Where I Accidentally Invented The Clubstaurant

WHEN I WAS 8 YEARS OLD, I wrote a note saying I was going to have my own restaurant by the time I was 30. But as that birthday approached, I was looking and looking for a space and everything was too expensive. My best friend, Yvonne Force Villareal, said Chelsea was going to be the next big place, but I wasn’t totally convinced. I wasn’t looking to be cool. I was looking to be successful.

Our first night, Lot 61 had 500 people from all over. The only celebrity I ever knew, an old pal, a bestie, was Bruce Willis. He was really so instrumental in sending so many people. When Kevin Costner was in town for three months, he came in because Bruce Willis told him to. It just clicked from there. I had a great referral system because we made people feel comfortable, safe, and happy. And we never talked to the press.

We didn’t really have a cocktail hour because nobody was around Chelsea at five o’clock. The exception was Annie Leibovitz, who would bring in her whole crew after a shoot. She’d come around 4:30. I even opened up at three for her. She got us on the Vogue radar in the first few months. We then did a big after-party for Armani Exchange for 250 A-list people, true A-list: De Niro, Sophia Loren, Marty Scorsese.

We’d serve food all night, and at 10 p.m., it turned into a disco. Mark Ronson was our first DJ. We also had amazing art on the walls: Damien Hirst, Jorge Pardo, Rudolf Stingel, and Sean Landers. I wasn’t trying to do anything other than put together something that I thought people would like. I came from Bouley, four-star dining. I was not a club owner, but I was too afraid to do a classic restaurant.