When it comes to New York City restaurants, “it’s not about the food, it’s about the scene-making,” where the preferred places “have room between the tables to prevent eavesdropping” and allow a busy real estate person to be at their desk by 9 a.m. after an early power breakfast.
In other words, the city’s real estate dining hotspots aren’t just its top ten restaurants. Because of the desire for privacy, the real estate industry has no corollary to Michael’s, the West 55th Street hotspot for the media elite.
Where a broker or executive dines is largely a function of what’s near the office, crossed with the need to impress a favored client.
For Gary Trock at CB Richard Ellis, having his firm headquartered at the MetLife Building means dining in the Grand Central Station area. Like other executives, he enjoys a power breakfast at Pershing Square, conveniently located — for him — beneath the elevated stretch of Park Avenue and 42nd Street. “I can have a meeting at 7:30 or 8 and be back at my desk by 9,” Trock said.
Similarly, Fred’s at Barneys New York, in the same building as the headquarters of the Corcoran Group and nearby the main offices of many other big Manhattan brokerages, is popular, as are the nearby Fives (at the Peninsula Hotel) and Town (in the Chambers Hotel).
Sometimes, for those who frequent the hotspots, “it’s not about the food, it’s about the scene-making,” said Arthur Gallego, former communications director at the Shvo Group, now on his own. “It’s good to be recognized on the town making deals with lots of different people.”
Yet seclusion is prized, too. For Chris Laul at HOK New York, the Chelsea-based office of the global architectural firm, the best places to eat are the ones “with room between the tables to prevent eavesdropping.”
Speaking of Chelsea, Paul Pariser at Taconic Investment Partners says he enjoys being out of the loop at Eighth Avenue and 15th Street. “I don’t go to real estate restaurants because I would never want competitors to see me out on a power lunch with an important client,” Pariser said.
Wendy Maitland of Brown Harris Stevens went behind the scenes, literally. Her trade savvy led to a partnership in two successful restaurants, Fatty Crab and 5 Ninth. “Three years ago, we bought an old townhouse in the Meatpacking District” that now houses 5 Ninth, Maitland said. “I knew that neighborhood would be ripe for transformation, and right after we sealed the deal, the whole area was landmarked.”
Not that a life of going out doesn’t get tiring. Robert Knakal of Massey Knakal notes that lunch is usually taken at his desk.
If he goes out, it is often to an old favorite such as La Grenouille or Vivolo, and he prefers to save his big meal for dinner, which, he notes, allows him the opportunity to indulge his passion for wine.