About the Book
The entertaining, irreverent, and surprisingly moving memoir by the visionary restaurateur behind such iconic New York institutions as Balthazar and Pastis.
A memoir by the legendary proprietor of Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and Morandi, taking us from his gritty London childhood to his serendipitous arrival in New York, where he founded the era-defining establishments Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg, and Nell’s. Eloquent and opinionated, Keith McNally writes about his stint as a child actor, his travels along the hippie trail, his wives and children, his devastating stroke, and his Instagram notoriety.
About the Author :
Keith McNally, called “The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown” by The New York Times, founded Balthazar Restaurant, Balthazar Bakery, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, Pravda, Schiller’s Liquor Bar, Morandi, Cherche Midi, Lucky Strike, Nell’s, Cafe Luxembourg, and the Odeon, plus the staggeringly unsuccessful pizzeria, Pulino’s. McNally is the author of The Balthazar Cookbook and Schiller’s Liquor Bar Cocktail Collection, and the writer and director of two features, End of the Night and Far from Berlin. He lives in downtown New York. Richard E. Grant was launched to fame in the 1987 cult classic Withnail and I. Since then, he has gone on to star in a wide variety of films, including his Oscar Award–nominated performance in Can You Ever Forgive Me? in 2018. An avid reader, in 2021 he hosted the BBC’s literary travel series Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant. He married Joan Washington in 1986 and has a daughter, Olivia. You can find him on Twitter @RichardEGrant and Instagram at @Richard.E.Grant.
Review :
‘A magical, tender, revealing, rude, honest, very funny and very vulnerable book. It is about more than McNally’s gift for creating magicmaking restaurants – it also powerfully describes what goes on in his head: the self-reflection, the intellectual ambition, the relentless self-doubt. McNally writes with a novelist’s feel for what happens in the powerful silences between people. I was blown away. This is a frickin’ masterpiece that will be read and talked about for a long time’
'WHAT. A. BOOK. Since I got my paws on this, children have been neglected, work forgotten and meals uneaten. You simply CANNOT stop reading it – it is even more delicious than the food in his restaurants. Those who know Keith McNally from media coverage and his own social media will probably assume his memoir is hilarious and fearless. And it is all that, but it's also extremely moving, insightful and jaw-droppingly surprising . . . Most of all, it is so beautifully written – you can hear his voice in every sentence, always the mark of a real writer . . . The non-fiction book of the summer'
‘I have known Keith McNally for a very long time. I was curious to read his memoir to see how he remembers his amazing, creative and productive life. He shares his incredible ups and downs and writes with straightforward candour about his health challenges and how he bravely overcame them – all with his inimitable sense of humour. What a career and what a life!’
‘This memoir is a revelation. I can’t help but be surprised that a man as wildly successful as Keith McNally could be so riddled with self-doubt. Here’s hoping he can appreciate the fact that to all of his other considerable accomplishments, he can now add this engrossing, fearless and ultimately very moving book’
‘Moving and poignant, Keith McNally’s book shifts between the arc of his illness
and that of his work without any bitterness or self-pity’
‘An incredible life, recounted with wit, humility and a surprising amount of vulnerability. Keith McNally is the architect of downtown New York’s café society as we know it, but in this memoir, he shows he is also a humbled man grappling with his own failings. In I Regret Almost Everything, he ultimately finds enough resilience to survive even himself'
‘Keith McNally is one tough dude, having come back from a debilitating stroke with aplomb and humour. But he’s also tough on himself – for the mistakes he made and the opportunities he blew in a life otherwise marked by massive success. In this heartfelt memoir, he does his best to atone for his misdeeds while recounting remarkable tales of romance, adventure and survival’
