Restaurateurs Lay Elitist Cards on the Table : Owners May Not Admit It, but Rich and Powerful Generally Get Best Seats

All restaurant tables are not created equal.

Most top-notch establishments have their A-tables, the coveted see-and-be-seen seats where the powerful and the famous often demand to sit.

And there is Siberia, the no man’s land where diners are banished, left to feel the constant whoosh of swinging kitchen doors.

Where one is seated in the city’s top restaurants depends on a number of factors, not the least of which are fame and wealth. While some restaurateurs categorically deny the existence of best tables, others are emphatic that they are as much a part of the business as tipping.

Prime Locales

At Morton’s, the chic pink restaurant on Melrose Avenue, the first eight tables closest to the door are considered prime locales. Who sits there? Movie industry big shots like Barry Diller, chairman and chief executive officer of 20th Century Fox; Sylvester Stallone and producer Steve Tisch.

At star-studded Spago on Sunset Boulevard, owner Wolfgang Puck sees the city’s rich and famous pass through his doors. Those in the know are seated in the front room with a view of the city. There they can keep an eye on the action at the bar and front door.

Entering Chasen’s on Beverly Boulevard, the front room to the left is where many Hollywood celebrities choose to partake of the restaurant’s famous chili. On a recent night, George Burns and Danny Thomas were spotted there.

And the area of activity at the Bistro Garden is wide. It includes the five banquette tables near the piano, which serves as a captain’s table, the large circle of tables looking out at the garden, the smaller tables right outside the French doors and the first two tiers of garden tables.

The common denominator among the best tables is proximity to the entrance. Yet often these are not the tables the restaurant owner considered best when planning the layout of the place.

At Rebecca’s, the Mexican restaurant that is Venice’s eatery of the moment, architect Frank Gehry said he studiously avoided having an A-section when designing the eclectic interior.

“I made different types of things (like a hanging octopus and a copper gazebo) so there would be a variety of experiences. The thing I didn’t count on is that people want to be seen by the door.”

A row of high-back aqua tuck-and-roll booths have become the power seats at Rebecca’s; Elizabeth Taylor sat in Booth 1 when she visited. From a booth perch, diners have a clear view of the bar--and barflys have an equally good view of them.

“I think the best seat is at the ceviche bar,” said Rebecca Marder, who, with husband Bruce, also owns the popular West Beach Cafe across the street. “You have a panoramic view. And it’s nicer now that we got rid of the live lobsters that would stare at you.”

Michael Roberts, chef and partner of Trumps, across from Morton’s on Melrose, was certain when he opened the restaurant six years ago that Table 1, hidden in an alcove, was going to be a sure-fire hit. It wasn’t. Tables 5 and 11, which take up different corners of the main dining room, have become the most requested. Roberts figures it’s the see-and-be-seen factor.

The minimalistic City Restaurant on La Brea is deceptive to first-time diners who are fooled by what looks like an egalitarian layout, but the asked-for tables are up front near the middle.

‘Same Kind of Service’

“When we placed the tables we were very careful about not having (seating that would inspire) preferential treatment,” said Mary Sue Milliken, who co-owns City Restaurant and the Border Grill with Susan Feniger. “We wanted everyone to get the same kind of service.”

It’s no secret that dining out is considered more than a culinary experience by some. Getting a good table “is a question of affirming your position in the social stratum of the city,” said Paul Bruggeman, owner of Le St. Germain on Melrose.

Added Wolfgang Puck, “I find it interesting that some people think it’s more important where they sit than what they eat. Why? I don’t know; I’m not a psychiatrist.”

The same celebrities who bemoan their lack of privacy often choose the most conspicuous seats in the house.

Said one restaurateur, “Let’s face it. You’re not really going to a restaurant like Morton’s or Spago to avoid people.”

There’s no denying that the pecking order is a delicate subject. John Kopatsis can attest to that; he was the manager and maitre d’ at Morton’s for 6 1/2 years before leaving recently to open his own restaurant, Primavera, on Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood.

He recalled that one night a week the major studio heads would converge on the restaurant, and woe to him who didn’t give them equal billing at the front tables.

“Whoever was running the door had to be very careful and know what he was doing,” Kopatsis said. And when two or more people requested the same table, “that’s when the maitre d’ started juggling. It works out somehow.”

At the Polo Lounge, the Beverly Hills Hotel’s legendary restaurant and bar, the garden room is the hot spot for breakfast; at lunch it changes to the front booths in the lounge. That’s where Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ed McMahon, Sammy Davis Jr. and other regulars prefer to dine and deal.

‘A Professional Secret’

Maitre d’ Pasquale Pavone said scheduling conflicts are solved by deciding who is most important. And just how is that done? “It’s kind of a professional secret,” he said. “I’m still learning after 11 years. This is not a monotonous job.”

Most restaurateurs maintain their seating policy is on a first-come, first-served basis. “Business is business,” said Marder of Rebecca’s, who added that a few tables are reserved each night for investors and friends who might drop in.

‘They Know That We Know’

“We have a policy that we don’t ever promise a table,” Michael Roberts said. “But our own best customers know that we know where they want to sit. If someone loves Table 14 and it’s taken, we’ll put them at another table. . . . Our best customers don’t care.”

Often a maitre d’ will give the better customer the better seat. Other considerations are how attractive a person is, and the way the maitre d’ is approached about a table.

With a never-ending supply of new stars, restaurant personnel must keep up on the latest ins and outs. Some, like Kopatsis, faithfully read the Hollywood Reporter and Variety; Bruggeman relies on one waiter who is a “major information center.”

But one thing most maitre d’s say they won’t do is accept money in exchange for a good table. “As a rule, we never did that,” said Kopatsis, who was once slipped 10 $100 bills by an overeager patron. “If someone was pleased with the service, we didn’t say no if someone wanted to tip on the way out. Otherwise it’s like buying the table.”

Tip Can Work Wonders

But some veteran diners of the city’s classiest restaurants insist that an incentive tip can work wonders if given in the right manner.

To some patrons, where they sit is a matter of life and death. Jean Leon, who has owned La Scala in Beverly Hills for 30 years, said the fuss a person makes over a table “is in direct proportion to his insecurity.” He has two kinds of customers: stars like Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck and Paul Newman, and those who want to be stars--attorneys, psychiatrists, interior designers “who made it too fast and can’t believe they’re there. Maybe they have a frustrated desire to be movie stars. They want to sit next to someone important. Maybe they think something will rub off.”

Leon has been faced with diners who, when told they can’t have a particular table, sit there anyway. His solution: “We take the tablecloth off and leave the table bare. They can stay there as long as they want, but there is nothing more embarrassing than sitting at a bare table. They last no more than five, seven minutes.”

Some restaurateurs deal with the seating conflicts by telling white lies. “Everybody does it a little bit,” Le St. Germain’s Bruggeman said. “You have to go around it in the most diplomatic way. You give them a comparable table and emphasize certain qualities, like ‘That room is so warm today; the air conditioning is not working.’ ”

“To be honest, it does matter where I sit at places like Morton’s and Spago,” said Suzanne de Passe, president of Motown Productions in Hollywood. “One would feel a little put out by not being seated in those particular areas. And because I’m usually in the desirable areas it would be some kind of fall from grace (to be seated elsewhere).

“I have some spoiled-princess ways,” she joked, adding, “when I go to these places, though, it is business. If my husband (actor Paul Le Mat) and I decide to go out to places like the California Pizza Kitchen or Hamburger Hamlet, I really couldn’t care less where I sat.”

Nothing Less Than the Best

Karen Witynski, public relations director of the downtown California Mart, won’t settle for anything less than the best table when she dines at first-class restaurants, whether it’s for business or pleasure. “No way will I eat at Spago if I’m in the fringe areas, anywhere but the front,” she said. “If I can’t get a guarantee for a specific table, I’ll switch to another restaurant. Seeing the action at the door and the bar is part of the appeal of the restaurant. It’s where entrances are made and it’s a little more conducive to table-hopping. You want to feel part of the entire dining scene.”

Competition for the best tables is a never-ending source of amusement for those in the trade who witness the nightly posturing.

“I go home at night hysterical,” said Christopher Niklas, son of Kurt Niklas, owner of the Bistro Garden. “You better believe that it makes their day if they get the table they want. It’s a lot of stress (for me to arrange it). People think (it’s done with) a kiss on the cheek and walking them to the table.”

Yet smart restaurateurs know that having a recognizable face up front can increase business. “We all know it helps,” Leon of La Scala said. “Without it the restaurant will never become famous.”

Should a star or high-powered corporate type fall from grace, he’ll still be welcomed--as long as he can pay the bill. “I would especially make him feel wonderful at that time,” Bruggeman said.

But even restaurant owners must venture out of their establishments once in a while to try out the competition. When they do, almost all say they prefer to be hidden from sight.

“I don’t say where I’d like to sit but I should,” Rebecca Marder said. “I like to be in a private corner. I swear, people see me and they think I work at that restaurant--they can’t remember where they’ve seen me before. And they come up and start complaining about the service, saying, ‘Can’t you do anything about this?’ And I say, ‘Sorry, you’ve got the wrong girl, honey.’ Then they start making excuses why they’re not at my restaurant. And I say to myself, ‘Where do you think I am?’ ”