Snobbery, steaks, and social climbers: Inside Manhattan’s original power restaurant

Culinary historians have long struggled to pinpoint when lunch ceased being something you had and became something you did, but the prevailing school of thought believes it occurred at some point in late-1970s New York, specifically at a restaurant called Mortimer’s. The well-heeled patrons of this legendary Upper East Side spot did not come for the hamburgers and creamed spinach, which critics dismissed as “nursery fare”. And they definitely didn’t come for the décor –– the restaurant’s rock hard chairs and institutional lighting did not scream good times. They just came to be there among other famous diners and bask in the sunshine glow of each other’s celebrity, like the lizards whose erstwhile skin now adorned their stilettos.