Huffington Post made good use of an old Spy magazine experiment: it called 16 of New York's most snobbish restaurants to find out if any of them would be willing to accommodate Harvey Weinstein and five guests for dinner at 8pm that evening, "something that, for those living outside of high society, is basically unheard of." Many of the restaurants said yes, and Huffington Post ran transcripts of the calls. Here are a couple:
Masa: Yes.
“I have to check with chef. I’m not 100 percent sure we have enough fish, as our fish is imported from Japan on a daily basis. Allow me a moment please.” [Calls back.] “We can accommodate six guests this evening. However, in order to assure the table will be ready in a timely manner, we can accommodate at 9 p.m.”
Dinner for four at Masa could run you $3474.20
Minetta Tavern: Hell yes.
“We can do 8:30.” OK. “Can I have the last name you’d like on the reservation?” Weinstein. W-E-I-N-S-T-E-I-N. “And the first name please?” Harvey. H-A-R-V-E-Y. “And the telephone number you guys usually book with?” [NUMBER] “Do you guys usually book with the office number?” I’m a new assistant for him. “Oh, OK, OK, because we do see here that he’s one of our preferred guests … And I do see here that we’re actually able to do that 8 o’clock for him. So he’s all set. Six at eight o’clock, tonight for dinner, at Minetta Tavern. Harvey Weinstein.”
The lyrics from The Clash's "White Man in Hammersmith Palais" comes to mind: "If Adolf Hitler flew in today, they'd send a limousine anyway.
Image: Photo of Harvey Weinstein taken by my wife Carla when we were at a Japanese restaurant in Aspen, CO in 2007.
