An Interview With Sirio Maccioni

L.G.: A million dollars a month, here at this place?

S.M.: Just at the beginning. This was the biggest mistake of my life, and we're going to be successful.

L.G.: Why do you say it was the biggest mistake of your life?

S.M.: Too much money.

L.G.: You've invested money, obviously, in the design.

S.M.: My money. My money.

L.G.: How much have you put in? Millions of dollars?

S.M.: Close to $10 million. This cost more than the last one. This cost double. But it was the money that I have to give back [as a loan]. But it's my sons' problem eventually.... You want to do a tasting menu?

L.G.: You're the boss.... Can I ask you, you are someone known for catering to the rich and powerful and famous. How important is that?

S.M.: Let me tell you, my mentality is that I was born on a farm...

L.G.: Yes, what I am asking is, to have a hot restaurant, to get people in the door, how important is having a clientele like that?

S.M.: Very important. It makes you feel good. I wouldn't have been in this restaurant or in this business any longer if it was not for the people.... You know when I opened in New York it was very elegant. Because it is casual and elegant and is more beautiful just to have a tie, yes?

L.G.: I'm glad I put on a tie. I heard that you're a stickler on that.

S.M.: No, I want to do the casual, I want to do the bar, I want to do the fun. And then I also want to respect some of the people. You don't come in like you want to show your power. I say, "Please, okay, we bring you to the table, but do me a favor." When we have a couple that is attractive and well dressed, then we send them a drink.

L.G.: It's good for business? 

S.M.: Yeah, but also especially women appreciate that. Men are not very intelligent. In Las Vegas, people get dressed up, and they say, "Go to Le Cirque, you get a glass of champagne."

L.G.: Let me ask you, the kind of people you had at the start of Le Cirque-Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, Nancy Reagan—these people are now very, very old, or dead. Nancy is in her '80s, Henry Kissinger is in his '80s—

S.M.: Nice man. But she is very nice.... I was very close with the Kennedy family.

L.G.: So how do you attract a new crowd? 

S.M.: The young people, they all come. Like Cuomo, they come here. We have a younger crowd now than 34 years ago when we opened.

L.G.: Are you depending on your sons?

S.M.: I'm depending on my sons and depending on people coming. You know some of the very rich young persons today, they don't even have a jacket. My son says, "Daddy, as rich as they are, they don't even have a jacket."

L.G.: We seem to be heading into a recession. Wall Street is not doing well today. How is the restaurant business affected?

S.M.: My philosophy—and I hope it's going to work again—is that it's not the first time that a New York has a crisis. I hope you remember 1971. For us, for some types of restaurants, it was the best, because people now they don't go on vacation, they want to go out instead. They want to show people that they are here. And so they go out more when everything goes awry than go on vacation. When something goes wrong, everybody is there. The good or bad they want to be part of it and that helps us, I hope. Because up to now, we have been doing very well.

L.G.: How much of your business would you say is New Yorkers and regulars versus tourists?

S.M.: The New Yorkers come here two, three times a week, and 25 percent is tourists.... Tomorrow I'm going on vacation. I'm going to the Dominican Republic, where I'm opening a place over there just for fun.

L.G.: You'll have a restaurant in the Dominican Republic? And you have one in Mexico City, and one or two in Las Vegas?

S.M.: Two in Las Vegas, but it's going to be three in the end because we are in a new project. My son Mario is there. And Mauro is in Circo [Osterio de Circo, which opened on West 55th Street in 1996], and Marco is here. I figure they're doing something. I say that I don't want to know. One of us is always here.

L.G.: Are you involved in everything day to day, or do you let these guys run it?

S.M.: They should be ashamed of themselves. I'm here 6 or 7 days a week.... I hate to work.

L.G.: You hate to work?

S.M.: Yes. And especially in this business. That is why I am good, I believe. Because I prepare myself. It's like going to a fight, a difficult fight. People think they are paying me a compliment when they say, "You are born for this business." No, I was not born for this business. I was born for many different things.... But I have to say that to me what the New Yorkers consider the most difficult people, for me they have been the nicest people. I can call now Donald Trump and ask him a favor, and it will take him two minutes and he will call me back.