Le Cirque is a Family Affair and There's a New Book To Prove It

[photo: digest ny] sirio maccioni gets a laugh out of danny meyer at le cirque's book launch partyA Table at Le Cirque: Stories and Recipes from New York's Most Legendary Restaurant, authored by Sirio Maccioni and Pamela Fiori (above), is the first ever cookbook about Le Cirque. Published today by Rizzoli, the book showcases the restaurant's nearly 40 year history with New York City via recipes, stories, and candid pictures of Maccioni family members fraternizing with the likes of movie stars, musicians, and presidents. The restaurant hosted a book launch party last night and Digest NY was lucky enough to attend.

Brothers Marco and Mauro Maccioni were shaking hands with the room while Marco's wife sang and provided a soundtrack to the celebration with the support of her band. Danny Meyer showed up. Terrance Brennan was there. So too were Alain Allegretti, Marc Murphy, Jefferey Zakarian, Michael Lomonaco, and Florence Fabricant.

The future of Le Cirque has recently become a topic of much concern after the restaurant received a negative one-star review from Pete Wells. Shortly after the review, Mr. Maccioni was looking for a new chef. In addition to the pending chef shuffle at Le Cirque, the Maccioni family is readying to open Sirio Ristorante November 1st at 795 Fifth Avenue between 60th and 61st. Sirio Ristorante is taking reservations, Le Cirque is taking resumes. 

It's a busy, stressful time for the Maccioni family, but their talent as gracious hosts trumped all concerns last night at the launch party. A Table at Le Cirque solidifies the restaurant's contribution to New York's restaurant and fine dining scene. When Le Cirque opened in 1974 it took a French lean, largely due to the fact that certain ingredients essential to Italian restaurants were unavailable at the time. The French flair is simply a whisper of the operation, and while the new book reveals 38 years of Le Cirque's history, a night amongst the Maccioni's revealed a family tradition shared by generations.

Le Cirque's Cookbook Will Leave Out Recipe for Lumpy Gravy

The above picture (via Eater) of Sirio Maccioni and Frank Zappa was taken from A Table at Le Cirque: Stories and Recipes from New York's Most Legendary Restaurant.  The cookbook, published by Rizzoli, comes out October 16th and is the first of its kind for the restaurant.

In its 38 years, the kitchen at Le Cirque has been graced with some of the city's most talented chefs; Terrance Brennan and David Bouley among them.  Though in his recent one-star review of the restaurant for the Times, Pete Wells bashed the current state of food being served at Le Cirque, "The kitchen gave the impression that it had stopped reaching for excellence and possibly no longer remembered what that might mean."

Authored by Maccioni himself, the 256 pages of A Table at Le Cirque will shed some light on the nearly 40-year-old restaurant.  From Amazon's description of the cookbook; "Woven throughout the book are colorful anecdotes and candid photographs documenting the glitz and glam of the restaurant, where a reservation is always coveted."  Sirio Maccioni's has spent nearly half his life on the dining room floor of Le Cirque and his charm has been an integral part in developing the aforementioned "coveted reservation."  His warm personality and approach to hospitality is the reason Le Cirque is the restaurant it is today.  Service has never been the issue at Le Cirque.  Wells describes it as "Old-guard formality softened and animated by charm and warmth."  Here's to hoping the book will inspire the kitchen.

The Circus is Not in Town

Le Cirque is going to have a hard time recovering from the beating Pete Wells gave it in this weeks review.  He had been visiting Sirio Maccioni's home away from home since late spring.  He found, "The kitchen gave the impression that it had stopped reaching for excellence and possibly no longer remembered what that might mean."  Many of the dishes were lacking in three categories: "conviction," "rationale," and "seasoning."  Wells noted that, "Anyone with a bottle of olive oil and access to a supermarket produce aisle might easily prepare an heirloom tomato salad that surpasses the one I was served at Le Cirque in August."

Service was the saving grace, "So accomplished that I could almost believe it was all worthwhile up until the minute the check arrived."  The restaurant opened in 1974 at the Mayfair Hotel.  Le Cirque called the New York Palace Hotel home from 1997 to 2006 before settling at the Bloomberg building on East 58th Street.  Le Cirque's nearly forty year relationship with New York City certainly helped with Wells' decision to stamp at least one star on his review.

The Le Cirque experience may not be what it once was, but Maccioni's charm is unchanging.  He turned 80 this year and continues to be a presence on the dining room floor.  His gracious smile shines from a face Wells refers to as "a comic pantomime of constant suffering that instantly made clear why he has long been called one of New York’s most charming hosts."