{"id":204095,"date":"2026-04-21T00:42:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/204095\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T00:42:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:42:16","slug":"even-for-the-king-of-new-york-ny-elite-restaurant-makes-room-for-brunsons-reservation-despite-being-full-in-a-prank-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/204095\/","title":{"rendered":"“Even for the King of New York?” – NY elite restaurant makes room for Brunson’s reservation despite being full in a prank call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jalen Brunson<\/a>\u00a0is, without question, the best player on the\u00a0New York Knicks<\/a>. In fact, he’s the best player that the Knicks have had for years. However, while Brunson is a killer scorer who is hard to stop, if at all, on the basketball court, he’s a quiet, seemingly shy, and unassuming guy off the court.<\/p>\n

And so when JB guested on “Sundae Conversations with Caleb Pressley”, the popular podcaster wanted Jalen to realize how big a personality he is in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

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“People want to see you come out of your shell,”\u00a0said Pressley.\u00a0“People want to see you scream. I mean, you’re the ‘King of New York City.’ You could probably walk into any restaurant in New York City and get a reservation on the spot.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That’s self-centered,”\u00a0answered Brunson.<\/p>\n

Brunson tried to book on the spot at Keens Steakhouse<\/p>\n

Little did JB know that Pressley would prove his argument by making him actually try to make a reservation right then and there.<\/p>\n

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“I’m gonna call one of the nicest restaurants in New York City right now \u2014 Keens Steakhouse. We’re going to call Keens Steakhouse right now, and I just want you to talk to them and see if you can get a reservation tonight for two of your buddies. I have a script for you,”\u00a0Pressley continued.<\/p>\n

Known for its mutton chops, Keens Steakhouse at 72 W 36th St. in Manhattan is considered the\u00a06th-best steakhouse<\/a>\u00a0in New York City and one of the best restaurants in the Garment District. As such, it’s always hard to get seat reservations there, especially on the spot, with some placed on long waitlists.<\/p>\n

So Caleb wanted Jalen to try booking there as the “King of New York” and see if he got privileges as such. Pressley then dialed the restaurant’s number and passed the phone to Brunson, who introduced himself by name and asked if he could make a reservation for three that night.<\/p>\n

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Related: \u201cProbably the last straw for me\u201d – Charles Barkley on why Tiger Woods firing of his longtime caddie ended their friendship<\/a><\/p>\n

Pressley wanted Brunson to make reservations at its busiest hours<\/p>\n

But not only did Pressley want Brunson to book a table that night, but he also wanted him to do so during the restaurant’s peak hours, 6 to 7 in the evening, making his request even tougher to accommodate. JB gave it a try.<\/p>\n

“Actually, can we do six or six-thirty?”\u00a0asked JB.When the staff said they were fully booked for that timeslot, Pressley coached Brunson to read the next line on the script.<\/p>\n

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Jalen nodded his head, laughed, and did an ad-lib:\u00a0“So is that a yes for 6 or no for 6?”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The restaurant personnel apologized to Jalen and told him the best they could give him was the 7:45 pm time slot.<\/p>\n

“7:45? Even for the King of New York?”\u00a0Brunson replied.<\/p>\n

At that point, the guy asked JB to wait and most likely conferred with his superior. Later, another voice talked to Brunson and said,\u00a0“Thanks so much for holding. You’re looking to book for a party of three tonight for Jalen Brunson? Okay, I can help you with that, 6 o’clock\u2026”<\/p>\n

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Many say that if somehow the Knicks win it all this year and end their 53-year title drought, Brunson will have a case as the greatest Knick ever. That would be impressive, but to be the Knicks’ GOAT might be up for debate.<\/p>\n

However, when you talk about being “The King of New York”, it’s clear that JB is revered as such by the community, and perhaps it took Pressley’s dare for him to realize the influence he has in the city. Hopefully, that gets Brunson inspired more in the current playoffs.<\/p>\n

Related: “Your best player can\u2019t be 6’2” – Paul Pierce ignites firestorm over Jalen Brunson\u2019s Knicks championship hopes<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on Apr 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jalen Brunson\u00a0is, without question, the best player on the\u00a0New York Knicks. In fact, he’s the best player that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[80724,4777,80726,45868,80725,9,24,55,54,1104,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-204095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-caleb-pressley","9":"tag-jalen-brunson","10":"tag-jb","11":"tag-keens-steakhouse","12":"tag-king-of-new-york","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-city-news","17":"tag-new-york-knicks","18":"tag-ny"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}