By Emilia Petrarca | Photography by Nate Langston Palmer for WSJ. Magazine

Jean-Georges Vongerichten treats his 19 restaurants in New York City as if they were his children. On a typical day, he drives around Manhattan in his matteblack Mercedes G-wagon ("gangsta," he calls it in his French accent), checking in on his namesake and third-eldest, which opened in Trump International Hotel and Tower in 1997, as well as some of his younger establishments, like the 1-year-old Park Avenue power-lunch spot Four Twenty Five. Before he calls it a day, he visits his newest-born, the members-only club Chez Margaux, "to make sure everybody is behaving, " he says. He might stay until 2 o'clock in the morning, then drive five blocks home to tuck himself in.

Since he arrived in 1986, Vongerichten has transformed the way New Yorkers dine. In an era of culinary indulgence, he introduced modern menus that prioritized healthiness over heaviness, blending American and Asian flavors with those of his native France in a way that felt special. Suddenly, everyone was eating sautéed cod with ketchup sauce and "egg caviar," a decadent bite topped with vodka whipped cream. Now he has a new mission that's less about cuisine and more about lifestyle.

"Everybody goes home, goes to bed at 10, watching TV," Vongerichten, who is 67, laments. "We need to bring back nightlife."

Vongerichten isn't exactly a party animal; if his restaurants are his children, the kitchen is his best friend, and he's rarely been free before midnight due to the hours of his chosen profession. But he loves New York. "Greatest city in the world," he declares wholeheartedly. And now as workers are returning to offices five days a week and construction is booming, he's determined to make everyone stay out late again. When developer Michael Cayre, whose family also owns the building that houses Casa Cipriani, reached out to Vongerichten about returning to his former Spice Market space in the Meatpacking District with a members-only club, he says he agreed on the condition that he could serve his food until the wee hours of the morning. "Let's bring New York back the way it's supposed to be," Vongerichten says.

At his age and level of success -- his global restaurant empire now boasts over 5,000 employees and 60 restaurants -- he could easily retire or at least slow down, but he's "just warming up," he says. "My grandkids are like, Grandpa is in the club? I'm like, It's a supper club." He credits the relentless, ever-changing nature of the business with keeping him active and curious. He loves traveling and often posts about his travels on his personal Instagram, where he has over 260,000 followers. Recently he's been making short trips to Brooklyn, where he'll open his first restaurant in the borough this spring to attract "nice young parents," among others. He's also got Jean-Georges Miami Tropic Residences in the works and has signed on with the Seaport Entertainment Group to take over the Bryant Park Grill space in Manhattan.

Vongerichten's range stands out, says Paul Needham, CEO of the Infatuation, a restaurant recommendation website. "The fact that he can feed you Sunday brunch with your kids at the Mark, and then business lunch at Four Twenty Five, and then you're next to Selena Gomez at Chez Margaux for dinner is pretty remarkable."

At a recent lunch at Four Twenty Five, Vongerichten's white-tablecloth Midtown restaurant where the lunch menu includes a $14 green juice that is served in a wineglass, the Alsatian restaurateur wore a James Perse cashmere sweater, his signature black Prada brogues on his feet, and looked especially tan. (Writer Jay McInerney once described Vongerichten's appearance as "George Clooney crossed with a Renaissance putto," which still tracks, although, unlike Clooney, Vongerichten has only a few visible gray hairs.) He'd been in St. Barts with his family over the holidays. This isn't his favorite time to go, he clarified, but he's at the mercy of his grandchildren's school schedule. Not that anyone would know he's with them. "I told them: Never call me 'Grandpa' in public," Vongerichten says, laughing.

A couple of days prior, Vongerichten was in Washington, D.C., where he catered an event during inauguration weekend co-sponsored by Uber, Elon Musk's X and Bari Weiss's media company, The Free Press. He described the scene overall as "a little too crazy" for his taste, with the press circus and "people [who had] their face painted with the flag."

Shortly before Chez Margaux opened last fall, founding members received a mailer with an ashtray, a lighter and a golden member's card but little other information. The mystery -- and the promise of exclusivity, 1930s Parisian interiors and "caviar [on] anything," as one founding member put it -- managed to attract 1,500 founding members and select early visitors, including Taylor Swift, who has been there on both girls' nights and date nights. According to Vongerichten, the waitlist is 3,000 long, with a rumor that the club is already paying some founding members to jump ship to accommodate the waitlist. Membership costs less than at other "clubstaurants," as these establishments are now known. Joining Major Food Group's ZZ's Club, for example, is $10,000 a year, plus a $20,000 initiation, while Chez Margaux costs $3,600 annually or, for under-30 members, $2,400 (initiation fees are currently waived for both age groups).

When Emily Sundberg, 30, author of the business newsletter Feed Me, visited Chez Margaux at the end of last year, she and her party ordered sushi, crispy rice, a salad, a pizza and wine. Jeff Bezos' fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, was there. Sundberg also says she spotted "a lot of hot women in leather and fur" -- a mix of real and fake -- "looking annoyed waiting for friends or dates." The space was dark and cozier than clubs like Casa Cipriani or Zero Bond, which have multiple levels, and there are smaller private rooms with names like Monkey Business. "The food was solid," Sundberg says. Would she join, though? She would not. It's just not for her.

Vongerichten is still working out the kinks. "I tried to take five dishes away last week, and over the weekend, we got, like, 10 complaints: Where's my chopped salad? Where are my sauces?" he says. "When you start something, you cannot change it." The good news is that members are hungry. "I'm amazed at how much people order at 1:30, 2 in the morning," he adds. "I want to push it to 4."

"I've been there a handful of times in the last couple of months...and he was there in his all-whites," Needham, the Infatuation CEO, says of Chez Margaux. "The room is this very moody red, and he really stands out as he works the floor.... Just the idea that he's actually there is exciting for people."

The finances of members' clubs make them seem like less of a risk than a regular restaurant, which is likely why so many are opening. Vongerichten cites better service and better kitchen staff as benefits of receiving initiation fees up front.

Other Jean-Georges properties may not be so flush with cash. In January, Gothamist reported that the Tin Building, a $200 million, 54,000-square-foot global food hall with everything from a Chinese restaurant to a French brasserie, is losing more than $100,000 a day on average. A company representative declined to comment on any financial losses, but Vongerichten says his partners on the project have deep pockets, and he's not giving up on the Tin Building yet.

"It was spectacular when we opened, and it's still spectacular," he says. "In the winter, we're just suffering a lot because it's hard to get to. But we have a good partner who likes to spend a lot of money."

Last year, Vongerichten signed a deal with Terra on a high-rise apartment building in Miami's Design District for Jean-Georges condos. Owners will cook in Jean-Georges--designed kitchens and be able to have their fridges stocked with chef-quality ingredients sourced by the Jean-Georges team. They will also receive preferential reservations at the abc restaurant on the ground floor.

"I don't know how long I'll be able to cook," Vongerichten says, although he quickly adds that his mother is still cooking at 92. In the near future, he hopes to open a restaurant in her honor in Tribeca where he can serve the dishes he grew up with that he'd otherwise never put on his menus, like tongue and brain.

One thing at a time, though. "Some people avoid work; I run to it," he says, even if that means staying up late. "I sleep super well at night."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 11, 2025 11:00 ET (15:00 GMT)

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