Keith McNally Stirs the Pot

For decades the powerful restaurateur knew exactly how to keep people coming back to his downtown spots. Has he figured out a new formula?

One of the luckiest things that can happen to a restaurant is for it to remain open long enough to become a place that famous people used to go. That was part of what made the March reopening of Balthazar, a SoHo mainstay since the height of the dot-com bubble, unusual. Jay-Z and Beyoncé turned up for dinner. Nancy Pelosi came for breakfast. Patrons made out at their tables, took trips together to the bathroom. “People are horny!” said Jonathan Wynne, the bartender.