Now it’s an open-collared shirt and blazer. Owner Jose Alejandro shared, "I wore a tuxedo to the restaurant until around 1995." For five years after that, it was a jacket and tie. Those keeping the customers fed have also adapted to more casual times. For Roberts, there’s an added reason to dress to the nines: "It’s nostalgic, associated with a time when the world was less chaotic and stressful - and we weren’t stuck inside wearing Lululemon pants." Formal service, casual serversĪt El Parador Café, Manhattan’s longest continuously operated Mexican restaurant, customers aren’t the only ones slipping into something more comfortable. And though she believes restaurant customers should not be bound by the strictures of a dress code, Roberts considers dressing for dinner a sign of respect, appreciation and support for restaurateurs - a thank-you of sorts for a cadre of workers who toughed out COVID-19 restrictions to keep us fed any way they knew how. Courtesy Leckie Robertsįor this fashionista, dressing up - particularly after a two-year pandemic - is a joyous experience. Leckie Roberts dining out in Ivan Young at The Georgian Room at Sea Island in Georgia. It changes our thought patterns," said Leckie Roberts, a fashion insider and stylist whose near-quarter-million followers eagerly await her every elegant post, where she is seen about town in everything from Oscar De la Renta to J.McLaughlin. "When we dress up, we all look good, we feel good. According to the proprietor, diners report excitement about having the opportunity to bring their sartorial A-game to a restaurant in famously casual Los Angeles: "I usually have to save this dress for when I’m in New York or San Francisco or London," they’ve revealed to Hermer, herself a one-time cast member of the Bravo show " Ladies of London" (2014–2017). "We are very flexible with the dress code it’s more about guests’ making an effort," Hermer explained.Īnd make an effort they do. Indeed, even sneakers are OK - and not just the ones that cost $1,000 per foot. The policy at Olivetta and Issima is designed to be inclusive, not elitist. The world of workplace and restaurant wardrobes was already undergoing a sea change of casualness before the pandemic, reflecting the will of both corporations and restaurants to lure a demographic that would no sooner wear a tie to a business meeting than it would to a dinner date. And then, last year, the restaurant itself closed down, a casualty of the times. The one-time speakeasy’s jacket requirement ultimately fell by the wayside too. "I Want to Be a Hilton" lasted but a season the 21 Club’s necktie edict vanished a few years after the Allen incident. She remembers dreading the idea that the restaurant’s gatekeeper might offer the TV star a plan B from the restaurant’s emergency necktie drawer.įashion sense prevailed when Biederman diplomatically persuaded the house to let Tieless Ted discreetly proceed to the second floor - safe from the glares of any neckwear-festooned patrons in the main dining room. "It was Tom Ford for YSL, fresh off the runway, and meant to be worn without a tie," explained Biederman. "Ted wasn’t wearing a tie," she explained, a cardinal violation of the eatery’s jacket-and-tie requirement for men. Unfortunately, the front-door greeter was having none of it. "Ted showed up at the door in this gorgeous blue-velvet Yves Saint Laurent tuxedo," recalls Diana Biederman, former public relations manager for 21. Lending credibility and insight were several VIP guests, among them Ted Allen, then starring on the highly touted " Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." Ted Allen on Bravo's now-cancelled show "I Want to Be a Hilton." NBCĪllen’s presence in the restaurant that evening was almost not to be. As cameras rolled, two groups of contestants anxiously watched one of their own attempt to demonstrate etiquette mettle during a formal dinner overseen by host Kathy Hilton. In the mid-aughts, when everyone and their mom seemed to be inking deals to star in reality TV shows, the storied 21 Club in midtown Manhattan agreed to permit a new series, " I Want to Be a Hilton," to shoot its debut episode in one of the restaurant’s private dining rooms.
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