Latest news with #IRegretAlmostEverything:AMemoir
The Herald Scotland
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
We hate to bring up the name of this restaurant…
The possibilities of a violent encounter are minimal, though there is a very great chance that a wayfarer in those bad lands will be laid low by a terminal case of pretentiousity (which in the Layman's Medical Dictionary is defined as the inability to avoid expressing yourself in a long-winded and smarty-pants manner). Reader Gordon Sweeney was walking down Byres Road when he overheard two young fellows, who looked like students, chatting. Said one to the other: 'Y'see, I'm just an ordinary guy. I like experimental literature as much as the next man…' Naughty nan The smooth female Tannoy voice used to broadcast messages on Glasgow trains isn't to everyone's liking. Bill Durbin was on a train when the Tannoy made an announcement in its usual emollient way. Bill growled quietly to himself, then muttered: 'I can't stand that voice.' The bloke next to him nodded, then added: 'Know what you mean. It's smoothly sinister. Like a nanny with a machine gun.' Brought to book When most people visit New York they opt to see the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. Not reader Liz Wilde. When she was there last week with her husband they found themselves in a bookshop. Browsing the shelves, Liz's hubby spotted a book by a local restaurateur, which was titled: 'I Regret Almost Everything: A Memoir'. With an impish grin, Liz's hubby said: 'Pity this bloke used that title. It would have been perfect for your autobiography.' Liz glared at hubby for a beat, then said: 'I'm certainly regretting marrying you, right now...' The name game In a queue at the supermarket, reader Mike Slater overheard two women chatting. 'I've got awfy sore gums,' sighed one of them. 'Huv ye tried Bonjela?' inquired her friend. 'Nae idea what that is,' admitted the first lady, adding: 'But whit a great name fur a wee lassie. Is it French?' Rural riot act A few years ago reader Tom White and a pal were enjoying a pleasant country ramble when they were confronted by a red-faced farmer, demanding they get off his land, or there'd be hell to pay. After they had scarpered, Tom's pal turned to him and said: 'Bet that bloke's name is Farmer Geddon.' Cool runnings Health-conscious reader George Douglas tells us: 'I started jogging yesterday. That wasn't the original plan. It's just that the ice-cream van wouldn't stop.'
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NYC restaurateur claims Patti Smith reduced waitress to tears over bread service: ‘The James Corden of her day'
New York City restaurateur Keith McNally has claimed that singer Patti Smith was 'incredibly rude' to his waitstaff. McNally owns a number of famous food spots in the city, including Balthazar, Pastis, and Minetta Tavern. He also made headlines in 2022 when he briefly banned James Corden from Balthazar after the actor was allegedly 'abusive' to the restaurant's staff. In an excerpt of his forthcoming memoir, I Regret Almost Everything: A Memoir, shared with New York Magazine's Grub Street, McNally remembers working at the One Fifth restaurant in the Seventies. As the restaurant's at the time, he often saw Smith and her then-boyfriend, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Mapplethorpe's ex, the late Sam Wagstaff, dining at the iconic spot. According to McNally, the then-famous couple were not the easiest customers. He made multiple claims about the 'Gloria' singer's unkind behaviour at the restaurant. 'Smith and Mapplethorpe could be very difficult to wait on,' the restaurant owner writes in the memoir. 'Smith, unfortunately, was incredibly rude to the servers. It's impossible for me to listen to a Patti Smith song today without remembering her reducing a waitress to tears because she forgot to put bread on the table.' McNally notes that Mapplethorpe, meanwhile, 'never tried to belittle' his waitstaff. The Independent has contacted Smith's assistant for comment. On March 30, McNally also shared an Instagram post about his experience with Smith at One Fifth. In the caption, he reiterated his claims that Smith was 'unbelievably rude to servers' and that the staff dreaded her visits. 'I spent four years at One Fifth and Smith was - by a country mile - the customer least liked by the servers. In fact, there was always a squabble whenever she'd arrive because none of the staff wanted to wait on her. She was the James Cordon of her day,' he wrote. He went on to praise Wagstaff, saying that there are 'only three people' he wished he'd gotten to know better, and 'Sam Wagstaff is one of them.' Back in October 2022, McNally branded former Late Late Show host James Corden a 'tiny cretin of a man' and banned him from Balthazar over his alleged treatment of the staff. He called Corden 'the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago' and said, in true restaurant lingo, that he '86'd' Corden. McNally went on to describe 'two examples of the funny man's treatment of my staff,' including an instance where Corden was allegedly 'extremely nasty' and 'yelled like crazy' at staff. The Gavin & Stacey actor later admitted that he made 'a rude, rude comment' to a restaurant worker and said 'it was never my intention' to upset the staff at Balthazar. McNally rescinded the ban shortly after and claimed that Corden had 'apologized profusely.' 'But anyone magnanimous enough to apologise to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn't deserve to be banned from anywhere. Especially Balthazar,' he wrote in an Instagram post at the time. 'All is forgiven.' I Regret Almost Everything: A Memoir is published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, LLC, on May 6.
