“In 1985, a young man from St. Louis opened a restaurant in New York with the absolutely naïve and Pollyannaish idea that you could succeed in New York by—get this—‘being nice to people’! Danny Meyer succeeded with the philosophy that many thought was doomed to fail. Here’s a nice guy who didn’t just finish first—he finished first in New York.” So said James Carville, a noted political consultant and loyal customer of Danny Meyer (1958–), the man The New York Times has called “the greatest restaurateur that New York has ever seen.” At the age of twenty-seven, and with little restaurant experience, this nonflamboyant but friendly gastronome launched what would become one of New York City’s most revered and informal restaurants, Union Square Cafe, in a then-seedy neighborhood that he helped revitalize. Boasting fine wines and an eclectic menu that experts advised Meyer would never fly, Union Square Cafe would help lead the way in such trends as flavored mashed potatoes, different specials every night of the week, people eating at the bar—and banning smoking before there were legal bans.
