Cover of A.E. Hotchner’s book,
Everyone Comes to Elaine’s

Even hard nose hard drinking journalists and writers need a place they can go to and feel welcome, talk to fellow writers, feel as though they belong because the matriarch of the saloon wipes their nose when they are down and runs-up their tab on the house when they can’t pay.

There was always a place in New York where writers could hang out, but not necessarily one that had the compassion of Elaine’s.

Elaine Kauffman, the saloon keeper supreme, found a niche more than 40 years ago by catering to writers first, then celebrities from all forms of the arts, politics entertainment and some who have become famous for unknown reasons.

This is apparently how Elaine beat the odds in a business where you have good fortune if you last five years.

Today the famous go to Elaine’s to be seen by the famous.

There are some that are not so famous that go there to gawk at the famous; but Elaine doesn’t particularly care for these customers because they’re not regulars.

I heard so much about Elaine’s that I felt I just had to see and experience this phenomenon for myself, for after all A.E. Hotchner in his book, “Everyone Comes to Elaine’s” said it is a place for, “movie stars, all-stars, literary lions, financial scions, top cops, politicians and power brokers.”

I couldn’t pick up a book by the prolific novelist, Stuart Woods without reading a scene or more from Elaine’s

I also wrongly assumed that if all these famous people — to mention a few, Lauren Bacall, Liz Smith, Frank Sinatra, Derek Jeter, Pete Hamill, Joe Namath, Norman Mailer, Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, Hillary Clinton, Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Woody Allen, Dominick Dunne — go there, the food must be pretty good.

So I made a reservation for my wife and I for a Saturday night at 7PM.

Elaine’s is located on Second Avenue between 88th and 89th, not exactly restaurant row, certainly not 40 years ago and not even today.

We walked in the front door and were greeted with a floor full of sawdust, the bar is to the left as you walk in and there are a row of 10 tables along the 89th street side of the restaurant all reserved for the famous. Behind that wall there is another room, for unknowns.

We were seated in another room for the not-so-famous against the wall and could see tables 5, 6, and 7 of the famous, but they were empty.

Red and white tablecloths adorned the table tops and the waiters had that know-it-all attitude and poured water and wine as though they were going to put it in your lap and as the story goes, they have done that at times.

I ordered the veal marsala with wild mushrooms, a dish I usually order the first time in a new restaurant so I can compare it against my favorites, like Tre Scalini, which was on East 58th Street. Elaine’s veal was eatable, but ordinary, much like the saloon.

I didn’t go to Elaine’s to gawk, but at the same time, I didn’t recognize anyone, not even Elaine Kauffman — perhaps she didn’t arrive at this early hour. After all Elaine’s restaurant once was open 8 AM to 4 AM the next day. A reservation at 7 PM in New York is what is known in Florida as the early bird special.

The place opened in the early 60’s and was a bar where broke writers could be fed, drink, hang-out and be nurtured by Elaine. She even ran a house tab for them and carried many until they got on their feet and could afford to pay her back. There were other places that writers hung-out like, P.J. Clarke’s, the Algonguin and Michael’s Pub, which is now out of business, but none carried those that couldn’t pay the bill.

It always amazed me how much the famous want to be seen. I once walked into Le Cote Basque, (out of business) in NY and there at the first circular booth as you entered the upscale restaurant was Jackie Onassas, her husband and another couple. Talk about the beauty and the beast.

One of my favorite restaurants in NY was Tre Scalini, also out of business, and it was not uncommon to see George Burns sitting in the first circular booth. One evening on my birthday, my wife made reservations and asked for that first booth and got it. I was surprised when they seated us, but the patrons were more surprised as they tried to figure out who the unknown couple was sitting in the celebrity booth.

Elaine Kauffman somehow found the restaurant formula in New York City, taking the ordinary, turning it into the extraordinary and the result is a legendary hot spot for more than 40 years.