When Michael McCarty, then 25 years old, opened the first Michael's restaurant in Santa Monica in 1979, his goal was, in his own words, "to take the foundations of classical French cuisine, combine them with the simplicity and freshness of the nouvelle cuisine revolution, and add a contemporary, youthful, open-minded California sensibility. We would use only the best fresh seasonal products to create a new American style of cooking, served in a totally modern American fine dining establishment."
Soon critics and foodies alike were hailing Michael's with words like "exciting," "ambitious," "clever," "revelation," "elegance," "simplicity," and simply, "wow." Michael's won admiration and accolades from experts as diverse as Julia Child, Ruth Reichl, Robert Mondavi, and James Villas, and its kitchen gave rise to a generation of innovative chefs including Sally Clarke, Ken Frank, Jonathan Waxman, Mark Peel, Nancy Silverton, Gordon Naccarato, Roy Yamaguchi, Kazuto Matsusaka, Brooke Williamson, and Sang Yoon.
McCarty opened Michael's New York in midtown Manhattan in 1989, and it quickly won a devoted following not only from food lovers but especially among those in the worlds of publishing, the media, entertainment, and business movers and shakers. "The wonderful thing about Michael's," said legendary columnist and author Liz Smith, "is that it's an authentic place to go to eat and see people. It reminds me of how people used to congregate at the Stork Club or at the Algonquin in the old days."
Meanwhile, the original Michael's continues to rock in Southern California, McCarty likes to think of the two restaurants as "fraternal twins—similar DNA, but slightly different personalities. Their design is similar, their atmosphere identical. The plates in both restaurants are big; the art eye-catching; the flowers stunning; the waitstaff cool and chic; and the food decisively seasonal, fresh, simple, and knock-your-socks-off tasty."
At both Michael's New York and Michael's Santa Monica, Michael McCarty and his team always aim, as they have for more than three decades, to make every dining occasion feel like a great party.