It sometimes seems there are just two types of restaurants in New York City: the ones where celebrities eat, and everywhere else. Coverage of big-name restaurant outings has been particularly profuse this year; every New York spot Taylor Swift has patronized, for example, has been thoroughly documented and mapped online.
All that V.I.P. voyeurism has turned these sightings into a priceless form of currency for restaurateurs. Even a handful of TikTok videos of Post Malone eating spaghetti at a back table can guarantee solid bookings for months. Several high-profile openings this year, including the Corner Store, Bungalow and Crane Club, have drawn a parade of A-listers and in turn become some of the toughest reservations in town.
What’s the secret to attracting the rich and famous? We visited several star-frequented establishments in New York, and learned that many share similar strategies. Here are nine ways that restaurants draw big names to their doors.
1. Hire a host with the most.
She has a knack for logistics and an irresistible magnetism. He knows exactly who’s coming in tonight and what they love (or hate) to eat. These hosts will hand-deliver dishes and keep the Champagne flowing — all while casually mentioning that Rihanna swung by yesterday.
Emilio Vitolo, the second-generation owner of the Italian restaurant Emilio’s Ballato in NoLIta, is the archetype. He’s omnipresent at the restaurant and its next-door speakeasy, Da Milio, floating from table to table with a cigarette in hand, schmoozing in his thick New York accent with guests like George Clooney, all three Jonas Brothers and, yes, Ms. Swift.
At the SoHo location of Cipriani, the leading man is a steely manager named Milton Calle who softens for the right kind of diner. He doesn’t keep a waiting list for tables, but seats guests according to his whims, and assigns them fun nicknames like “Famous [your name here].” At Bungalow, an Indian restaurant in the East Village, the front man is the chef himself, Vikas Khanna. He is a consummate charmer, circumnavigating the dining room to pose for photos and even creating collaborative posts on Instagram with celebrities — including Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Kumail Nanjiani — who drop in.
2. Taylor — er, tailor the menu.
Many stars have exacting dietary restrictions and preferences, whether they’re vegans or lactose-intolerant or just generally trying to eat healthfully, said Dara Mirjahangiry, the founder of Sei Less, an Asian fusion restaurant near Madison Square Garden that’s popular with athletes and musicians, including the Boston Celtics point guard Jaylen Brown and the rapper Fabolous.
Mr. Mirjahangiry knows the five magic words to say to any picky celebrity: “We cater to any restriction.”
3. Create a zone of privacy.
There’s another word that popped up in nearly every discussion we had with servers, managers and publicists: discretion.
That means easy, low-visibility entrance points for high-profile guests. The Corner Store, in SoHo, is planning to create a side entrance, a server told us — a trick the restaurant group learned from its ur-celebrity hot spot, Catch, which has always been a maze of entrances and elevators. At Le Rock, frequented by “Saturday Night Live” cast members, big shots can go in and out through the staff’s rear entrance to avoid using the front door, which faces Rockefeller Center, said the restaurant’s events director, Sarah Hawas.
When it comes to assigning a table for someone notable, many celebrities prefer what used to be regarded as the least desirable area — the Siberia at the back of the restaurant. Jeff Bezos sits in the farthest back corner of the SoHo Cipriani, a regular told us. And many celebrity-studded restaurants have no shortage of private rooms, like the ones at Sei Less, where Kanye West celebrated Julia Fox’s birthday, or Meduza Mediterrania, where Ms. Swift recently dined.
4. Provide protection …
Many of the famous bring along a bodyguard, but the task of keeping a lookout sometimes falls to servers. One told us that when Ms. Swift visited the Corner Store, he intercepted anyone trying to take a covert photo.
Staff efforts aren’t always successful — one recent diner at Torrisi managed to shoot a stealth video of Sabrina Carpenter and Barry Keoghan at their table. And there’s no stopping civilians from submitting their sightings to the gossip blog and Instagram account Deuxmoi.
5. … Or guarantee publicity.
While some luminaries want to be squirreled away into corner tables and private rooms, others use the opportunity to be spotted (and photographed) somewhere chic, maybe with someone chic. The Sant Ambroeus restaurants are known for their see-and-be-seen patios, especially at the SoHo location, where the outdoor seating has glittered with famous faces like Queen Latifah, Rami Malek, Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner. The sidewalk at the West Village location was the backdrop for viral photos of Timothée Chalamet meeting Larry David over espresso martinis.
6. Stage the after-dinner party.
Once a star has gone through the rigmarole of getting into a restaurant and made it through a meal with minimal interruption, it’s nice to be shuffled right into a bar or club without having to do it all over again. Enter: the pipeline to partying.
At Emilio’s Ballato, there’s a direct entrance from the celebrity-favorite back room to the speakeasy next door, so famous diners can be escorted to the bar without having to face paparazzi or fans waiting outside. Similar conduits exist at Cipriani’s upstairs nightclub, Socialista, where celebrities are rarely pictured climbing the metal stairs out front, and at Jean’s in NoHo, where we witnessed a private indoor staircase shuttling V.I.P. diners from the street-level restaurant to the underground nightclub.
7. Replicate yourself.
Jennifer Lopez was spotted at the Cipriani locations in SoHo and the one in Beverly Hills. Katy Perry visited Carbone in both New York and Las Vegas.
Kejli Radovani, a reservation and reception manager at the Japanese restaurant chain Zuma, thinks she understands why. Restaurant chains traffic in consistency, which can be especially valuable to a famous person, who may not want to take a chance on an independent restaurant with less experience getting A-listers in the door discreetly. If celebrities get great treatment and priority reservations at one place, she said, they’ll frequently visit the same restaurant in a different city rather than try something new. Ms. Radovani said she has encountered the same celebrities at Zuma locations in New York, Boston, Miami and even Mykonos, Greece.
8. Don’t fuss over the food.
When celebrities go out to eat, the food is often beside the point. Famous people choose restaurants based primarily on atmosphere and reputation, said Ms. Radovani of Zuma. This is why so many star-packed spots serve dishes that can seem generic: cheese pizza, Caesar salad, California rolls. Ms. Radovani said most of the celebrities who come to Zuma only order drinks or a dessert platter.
9. Just be a great restaurant.
For some boldface names, though, it’s all about the food. There’s a simple reason restaurants like Via Carota, Semma and Tatiana attract celebrities even without most of these tools and tricks: They’re excellent. Perhaps the best strategy of all is having a place with such fantastic food and service that a restaurant-loving A-lister has no choice but to show up and risk being turned away.
Celebrities, they’re just like us.
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