"Don't promise anyone anything," Sirio Maccioni is saying with a note of concern. That might sound like a credo on successful restaurateuring, but he is admonishing a member of Le Cirque's staff to handle the day's lunch crowd delicately. This was one of the two days this month when, as part of the restaurant's 20th anniversary, Le Cirque offered the same lunch menu as when it first opened -- prices and all. That means you could get a terrine of vegetables, gigot d'agneau and clafoutis de fruit, all for $12.75.
More than 200 people (among them Alice Mason, Edmond and Lily Safra, Mark Hampton, Beverly Sills and David Dinkins) have reservations -- too many, sighs Sirio. The restaurant seats about 100. If seating that legion for lunch is going to be a tightrope act, Sirio and his staff anticipate turning cartwheels to handle the crowd of 1,400 who RSVP'd to Wednesday night's extravaganza at Le Cirque and the adjoining lobby of the Mayfair Hotel. At a restaurant famous for pleasing presidents and kings, just any flowers won't do, nor will any old security guard. The master seemed nervous. "The guard has to know how to talk to people," says Sirio to a manager. "And wear a jacket."
Sirio Maccioni has more an overcrowded gala on his mind. These days he isn't comfortable with Le Cirque's image as an expensive, exclusive spot.
"This is not a pretentious restaurant, this is a pleasant restaurant," he says, offering the prix fixe lunch menu as an example. "When I began this place, it was to be an excellent neighborhood bistro. If you want foie gras and Chateau Lafitte you can have that, or if you want simple, unpretentious food you can have that too. I don't like trendy restaurants."
He doesn't like trendy restaurateurs either.
"I like the opera, I like a good book, but when I come here, I come here to sell soup. You don't have to be a genius to be a restaurateur -- if you were intelligent, you wouldn't be a restaurateur. Today, it's fashionable for a restaurateur to have five or six restaurants instead of one. I think they are great entrepreneurs. I think that nowadays people understand mediocrity more than quality. No one comes to New York and asks what's good -- they just ask what's new." Sirio is fed up with those customers who feel that eating at Le Cirque is some kind of sin.
More than 200 people (among them Alice Mason, Edmond and Lily Safra, Mark Hampton, Beverly Sills and David Dinkins) have reservations -- too many, sighs Sirio. The restaurant seats about 100. If seating that legion for lunch is going to be a tightrope act, Sirio and his staff anticipate turning cartwheels to handle the crowd of 1,400 who RSVP'd to Wednesday night's extravaganza at Le Cirque and the adjoining lobby of the Mayfair Hotel. At a restaurant famous for pleasing presidents and kings, just any flowers won't do, nor will any old security guard. The master seemed nervous. "The guard has to know how to talk to people," says Sirio to a manager. "And wear a jacket."
Sirio Maccioni has more an overcrowded gala on his mind. These days he isn't comfortable with Le Cirque's image as an expensive, exclusive spot.
"This is not a pretentious restaurant, this is a pleasant restaurant," he says, offering the prix fixe lunch menu as an example. "When I began this place, it was to be an excellent neighborhood bistro. If you want foie gras and Chateau Lafitte you can have that, or if you want simple, unpretentious food you can have that too. I don't like trendy restaurants."
He doesn't like trendy restaurateurs either.
"I like the opera, I like a good book, but when I come here, I come here to sell soup. You don't have to be a genius to be a restaurateur -- if you were intelligent, you wouldn't be a restaurateur. Today, it's fashionable for a restaurateur to have five or six restaurants instead of one. I think they are great entrepreneurs. I think that nowadays people understand mediocrity more than quality. No one comes to New York and asks what's good -- they just ask what's new." Sirio is fed up with those customers who feel that eating at Le Cirque is some kind of sin.
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