Circle of food

Sirio Maccioni tells Rrishi Raote that his restaurants are not about cutting-edge cuisine but about doing the classics well.

Sirio”, people say, and his first name is enough. He is one of the best-known restaurateurs in the world; his restaurant Le Cirque is famous not least because of its famous guests. The biggest names in America, and some of the biggest in the world, have come to eat and be seen at the New York flagship restaurant, since it opened in 1974. And now Sirio and his three sons have opened a restaurant in Delhi, at the Leela Palace hotel in Chanakyapuri.

 

This restaurant is on an upper floor, overlooking the green of central Delhi. It is a large, sober space with 144 covers. In the bar area are small black-and-white framed photographs of Sirio Maccioni with glamorous people at Le Cirque in New York: Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, Sophia Loren and Nancy Reagan. On one wall is a bright painting of clowns; though it looks out of place against the heavy wood and serious tableware, it is the sole reference to the original, playful Le Cirque look. The word means “circus” in French; Maccioni leans toward “the circle”, as of friends.

On the opening pages of Maccioni's memoir (the title: Sirio) are appreciative notes from celebrity patrons. “Nice souffle!” writes Billy Joel. “I couldn’t believe how good this was! Whew!” says Oprah Winfrey. And Frank Zappa: “To Sirrio [sic] Maccioni — For inventing the best lobster salad in the world, and providing me with a polka-dot tie to wear while eating it.” Le Cirque in New York is jacket-and-tie formal, you see.

But here is the man himself, now 75 and ample in an unmistakably Italian way. He is unshaven and wears a jacket over a crumpled T-shirt and pajamas — but happily chatty. He grumbles that his son Mauro forgot to tell him about the interview; Mauro, also looking very Italian but in a fashionable way, is bustling about supervising before the place opens for lunch. Maccioni breaks off to remonstrate with his Italian sous-chef — after decades in America his English is still heavily accented — telling him to show simpatia and fiducia, sympathy and trust.

This is Maccioni’s eighth restaurant (not counting potentially 15 floating ones aboard a cruise line), and the one that is farthest from home territory. Home territory straddles the Atlantic: Maccioni is Italian by birth, but trained in France and Germany in the hard postwar years and then worked in New York before establishing Le Cirque and, later, its sister restaurants in New York (two in all), Las Vegas (three) and the Dominican Republic (two).

Maccioni’s restaurants are not known for cutting-edge cuisine but for doing the classics well. He passes on a compliment he has heard: “What do you eat in New York? You eat French, you eat Italian, and you eat Le Cirque.” The last is a combination of the first two. He doesn’t believe in star chefs. “He has to be a good chef but most of all he has to be an intelligent chef. I’ve seen the great chefs of the world” — indeed, some have worked for him — “destroying a restaurant because they come in and say, ‘Oh my recipe.’ But the world is not happy with your recipe. We are a service to the public, not the other way around. Is no more this idea of the chef superstar. Is not. Don’t exist.”

His son Mauro is more precise, positioning his family’s chain as a luxury brand and therefore ideally placed to partner with the Leela group owned by Capt C P Krishnan Nair and his family — the family focus was one thing that brought them together, Mauro says. Nair says of Maccioni, via email, “Our life journeys started with immense hard work and both of us were determined to pursue success in the world of hospitality. We both share a commitment to helping guests experience the finest level of luxury.” Nair adds that, “When I first tried to dine at Le Cirque, I waited for days to get a table.” Now he has the whole restaurant in his hotel.

“I find that this gentleman [Nair] is very intelligent,” says Maccioni. “I’m a little jealous because he’s 90 years old and he looked very good, very clear, very sharp.” “I think he’s sharper than you,” says Mauro, eyeing his father’s shabby T-shirt. “It doesn’t take much,” replies Maccioni, comfortably.