{"id":71294,"date":"2025-12-15T17:43:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T17:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/71294\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T17:43:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T17:43:18","slug":"feuding-memoirists-keith-mcnally-and-graydon-carter-make-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/71294\/","title":{"rendered":"Feuding Memoirists Keith McNally and Graydon Carter Make Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n Photo: Jonas Fredwall Karlsson for New York Magazine\n <\/p>\n

You go to the trouble of arranging the rapprochement of the century, and the clouds open up. Four years after an Instagram-fueled contretemps threatened to founder their 40-year relationship, Keith McNally<\/a> and Graydon Carter<\/a> met, ostensibly, for a hatchet-burying d\u00e9jeuner on a street corner near their respective restaurants Morandi and the Waverly Inn. At the appointed time, it poured. But you\u2019d be hard put to find two men the heavens are less likely to cow.<\/p>\n

McNally and Carter have already done more than most to refashion the city into their idealized image of it, as their best-selling memoirs reminded us this year. Having spent their early careers gatekeeping, they opened their own ersatz watering holes of old-new New York. One year, their families even spent Christmas Eve together. Then, a rift.<\/p>\n

Reasons to Love New York Right Now<\/p>\n


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In Keith\u2019s telling, trouble had been brewing for some time, but the final straw came when Carter\u2019s assistant made a large reservation at Morandi, then canceled it at the last minute. McNally, already a well-practiced Instagram troll, went on the attack: He called out Carter and banned him from McNally restaurants. The press swarmed. This was red meat to the small slice of the human population that cares deeply about New York dining and media. \u201cI never had any animosity for Keith during the troubles. It was an internet fantasy feud that provided good grist for his Instagram,\u201d Carter says.<\/p>\n

Like all fine beef, theirs softened with age. They were ready to begin anew even before we called. At the shoot, sitting at a table laid with the bounty of both of their restaurants, McNally companionably grasped Carter\u2019s forearm and the two chatted about children and vacations. As the rain beat down, Carter offered McNally the shield of his large umbrella; McNally, with an Englishman\u2019s grit about inclemency, repeatedly declined. D\u00e9tente at last, more or less. \u201cHe used to say that I was a good restaurateur \u2014 for a writer,\u201d Carter says. \u201cNow, I say that he is a good writer \u2014 for a restaurateur.\u201d<\/p>\n

But some of the old pepperiness remains. \u201cNo one said anything about burying the hatchet,\u201d McNally writes me later. \u201cThe jury\u2019s still out about that.\u201d Still, they made plans to get together. \u201cI agreed to coffee, not lunch,\u201d McNally adds. \u201cOne step at a time. I actually enjoyed my feud with Graydon and I\u2019m going to miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank you for subscribing and supporting our journalism.
\n If you prefer to read in print, you can also find this article in the December 15, 2025, issue of
\n New York\u00a0Magazine.<\/p>\n

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\n If you prefer to read in print, you can also find this article in the December 15, 2025, issue of
\n New York Magazine.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Jonas Fredwall Karlsson for New York Magazine You go to the trouble of arranging the rapprochement of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[36407,36406,9,24,11,2409,10,36315,36316],"class_list":["post-71294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-graydon-carter","tag-keith-mcnally","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-magazine","tag-new-york-news","tag-reasons-to-love-new-york","tag-reasons-to-love-new-york-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71294","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=71294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}