Your Table Is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maître D'

by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina

The something that has a 60 percent chance of failing the first year and of which 80 percent are closed after five years.

the nicest and kindest folks in a restaurant are the immigrant labor—the lowest paid, those receiving the fewest perks with the shittiest jobs.

Foodies are nuts. They follow every move of a chef or restaurant they love, and they followed us.

André Soltner, the legendary chef and owner of Lutèce, arrived unannounced one afternoon, the reservation under the name of his guest. This was a huge deal. When I seated them, his guest remarked how difficult it was to get a reservation. I responded somewhat bewildered, “Chef, all you had to do was call and you would get a table in a second.” Soltner sat there, looked me up and down, and with a scowl said, “Michel, I do not take someone else’s reservation. If you have the table, you have the table. That is it. I expect no special treatment.” This came from one of the greatest chefs of his generation,