SIRIO: The Story of My Life and Le Cirque

New York's social history can often be traced through its restaurants. The robber barons adored Delmonico's, 1950s media darlings fancied the 21 Club and the 1980s' power elite loved Le Cirque and its dazzling owner, Sirio Maccioni. Maccioni learned his trade in the hotels and restaurants of Europe and New York. By the early 1970s, the dashing Italian was ready to launch his own culinary experiment, and for more than 20 years, Le Cirque on East 65th Street epitomized near-reckless luxury. At first, Le Cirque was known more for the exclusivity of its customers, a blue-ribbon gaggle of celebrities and politicians (many of them, from Nancy Reagan to Frank Zappa, befriending Maccioni) than for the food. But Maccioni's aggressive spending and the free rein he gave his chefs soon resulted in a dining revolution. The restaurant served as the training ground for chefs like Daniel Boulud, and it claims to have invented Pasta Primavera. Maccioni's memoir is mostly a stream of reminiscences, with a dash of loving quotes from celebrities. It's a doting portrait of, in the words of Ruth Reichl, "the most important restaurateur of the era." Agent, Mort Janklow. (June)

Forecast: Like Everyone Comes to Elaine's (Forecasts, Jan. 5), this book is sure to generate some New York media coverage (it's already been excerpted in Vanity Fair) and could be popular among New Yorkers interested in the city's social scenes.