Look for the fortune- teller in the window staring out at you or working the palm of a client, and this is the location of Employees Only. Twenties- esque décor (historic Tennessee marble floors and an onyx framed fireplace) is meant to invoke a speakeasy feel at this restaurant – lounge. When they say “Employees Only” what they seem to mean is that the real makers of NY nightlife will REALLY be working the place. And hard. 80s icon Billy Gilroy (Lucky Strike, Match, Match Uptown) plays host. We cried when he closed Match... Dushan Zaric (Lot 61, Pravda, Schiller’s Liquor Bar), Jason Kosmas (Tavern on The Green, Pravda) and Igor Hadzismajlovic (Park) “building drinks, not just pouring them.” Henry LaFargue (Pravda) acting as “maitre’d bar” and Akiva Elstein (Schiller’s Liquor Bar) “tending to guests’ every request and whim.” [We don’t know what that means but we know it doesn’t mean what your gutter mind thinks it means.] The people not the food is the focus here – the scene and all the people in it – but if you’re so inclined, there’s gravlax, monkfish, ossobuco, oysters and the like. Don’t miss the Serbian charcuterie plate which has a Bosnian spicy sausage called ‘kulen’. Final touches: male cast of Employees Only got suited by ever- spiffy Savoia, who we first met at John Allan’s and who also suits up “The Sopranos”, and the waitresses at Employees Only are in one- of- a- kind Betsey Johnsons.

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