A Gotham Classic
‘21’ Club is Quintessentially New York
by John Mariani

The regulars call it "The Numbers." Occasional visitors call it just ‘21.’ And out-of-towners call it The ‘21’ Club. Such nuances used to matter in this bastion of New York sophistication, once a speakeasy, then a restaurant that catered to a crowd composed of industry titans, Broadway and Hollywood actors, Old Money, and, over time, the Nouveau Riche. Its exclusivity was based on longtime alliances dating back to Prohibition days when Jerry Berns and Jack Kriendler ran it with a wink in one eye and another that sized up the incoming clientele. To get your corporate model airplane or truck hung from the ceiling of the bar was as good as getting the key to New York.

‘21’ has been notorious, raffish, stuffy, stylish, and an antidote to trendiness. For decades good food never got in the way of having a good time, and anyone who questioned his bill obviously didn't have a house account.

Over the past 20 years, however, successive new owners have not only spruced up a very threadbare interior–cleaning the Remington statues and paintings, installing the superb graphic art of the 1930s and 1940s, and reconditioning a kitchen with modern technology. Some very notable chefs came and went, but none lasted very long in an environment where the preferences of the clientele dictated what stayed on the menu, and often the improvement of a dish with better ingredients and attention to cooking was met with disbelief by those who had grown used to the awfulness of the cooking.

Nevertheless, `21’ has persevered, having lost Mr. Berns last year, and seen the retirement of longtime manager Bruce Snyder, and retains its traditional clientele. Younger generations of people now come here either as regulars or to partake of a Gotham icon as authentic as the Rockefeller Center skating rink, the Washington Square Arch, and the Great Hall of Grand Central Terminal.

Under new manager Roger Rice and longtime maître d' Oreste Carnevale, the "joint," as Berns used to call it sails on. I heartily recommend going to the Club's web site for history, anecdotes, and hilarious happenings over the past eight decades in business, including the time Robert Benchley came in out of the rain and quipped, "Get me out of this wet coat and into a dry martini." So many movies and TV shows have filmed at `21’ Club, including "The Sweet Smell of Success," "Wall Street," and, recently, "Sex in the City."

For the past several year the Orient-Express company has owned the restaurant and kept its exterior, with its famous jockey hitching posts, and its mahogany-and-stucco interior, in impeccable shape. The upstairs banquet rooms are very fine, decorated with vintage graphic cover art, those Remingtons, and antique silver urns, and the downstairs wine cellar, behind a two-and-a-half ton swinging door no revenue agent was ever able to find during Prohibition, is one of the most beautiful and intimate dining rooms in the city. Five years ago they added an upstairs dining room that in its elegance and posh is the antithesis to the raffish downstairs look.

The menu, now under John Greeley, here for more than a decade prior to becoming exec chef, is now a canny balance of the old, which has been improved immensely, and the new, which can compare with the best cuisine in New York. The wine list, under sommelier Philip Pratt, has a Wine Spectator Grand Award, with 1,300 selections, and 21 wines by the glass that include First Growth Bordeaux.

My brother was in town with an old friend and said, "Let's go somewhere quintessentially New York." I told him, "`21’ reeks New York," and off we went. Greeted with the impeccable degree of New York savoir-faire and a nod of recognition, we sat in the downstairs Bar Room, arrayed with those hanging men's toys. We were happy to see the place packed with young and old, happy to see the starched red-and-white checkered tablecloths, and happy to see a menu that kept links to `21's traditions while bringing dishes into the 21st century. Thus, you might start with the `21’ Caesar salad or the cold Senegalese soup with grilled chicken and Granny Smith apples. Iced oysters and clams are always available. The jumbo lump crabcake is better than ever, judiciously sized, with a light brown crustiness, and creamy lump crab throughout, served with shaved fennel, micro-greens, and warm Meyer lemon sauce. There is also a fine carpaccio, drizzled with a truffled mustard and topped with a deviled quail egg.

A special that evening was risotto abundant with tender roulade morsels of rabbit meat and fava beans, and the sautéed Dover sole in butter, with asparagus, fingerling potatoes, and the nonpareil pommes soufflés (a pricey splurge at $12.50) could not be bettered anywhere in New York. The creamed spinach was first rate too.
    
Kimberly Bugler's pastries are a delight, from the perfectly plump profiteroles with rich chocolate sauce to the excellent crème brûlée and a tall hot soufflé.

After a sip or two of Armagnac, we wedged ourselves out from behind the table, `21’' still in full swing, into a New York autumn night, feeling giddy about the evening. We felt like we'd been "on the town," in the greatest town in the world.

John Mariani is well known for his frank and poignant writing in Esquire, Wine Spectator, Diversion and the Harper Collection. He is author of The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink and co-author, with his wife, of the Italian-American Cookbook.