A Man for Four Seasons Julian Niccolini

“I am in the real hospitality business. I make people happy, that’s all.”

By Angela Barbuti

Not only is Julian Niccolini the co-owner of the iconic Four Seasons Restaurant, he’s also done everything from writing a weekly newspaper column, to creating a wine label, to making cameos in films.

It’s his affable personality that makes him successful in the famed East Side dining haven and beyond. “I am in the real hospitality business. I make people happy, that’s all,” he said. One of his favorite parts of his day is greeting guests, and he has met quite a few notable ones over the years. When asked who has been the most interesting, he replied, “From President Clinton to Ronald Reagan to Henry Kissinger, you name them.” As far as requests he’s granted, he named bringing food to royalty’s planes as the most memorable.

Niccolini has also befriended guests in the movie business, which resulted in him being cast as himself in two films, Inside Man and Arbitrage. “The first one to ask me to make a movie was Spike Lee and the next one was Richard Gere,” he said. “If anybody asks me again, I’d be more than willing, but I’m not an actor.”

Located on East 52nd Street, the Four Seasons was built in 1959, and Niccolini considers it to be “one of the most beautiful places in New York City.” If their lease ever expires, Niccolini has a plan for a grandiose event that is already generating buzz throughout Manhattan. To commemorate the year of its opening, there will be a special menu that will cost $1,959 per person, and include wine from the 1959 vintage. All the profits from the evening will be donated to a charity, which Niccolini predicted will be Citymeals-on-Wheels. “This is a very good charity that I think everybody should support,” he said.

When he arrived at the restaurant in 1977, he made it his mission to make the dining experience there tantamount to being in someone’s home. He accomplished this by tailoring the menu to make it “more people friendly” and the wine list to be “absolutely acceptable to everybody that doesn’t know too much about wine.”

An Italian native, Niccolini grew up in a family where his father was also in the business and his mother cooked, so he gained first-hand culinary and oenology knowledge. This led him to start a wine label, Julian of the Seasons, which offers two selections, a Sauvignon Blanc from Italy and Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma. The line also includes tomato sauce and oil olive.

A typical day for Niccolini starts when he arrives at the restaurant at 9 and can sometimes end at 10 o’clock at night or later, depending on the events taking place there. He admits that the hardest part of his job is spending so much time away from his family. He met his wife, Lisa, through the business, and they have two daughters, whom he hopes will never enter the hospitality industry.

As for his future plans, he said he wants to “be happy and healthy, and develop a Four Seasons brand that is representative of their taste.”