Few restaurateurs have done as much to shape downtown New York, and its dining scene, as Keith McNally. After a debilitating stroke in 2016, the founding force behind the Odeon, Balthazar, Pastis, and Minetta Tavern, among others, began working on a memoir. Published this May, I Regret Almost Everything is a remarkably frank and funny telling of the former Londoner, filmmaker, lover, troublemaker, and serial proprietor’s 50 years in restaurants.
In an exclusive interview with Edible Manhattan Editor John Ortved, he discusses his book and the restaurant world he helped create, dishing about myths, money, and one topic “too sexual to mention.”
and their first child
JO: Your book is titled I Regret Almost Everything. Any regrets about the book?
KM: Yes. I wish it were better. But my publisher is allowing me to make changes to the paperback.
JO: Are there any beefs that you did not get a chance to squash, or stoke, in the book?
KM: Yes, but they’re too sexual to mention here.
From left: Lynn, McNally, his sister Josephine,
and oldest brother Peter
JO: What’s the happiest you ever were in one of your restaurants?
KM: In my 50 years working and owning restaurants, my happiest times were at the Odeon, sitting down with the waiters and waitresses at 3 in the morning, listening to them joke about the night as they smoked, drank beer, and counted their tips. Nothing since has ever matched that feeling.
JO: One of your cardinal rules is for your servers to mention the price of a special when announcing it. Why doesn’t everyone do this?
KM: Because most restaurateurs are greedy. Most specials are more expensive than the average dish on the menu. If the majority of the customers knew the prices of the specials they wouldn’t order them.
JO: Which of your restaurants had the greatest impact on New York?
KM: I suppose either the Odeon or Balthazar.
JO: A great deal of your book, and your dining history, is a love affair with Paris. What does New York get, and not get, about French dining?
KM: I think most New Yorkers understand French dining better than the French. And they tip better too.
JO: What’s the biggest change in restaurants since you started as a busboy in New York?
KM: Allergies. In NYC in the ’70s customers NEVER mentioned they had an allergy. (And they never got sick either!)
JO: John Belushi, Lorne, Chevy Chase…how did the SNL guys behave when they’d come by the Odeon?
KM: From organizing SNL’s after parties at One Fifth for three years I knew the cast really well, so they never acted too outrageously. Aykroyd and Belushi lived two blocks from the Odeon and they’d often drop by on their way home. They knew the staff well enough to sit down and drink with them.
JO: You write that Leonard Cohen was the soundtrack to your attempted suicide (in your mind). What’s the soundtrack now?
KM: “Going to a Town” by Rufus Wainwright.
JO: What is the most overrated thing about dining out in New York?
KM: The less accessible the place, the better the food is.
JO: The most underrated?
KM: Chefs Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson’s food.
JO: One of the final lines of the book expresses your desire to die as a New Yorker. What do you hope to take with you?
KM: My money.
Photos Courtesy of Keith McNally
I Regret Almost Everything (Simon & Schuster) is available wherever books are sold
