Sirio Ristorante has an understated elegant backdrop has become The Taj Hotel’s most recent celebrated luminary.
“The same people that say great things about you will come back and criticize, so you have to be careful. Be ready for criticism, but also, be ready to do better.” Forty years after emerging his marvelous career as maître d’ at The Pierre’s former La Forêt supper club, Sirio Maccioni strikes gold again with a restaurant well deservingly named after no other than himself. Sirio Ristorante’s understated elegant backdrop has become The Taj Hotel’s most recent celebrated luminary. Sirio knows, “Sometimes, it’s not always easy to do better. We try, but to synchronize everything (with service and food,) is difficult in America today.”
On October 24th, Sirio Ristorante launched with a spectacular, star-studded opening that included the likes of: Martha Stewart, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Tony Bennett, Ivana Trump, and more. November 1st was the official restaurant opening to the public, however, an unfortunate overlap with Hurricane Sandy occurred. During such catastrophic times, Sirio Ristorante opened a few days prior to its official date, catering to those who migrated uptown, escaping horrific ramifications of Sandy. Rooms at The Pierre were fully booked, Sirio Ristorante was completely sold out.
Sirio sat down with me on November 1st and explained,
“The official opening is today. But we’ve been functioning for a few days now. We know it’s not perfect, though we’re better than what most people can do.”
By better, he means: understanding what people want and try to do the best that he can. Particularly in midst of a powerful natural disaster that left most of Manhattan lacking: power, water and cell service. People from uptown, downtown and out of town, flocked through the doors of Sirio Ristorante, not only to escape Sandy or to retrieve power, but to grasp onto a certain sense of normalcy amid chaos. Sirio is used to this. He is the master in providing immaculate food and service. Above all, he understands when to step up and cater to the needs of his guests. Sandy came, thus he opened his doors before it was public, before he felt the restaurant was perfect. He opened his arms to those who yearned for a few hours of comfort during the abominable storm.
After all, he’s been doing this for more than forty years. In my previous interview with his second son, Marco it was mentioned that Sirio came from a tenacious mentality of hardwork and sacrifice. Orphaned at a young age in Tuscany, Sirio came to New York City and worked as maître d’ at The Pierre and the infamous Colony Club, where he met and hosted some of the most beautiful and powerful people in New York’s elite society. Later in 1974, he opened his own fine-dining French restaurant: Le Cirque. The so-called “circus” attracted impressive regulars, such as: Donald Trump, Woody Allen, Jackie O, Hollywood stars, US Presidents, even The Pope. The key to Sirio’s sustainable rise is a combination of: an undying entrepreneurial spirit, an infectious charm and a firm grip on what people truly want.
From 1974’s Le Cirque to 2012’s Sirio Ristorante at The Pierre (and the birth of several other restaurants throughout the world,) Sirio still has got it. In regards to Sirio Ristorante, he indicates, “I know the people of New York, I know what people want. They’re difficult, but I understand they want a lot. I believe that I can make it. People think they can have everything, but the reality is, you can’t have everything. It’s all what you make of it.” So he takes everything with a grain of salt, he doesn’t teach everybody to live the way he wants. By working with Chef Filipo Gozzoli, they have created a hotspot for contemporary Italian cuisine. Sirio tries to do the best that he can and continues to live by the philosophy: he can always do better than tomorrow.
After all these years, it’s still not easy to hear criticism. But Sirio accepts it, because that’s the reality. Particularly with the location of his new venture, Sirio Ristorante is adorned with luxurious walks of life in New York City’s Upper East Side. “We have great reviews and we also have really bad ones.” Sirio explains, “Food critics come in and they think they understand everything, but they don’t. They have the right to say whatever they want. Yet, they don’t want to judge, they want to see something new, so we have to give that to them.”
“You can make mistakes just like everybody else.” Sirio continues, “Thirty years ago when I opened Le Cirque, I was alone. It was difficult but it was great. I made mistakes, and I corrected my own mistakes.” And now, all three of his sons (Mario, Marco, and Mauro) realize from their father; in this business, it’s all about food and relationships.
With each son, Sirio tries to understand what they can individually do. “I have a different mentality.” He notes,
“When I was very young, everything bothered me, so I always tried to do more. I worked much more than what I should have done, because I didn’t want anyone to come in and say, ‘You didn’t do this right! You should have done this!’ So I alway tried to do more. But life is too short to do that.”
At one point, he asked himself: why did he do all of this? Happiness doesn’t exist. “But we have several restaurants, more or less, they are all successful. We have great people working here, with a great reputation. I want my sons to always have a good job, but they need to work hard.” The day each of them approached their father about joining the restaurant business, Sirio was elated but warned that each needed to work just as hard as everyone else.
Sirio admits, the restaurant business takes one’s life, it takes everything. “I get up in the morning, I try to survive. I was young one time, I could do everything I wanted. Now I can’t do that anymore. I can count, so I know how old I am. And everything goes into the perspective that, I have to live with the reality. After a certain age, it’s sad. We hosted a big party, I was tired, I had broken my knee. The only thing I can’t control is my age, it’s terrible. But what can you do? Stay home and cry? Don’t do that! I still have some kind of an imagination. I dream.” Every night, he leaves the doors of his restaurant with yet another fantasy; or rather, a reality: he’ll do better than tomorrow.
Make your reservation today at Sirio Ristorante.
