Bubba’s old bubbly at ‘21’
BILL and Hillary Clinton celebrated news of their second grandchild at ‘21,’ where spies said Bill asked the maître d’ to unearth a bottle of bubbly the couple left there to chill in 1997.
We’re told the Clintons arrived at the storied restaurant with daughter Chelsea, soninlaw
Marc Mezvinsky and Marc’s parents on Monday — the night before Chelsea tweeted that she’s expecting her second child.
A regular at ‘21’ told Page Six, “The Clintons asked [general manager] Teddy Suric to go to the wine cellar and check on a magnum of Cristal from 1997, when Chelsea was 17. They’d said, ‘Keep it on ice for when we come back!’ ” They were ready for the bubbly 18 years later.
The source added that Bill joked of the Champagne, “If it’s not good, we’ll get another one.”
It’s been a tradition at the restaurant that VIPs can stash wines for special occasions, historically including the collections of JFK, Richard Nixon, Elizabeth Taylor, Ernest Hemingway and Frank Sinatra. There was even a secret wine cellar accessed from behind the bar.
“You would get a case of Château Lafite Rothschild and ask them to keep it,” a source said, adding the tradition ended when “they ran out of space.” In 1997, Bill’s second term as president began. On Tuesday, after their ‘21’ celebration, Chelsea made the news of her second child public by tweeting, “Next summer, Charlotte is going to be a big sister! Feeling very blessed & grateful this holiday season.”
We hear another tradition going on at ‘21’ while the Clintons celebrated was a performance by the Salvation Army band, which has played annually for 70 years. “It’s a great tradition. They’d go tabletotable and people would be reaching into their wallets — the $50 bills would be flying out. They’d pass out little carol books.” The band’s playing through Christmas Eve.
Suric took over at ‘21’ from David Burke Townhouse when veteran GM Bryan McGuire retired in 2013. “He’s had a big year,” mused a regular, pointing to the restoration of the famed jockeys out front. Clinton reps didn’t comment.