Every season comes to an end
This morning a New Yorker friend messaged to say that the Four Seasons Restaurant will shutter on Tuesday. It has survived the move to its new location for a little under two years but for many the Four Seasons ceased to exit when it lost its lease in the Seagram Building on Park Avenue where it had been located since 1959.
The Four Seasons, in its original form, was that perfect amalgam of cuisine, service and vibe and I couldn’t help but reflect a little on it this morning.
It was a magical place, a very understated space - especially in The Grill Room - which was my favorite part of the restaurant (my preferred table was up on the mezzanine where you could look over and down to the rest of the room - where the gentleman with the white hair is sitting in this photograph taken by Fred R Conrad / New York Times), The Pool Room, unless it was an event, was an altogether different experience, the constant trickle of water transporting you many miles from Manhattan - but, for me, that defeated the purpose.
It was Esquire magazine that coined the phrase ‘power lunch’ at the Four Seasons in 1979 and without doubt this was a heady part of its allure.
I’ve seen Henry Kissinger dine with Michael Dell on the next table and Tina Brown one over from that.This 2016 article from Town and Country Magazine gives a great insight into the guest profile.
The story goes that every morning the restaurant would phone the ‘secretaries’ (because that is what they were called) of the most stellar of diners to make sure that the restaurant could juggle the seating to ensure that every one of those bold face names could be seated at their preferred tables.
The co-owner, Julian Niccolini, seemed to seat every single guest and remembered every face (even mine) with no regard to your frequency of dining or celebrity level.
I probably had my first beef carpaccio there, a martini as you perused the menu was obligatory and, despite efficient service, for me this was the ultimate home of the three hour lunch.
Of course my best memories of lunching there are from a different era. Late nineties, early noughties this was pre-smartphone, and actually pre cell phone for the masses.
When you left the office at 1150am for a Noon lunch you knew you wouldn’t be coming back for quite a while, and if you did your afternoon would be lightly scheduled. I actually DID have a second jacket on the back of my chair and my office had a - ‘just stepped out’ look. No one had the motivation or the means (short of calling the restaurant) to interrupt your lunch and lunch had a habit of gently transitioning into early evening drinks.
This all sounds rather louche but really it was the most efficient way of conducting a lot of business. A client (me) would always free up a chunk of time to have lunch in the Four Seasons and the quality face time meant focus which rarely happened in the office during a rushed meeting. And for me, when I was usually making decisions on advertising spend I wanted to hear the magazine sales director (them) talk about their title and bring it alive before making some sober decisions.
My most memorable lunch there was with the senior sales team from Fortune Magazine, Jed Hartman and Tony Haskel - if my memory serves me right, it was the Friday before Presidents‘ Day weekend and I was booked on the 600pm to Zurich that evening. Just as we sat down the snow started to fall and with each drink / course Manhattan got more and more gridlocked. Now remember lunches at the Four Seasons could never be rushed, and this was in the day of having to visit the check-in desk at the airport to physically check in. I was running the ‘latest possible restaurant departure’ calculation in my head every 15 mins. I managed to remain until 3.20pm, crossed town and made it to Newark with minutes to spare.
What to miss ? The lunch or the flight - The Four Seasons made that a very difficult choice.
Twenty years on from my first lunch experience there I’ve never felt the same about any other restaurant - sure I’ve tasted better food, had more impressive views and even experienced better company (sorry Tony / Jed) but I’ve never experienced the heady mix that was The Four Seasons.
A different restaurant, a different time.
So long.
PS I always like to illustrate my writing with a photograph I have taken, but of course none exists - no smart phone, no social media, no instagram. You had to make do with the memory. And as we all try to get the best angle of our eggs Benedict to share with the world that really feels like it was a better time.
