Keith McNally (born 1951) is a British-born

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

, the owner of several establishments including Parisian brasserie Balthazar, and formerly Nell's nightclub.

Personal life

McNally was born into a

working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

family in

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London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He is the son of Joyce and Jack McNally. His father Jack was an amateur boxer and docker. His brother, Brian McNally, is also a restaurateur in New York. His first wife, Lynn Wagenknecht, is also a restaurateur. One of his children (with Wagenknecht) is actress Isabelle McNally.

Career

Restaurants

McNally has been active in the New York City restaurant scene since the 1980s. In that time, he has opened several restaurants. These include Augustine, Balthazar, Cafe Luxembourg, Cherche Midi, Lucky Strike,

Minetta Tavern Minetta Tavern, named after the Minetta Brook is a restaurant owned by Keith McNally in Greenwich Village. In 2009, Frank Bruni of ''The New York Times'' gave the Tavern three stars. It served as a hangout for writers like e.e. cummings, Ernes ...

, Morandi,

Nell's Nell's (or Nells) was a nightclub located on 246 West 14th Street in downtown Manhattan. It opened in the fall of 1986 in the space of a former electronics store and closed May 30, 2004. History Nell's opened in the fall of 1986 in the space of a ...

, Odeon, Pastis, Pravda, Pulino's, and Schiller's.

Frank Bruni Frank Anthony Bruni (born October 31, 1964) is an American journalist and long-time writer for ''The New York Times''. In June 2011, he was named an op-ed columnist for the newspaper. His columns appear twice weekly and he also writes a weekly ne ...

awarded three stars to Minetta Tavern in 2009. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' has referred to him as "The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown." In October 2022, McNally banned, unbanned, and rebanned James Corden from entering his restaurants after Corden had behaved rudely towards a server at one of the locations after receiving an improperly prepared order. Corden later apologized to McNally and on his late night show (but not to the server), after which McNally removed the ban. McNally then reinstated the ban after Corden did a pre-planned Vanity Fair interview in which he expressed his belief that he'd done nothing wrong.

Acting

McNally was a member of the original London cast of

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and tw ...

's play '' Forty Years On'' in 1968 playing the part of Macilwaine.

Controversy

McNally has faced controversy on Twitter and in print for his ardent support on Instagram of

Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...

in the aftermath of the documentary series '' Allen v. Farrow'' and his equally supportive posts about

Ghislaine Maxwell Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell ( ; born 25 December 1961) is a British convicted sex offender and former socialite. In 2021, she was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the financier and convicted sex o ...

References

English restaurateurs Businesspeople from New York City James Beard Foundation Award winners American restaurateurs Living people 1951 births {{US-business-bio-stub