West End for a year.
After this, he travelled around India and Afghanistan and then returned to London where he worked on the lighting board at the The Rocky Horror Show and as stage manager at Nell Gwynne strip club in Soho, the only job he ever got fired from. In 1975, he moved to New York where he had the intention of becoming a director, but soon turned his sights to restaurants after working in a series of kitchen jobs from oyster shucker to busboy. Five years later he opened up his first restaurant, the Odeon in Tribeca, with his first wife Lynn Wagenknecht and his brother Brian.
The Odeon soon became the ‘center of the downtown art scene’, with Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel, Anna Wintour, Lorne Michaels and the cast of Saturday Night Live among its regulars. He divorced Lynn two years after Odeon opened and a feud with Brain saw the brothers take off on different restaurant ventures. Since then McNally’s opened Café Luxembourg, Nell’s, Lucky Strike, Pravda, Balthazar, Pastis, Schiller’s, Morandi, Minetta Tavern, Cherche Midi, and Augustine, as well as Balthazar in London.
In November 2016, McNally suffered a debilitating stroke which left him paralyzed on one side of his body, and soon after his second wife Alina served him with divorce papers. The pandemic hit McNally both personally and professionally. In 2020, he was hospitalized after contracting coronavirus and was also forced to close six of his restaurants after losing £5,000 ($5,600) a day. Balthazar, which first opened in 1997, was among those to close, something which affected McNally deeply. But it finally reopened in March last year and since then has been packed with celebrity diners on a daily basis – most recently Anna Wintour and James Corden.
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