Windows on the World: Chef Michael Lomonaco on the Restaurant That Defined New York, Surviving 9/11, and Remembrance

All on the Table with Katie Lee Biegel

Chef Michael Lomonaco shares his profound journey from actor to chef, his time leading Windows on the World—the iconic restaurant atop the N

Key takeaways

• Windows on the World was more than a restaurant—it was a theatrical celebration of food, hospitality, and the American dream.
• Lomonaco's career shift from acting to cooking began with a chance cab ride that changed his life.

Main topics

• Chef Michael Lomonaco's career transition from actor to chef
• Windows on the World's history, culture, and significance in New York City

Notable quotes

"It was like opening night. It's not just that we open the doors for dinner. It's the curtain going up."

Conclusion

This heartfelt conversation honors the legacy of Windows on the World as a beacon

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Speaker 3 (0:20) Today's episode of All on the Table is an emotional episode. It's an important one. I am sitting down with Chef Michael Lamonaco. Michael was the chef of Windows on the World from 1997 until September 11th, 2001. Ryan and I have gotten to know Michael through the making of our new film, Top of the World, which was about the history of Windows on the World. Windows was the restaurant at the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. And when the first plane hit on 9-11, it was below Windows and no one who was there that morning made it out. Top of the world has been something that... Ryan and I have been working on for several years. We first read the book, The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World by Tom Rosten back in 2019. My friend, Chef Mark Murphy, gave it to me and he was a guest on The Kitchen and I took it in my dressing room and I started reading it and I could not put it down. I knew of Windows on the World. I knew that it was this glamorous beacon in the sky. But I didn't know the decades of history that went along with it. And I was so captivated by that story. I read it so quickly and I immediately gave it to Ryan and said, this is amazing. And he read it, same as me, couldn't put it down. And he said, we have to make this a documentary. Life happened and a few years went by and about. three and a half, four years ago. And Ryan said, you know what? I'm going to call up Tom Roston and let's do this. Let's try to make this documentary. We partnered with Time and Tribeca Films, incredible directors, Betsy West and Julie Cohen. They've both been nominated for Oscars. They were nominated for RBG, shortlisted for Julia, the Julia Child documentary. They have made an amazing documentary about windows. Of course, Chef Michael Lamonaco is at the heart of that. And Michael has an incredible story. He was very gracious to sit down with us today and share his story. And what all of us on the Top of the World team really set out to do was to celebrate the restaurant, celebrate the people who made it so spectacular, tell their stories. These were people from all over the world who came together, immigrants who were here with windows as the ultimate American dream. And it was a spectacular restaurant. It was glamorous. It kind of mirrored what was going on in New York in those decades, in the 1970s, in the 1980s with the Wall Street boom. And then in the 90s, when the first World Trade Center bombing happened, it closed. And after that, when it reopened a few years later, Michael took over. So Michael's going to share his story with us today. And I'm so... honored that he is willing to come and sit down and talk with us. So I hope that you all find this conversation as meaningful as I do. And I hope you'll tune in. We are airing on CNN on September 7th, 8 p.m. So that's Labor Day. Tune in and watch. The next day it'll be available on stream on CNN and then on HBO streaming. So here's. My Conversation with Michael. Thanks for listening and watching. Chef Michael LaMonaco, I am so honored that you are sitting down with me today. Thank you. Speaker 2 (4:07) Oh, my pleasure. Katie, thank you so much for having me. Thank you. Speaker 3 (4:11) You know, I've known you throughout the years. Not well, but I have always like known you and had mutual friends and everybody always has the kindest things to say about you. That's Speaker 2 (4:22) so nice. You're so Speaker 3 (4:22) well liked and with good reason. And now we've gotten to know each other better through Top of the World. And it's been really special to work with you. And Speaker 2 (4:31) for me as well, actually, you've helped to make this whole experience even better. You know, the whole production team and the producers and directors, everyone's been terrific. But, you know, getting to spend time with you and Ryan and it's been really. Speaker 3 (4:46) Well, we've loved our time with you. And today I really want to celebrate the joy and the humanity of Windows on the World before 9-11. And I want to talk about your personal experience. And then I also want to know what it means to tell the story now through Top of the World. But first, I thought, let's back up a little bit. And I want to talk about you growing up in Brooklyn and how you decided to become a chef, how you knew food was your calling. In Speaker 2 (5:16) my day, you know, when I was in my 20s, people didn't just decide to become a chef. Right. A lot of people kind of got into the business earlier. There were dishwashers when they were 17 or 18, you know, learned the kitchen from the ground up. But I made a I made a whole life change. I was I was I was an actor. I was really dedicated to my acting career. I mean, I was committed to it, really went through education at City University and studied theater and speech and theater. and left school and performed in plays, in theater, in the city, touring companies, earned my equity card, earned my SAG card. I was a background actor. I was a small bit player. I did plays. I did improv. But, you know, there was something that was missing for me. And it wasn't just regular employment, although that was, you know, Speaker 3 (6:20) I Speaker 2 (6:20) like to eat regularly. But, you know, there was something missing. And at the same time, there was something happening. And that in the mid 80s, which is a long time ago, what was happening was that Americans were beginning to, you know, really populate. kitchens all over America, cooking modern, contemporary American food, food influenced by Europe, Italy, France, Asia as well. But that was new. And I was very attracted to it because cooking was a love hobby. I was a hobby cook, even as an actor. And I was driving a cab. And, you know, this was my day job. I mean, I did a lot of things for day jobs. I was studying at night and I was driving a cab at night. And I remember this so clearly because it kind of ties into everything else we're talking about. I was driving a cab and Windows on the World was something I drove past every day. You know, the World Trade Center. And they had a restaurant, a cellar in the sky. which was 35 seats. It was a prefix menu, five courses with wines that were paired to each course. And they would put the menu in the newspaper every Friday in a Times ad to advertise the restaurant. And it was all of $35 for five courses and the wines were included. And, you know, that was for me driving a cab. That was like I couldn't even afford that. And I thought someday I'm going to be able to do this and go and dine in this place. I didn't. I never did do that. But that's when it was on my horizon. And I had friends who were chefs, who were actors, actually, who were cooking in restaurants downtown. Speaker 2 (8:18) It really, my interest became like, I should really look into this. And one night, really the story is, and I'll break it here, but I was driving a private car service. They said, pick up the chef at the Odeon at one o'clock in the morning. And that was Patrick Clark. Speaker 3 (8:37) Patrick Speaker 2 (8:38) Clark was a great chef, African-American, born in Brooklyn, studied in France, came back. to the United States in the early 80s and was making a big name for himself. And he was the chef at the Odeon and doing incredible things for making the Odeon a hotspot. And I picked up Patrick at one o'clock in the morning to take him home to Brooklyn. He was living at his mother's house in Brooklyn. And in that 45 minute drive, he told me sort of the arc of his career and how he began. And three months later, I enrolled. Speaker 3 (9:16) Wow. So that chance job changed the course of your life. Speaker 2 (9:21) Yes, Patrick. And I was indebted to him always in my life, in my career. He was my first mentor and we became friends and we lost Patrick many years ago. But his son, Preston, Preston Clark, is a great chef in New York today. And I've known Preston since he was a teenager. And in fact, he did a stage. with me at Windows on the World and with my chef, Michael Amirati, at Windows on the World. And we're very proud of Preston. I'm very proud of him. And, you know, it's sort of like this is what goes around to help people Speaker 3 (9:55) up. Speaker 2 (9:55) Yeah, that's incredible. And Speaker 3 (9:57) you worked at restaurants, legendary restaurants like Le Cirque, 21 Club. I want to know what it was like when Joe Baum called you up, this legendary restaurateur who created... some of the most well-known restaurants from The Grill, Tavern on the Green, Rainbow Room, of course, Windows on the World. What was it like when you got the call from Joe Baum about becoming the chef for Windows? Speaker 2 (10:23) Well, this was a, you know, I knew Joe. I knew him because he was a regular at 21. I was the chef at the 21 Club. Yes, Speaker 3 (10:33) and 21 Club was an institution. Speaker 2 (10:36) Yes, true. And so I knew Joe. I had been speaking to his partner, David Emil, who six months earlier had said, you know, we kind of would really like you to come to Windows and remake our kitchen and our culinary program. In 1993, there was the first bombing at the World Trade Center and the building was closed and the restaurant was closed for three years. They rebuilt and reopened the building and the restaurant in 1996. Speaker 2 (11:08) When I was talking to David Emile, I wasn't ready to make that move. I had turned down David and then out of the blue, Joe calls me and says, okay, we got to have lunch together. It's like, okay, sure. And I had lunch with Joe Baum, who's a very, you know, he was a very charismatic person. And Joe really put it into place for me. He explained the restaurant. He explained my position, like where I was in my career at that point. And he said, this is mutually beneficial. We should both be doing this. And he convinced me. But it wasn't that I hadn't thought about it before. But Joe really kind of gave me the courage. gave me the, he encouraged me to believe that I could really make an effect on something that had been open already for almost a year, that I could make the changes and that they would make the changes, that they, that we could do this together, that it would be a, you know, that it would have the dynamic that you need. You need people to be cooperative on both sides of a relationship. Speaker 3 (12:24) Yeah, that was open that one year and it was. kind of flailing in that year before you took over. It didn't get a great review in the Times. Ruth Reichel was the restaurant critic. And then you took it over and restored it to its glory. Ruth gave a glowing review and all of a sudden Windows became the hotspot again. And in 2001, it was the highest grossing restaurant in America. Speaker 2 (12:51) Yes, that's true. And that was a freestanding restaurant. And we were. We were ahead of Las Vegas, which was just then beginning to bring in name chefs to open restaurants in the hotels. So as a freestanding restaurant, we were the biggest thing going. I Speaker 3 (13:09) can see why that it would have taken courage to leave something like 21 Club and go to a restaurant that wasn't doing so well and to have to know that you're going somewhere to turn the tables around. And you did it. Speaker 2 (13:25) Yes. We did it together with Joe and David Emile. Joe and David actually supported me. And that's what we needed to do. We needed to reorganize the kitchen. We needed to, it was a big team. There were 450 people who worked at Lindos. Enormous. There were 135, if not more, 135 in the kitchens. You know, what that meant is seven days a week, there was always something going on. It was 90,000 square feet of space. Wow. Speaker 3 (13:57) There's Speaker 2 (13:57) private dining rooms, quite a number of them, some that would hold up over a thousand people. Private dining. It was the greatest bar on earth. It was cellar in the sky. Right. My dream fantasy restaurant, cellar in the sky. And then there was windows, windows itself, windows on the world, which was open for dinner. But there was also a private club, the World Trade Center Club, which was an amenity for people who lived and worked in the neighborhood and could have business meetings and breakfast and lunch. And so it was nonstop. Speaker 3 (14:34) Back to school season is almost here. I can't believe it. And that also means back to packing lunches for Iris. It makes me so nostalgic because one of my favorite parts of the school day growing up was opening up my lunchbox and finding one of my mom's turkey sandwiches. She always went to the deli counter and asked for boar's head sliced very thinly, just the way we liked it. She always put mayonnaise and a sweet pickle on it. There was something so comforting about it. It tasted fresh, it was simple, and it was always my favorite lunch. She still makes it for me when I go home to visit her. Now, I get to make those same sandwiches for Iris, and it's one of the traditions that I'm so happy to carry on. Of course, I want to send her to school with something that she'll actually eat. But as a mom, I also want to feel good about what I'm packing. That's why I love Boar's Head too. Their deli meats and cheeses are made without fillers, byproducts, trans fats, or MSG. And they're an easy way to