Short Take |
Elaine Kaufman: “Yeah, I’m an icon…”
By
Published: Sep 01, 2015
One night I was to have dinner at Elio’s with a famous painter who was, in her mid-40s, 8 months pregnant. When I made the reservation, I told Elio that the painter had to be seated promptly. This didn’t happen. After 40 minutes, we walked a few blocks north. Elaine knew without asking that something had gone wrong elsewhere, gave us a great table, stopped by to chat. That’s my Elaine’s story: a tough-talking mountain of a woman who could be kindness incarnate to anyone who created. Okay, you have to create at a high level. You had to be known. Pass those tests, and you weren’t in a restaurant — you were in the club. In the 134 pages of “Elaine’s: The Rise of One of New York’s Most Legendary Restaurants from Those Who Were There,” Amy Phillips Penn collects stories from the regulars and shows them at play, often loaded, in photos by Jessica Burstein. It’s not being there. But it doesn’t suck. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]
