New York Times Bestseller

The entertaining, irreverent, and surprisingly moving memoir by the visionary restaurateur behind such iconic New York institutionsas Balthazar and Pastis.

A memoir by the legendary proprietor of Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and Morandi, taking us from his gritty London childhood in the fifties to his serendipitous arrival in New York, where he founded the era-defining establishments the Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg, and Nells. Eloquent and opinionated, Keith McNally writes about the angst of being a child actor, his lack of insights from traveling overland to Kathmandu at nineteen, the instability of his two marriages and family relationships, his devastating stroke, and his Instagram notoriety.
About the author: eith McNally, called The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown byTheNew York Times, founded Balthazar Restaurant, Balthazar Bakery, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, Pravda, Schillers Liquor Bar, Morandi, Cherche Midi, Lucky Strike, Nells, Cafe Luxembourg, and the Odeon, plus the staggeringly unsuccessful pizzeria, Pulinos. McNally is the author ofThe Balthazar CookbookandSchillersLiquor Bar Cocktail Collection, and the writer and director of two features,End of the NightandFar from Berlin. He lives in downtown New York.