Located in the heart of Wall Street, Delmonico s has been shaping and shaking up New York City s restaurant scene for more than a century, weathering Prohibition, the stock market crash of 1929, and the whims and demands of a star-studded clientele that had included Marilyn Monroe, Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis, and Gypsy Rose Lee. Oscar Tucci, who purchased the restaurant from the Delmonico family in 1926, is an icon of restaurant dining, whose influence can still be seen in how we eat today: he introduced a la carte dining and white tablecloths in the dining room, created the phenomenon known as the Power Lunch, and developed a strict code of hospitality, etiquette, and operations known as the Delmonico Way. This book, told through the eyes of Oscar s grandson, Max, who grew up in the family business, pulls the velvet curtain back on the grand mix of business and pleasure that went on front of house and behind the scenes, and also provides entertaining tips and recipes so you can relive the epic Delmonico s glamour at home. Each chapter is organized a style of dining that Delmonico s pioneered or perfected, so that you can host an impressive power lunch (featuring the restaurant s signature wedge salad); a glamorous cocktail soiree before a night on the town with canapes such as oysters Rockefeller, Devils on Horseback, and shrimp cocktail; and the perfect romantic dinner with a showstopping seafood tower and Rib Eye Bordelaise for two.
