While Keith McNally says business is booming at Balthazar, insiders at his other famed French eatery, Pastis, are distancing themselves from the controversial restaurateur.
Several sources insist that McNally is not an owner at Pastis in NYC’s Meatpacking District, and is a consultant since the restaurant’s relaunch.
One source familiar with the situation told us, “McNally has never been an owner of Pastis since it reopened in 2019. They had a consulting agreement.”
The source said the same applies for the eatery’s Miami, Fla., location.
“He has a consulting agreement where he is primarily responsible for the design aspect of the restaurant,” they said.
Another source told us McNally “doesn’t sign the checks. Stephen Starr does.”
Starr — who is also behind hot restaurants including Upland and Le Coucou — has wanted no part of McNally’s controversy, after McNally posted an incendiary remark about the Hamas attacks on Israel — then made a brand new set of even more incendiary remarks that somehow made the whole thing worse.
On Monday, after we reported on McNally’s post encouraging his followers to “listen to the other side,” after the Israel attacks, Starr posted: “The horrific acts carried out by Hamas against the Israeli and all Jewish people are indefensible and barbaric. This was a terrorist attack. Starr Restaurants and Pastis do not in any way share the opinions expressed today by Keith McNally.”
McNally apologized and deleted his post, explaining, “I have never once in my life recognized nor supported Hamas. It is a terrorist organization comprising of murderers and thugs.”
He then inexplicably, reposted his first message, and whined about how he’s “lost a big chunk” of business due to online hate messages and “lies… spread about me on social media.”
Starr posted on Pastis’ Instagram page, “there is no grey area. The topic is black…
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