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essentials<br />
FIVE MINUTES WITH<br />
Keith McNally<br />
Manhattan’s Downtown<br />
dining revolution can be<br />
traced back to a dozen<br />
spots, and most of them<br />
are Keith McNally’s.<br />
Balthazar, Schiller’s, The<br />
Odeon, Pravda, Pastis,<br />
Lucky Strike, Morandi,<br />
Minetta Tavern. All were<br />
shepherded into their pitchperfect,<br />
supremely cool<br />
existence by the Londonborn<br />
restaurateur, who at<br />
this point has nothing left to<br />
prove. And yet McNally<br />
reopened Pastis (pictured)<br />
this spring, less than 100<br />
yards from its original<br />
location in the Meatpacking<br />
District (the first incarnation<br />
closed in 2014). A<br />
longtime friend of McNally,<br />
NetJets, The Magazine<br />
Editor Farhad Heydari<br />
spoke to him about the relaunch<br />
and what he looks<br />
for in a restaurant.<br />
MANY A HEART BROKE WHEN<br />
PASTIS CLOSED — WAS THE PLAN<br />
ALWAYS TO BRING IT BACK? My<br />
plan was always to bring Pastis to the<br />
Meatpacking District. The last few years<br />
of its 15-year lease, Pastis was busy<br />
every night, but our landlord was a<br />
greedy bastard and wanted to triple my<br />
rent, so I was forced out.<br />
AT THE NEW PLACE, WHAT<br />
DIFFERENCES WILL DEVOTEES NOTICE?<br />
The new Pastis is more spacious and<br />
the food‘s better!<br />
TODAY’S GASTRONOMIC CLIMATE<br />
DOESN’T SEEM AS FRIENDLY<br />
TO FRENCH FARE AS IT ONCE WAS.<br />
BUT IS THAT THE POINT, TO BE<br />
CONTRARIAN? Classic bistro fare<br />
has been around since the Napoleonic<br />
Wars, which is almost as long as I‘ve<br />
been eating it. As well as Italian, French<br />
bistro food is what I most like to eat. I<br />
can appreciate Modern Nordic and<br />
other dining trends without wishing to<br />
build a restaurant around them. I only<br />
ever build restaurants that I want to go to<br />
five nights a week.<br />
WHAT SHOULD FIRST-TIMERS<br />
ORDER? The escargots and either the<br />
grilled salmon or the steak frites.<br />
YOUR RESTAURANTS HAVE A<br />
WHOLLY UNIQUE MISE EN<br />
SCÈNE THAT CONSISTENTLY<br />
DRAWS THE FASHIONABLE<br />
CROWD. IS THIS INTENTIONAL?<br />
I never build a restaurant with anyone<br />
in mind except myself.<br />
HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING<br />
IN THE NEW RESTAURANT TO<br />
COMBAT (OR ENCOURAGE)<br />
PEOPLE ON THEIR PHONES?<br />
Hopefully, at the new Pastis, the<br />
guests will be so enamored of the<br />
look of the place and the food<br />
they‘ll forget about their effing phones!<br />
AT RESTAURANTS THAT AREN’T<br />
YOURS, WHAT SCREAMS THAT<br />
IT’S WELL EXECUTED? When the<br />
server prefaces announcing of the<br />
day‘s specials with “We have“ and<br />
not the pretentious “I have“.<br />
WHAT CAN’T YOU OVERLOOK IN<br />
A RESTAURANT? Mediocrity.<br />
WITH YOUR TRACK RECORD,<br />
YOU’RE DOUBTLESS<br />
APPROACHED FOR<br />
INNUMERABLE PROJECTS –<br />
WHAT’S NEXT? Pastis is the last<br />
restaurant I‘ll ever build.<br />
LOUISE PALMBERG; ILL<strong>US</strong>TRATION: JULIAN RENTZSCH<br />
20 NetJets<br />
Teterboro Airport: 14miles/22km
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