As the Maitre D’ at some of New York City’s trendiest restaurants, Michael Cecchi-Azzolina is the man to know if you want a table. Over his 35 years in the industry, he’s been the gatekeeper at River Cafe, Raoul’s, Minetta Tavern, and Le CouCou among others. Now, he’s finally telling all in his upcoming book “Your Table Is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maitre D’.”
Through the years, Cecchi-Azzolina has frequently rubbed elbows with the rich and famous as the front of house for some of the city’s hottest spots. “Whether it’s a celebrity, a billionaire, a head of state, or someone else, it’s very exciting,” he told the Post. “Oh my god, I get to meet this person — a Supreme Court justice, a prime minister, a president, Johnny Carson, these people who are legends in my lifetime. It’s humbling.”
“I think a lot of people don’t understand what a true Maitre D’ does,” says Cecchi-Azzolina. “It’s a lost art form. Curating a dining room, curating the experience, where people sit in the room, where you place a famous person, how you build a flow. The energy becomes incredible if it’s done correctly.”
In addition to catering to A-listers, Maitre D’s often have to say no.
“It’s difficult. You only have a certain number of tables, and everyone wants a great table, but that’s impossible,” he says. “Restaurants are not democracies, just as I don’t sit court side at the New York Knicks. You have to have some swagger behind you to get that kind of stuff.”
In a tough city like New York, the gig can even be downright dangerous, as Cecchi-Azzolina learned when a mafia captain wanted to kill him. “That story really shows life in New York — and what might happen if you control a table,” he says with a laugh. “My career, which paralleled the changes of New York City from the ’80s to the present seen through the eyes of the restaurant world, sheds light on this myriad of crazy characters.”
As restaurants continue to struggle with staffing shortages and the fallout of the pandemic, the number one message he hopes to impart is this: “How incredible the people who work in the restaurant are. How hard they work to get you a meal. The pressure they go under makes some of them awful, but others rise to the occasion to become the most incredible, loving people in the world that you want by your side.”