Scott Sartiano’s name has been followed by “the man behind Zero Bond” ever since he opened the Noho’s members-only club and started attracting guests like Kim Kardashian, Tom Brady and Mayor Eric Adams.
Now the 48-year-old hospitality veteran has his name over the door in red-sauce inspired neon at the corner of Prince and Mercer Streets in Soho after opening Sartiano’s.
In June he opened in the space which for 25 years was Mercer Kitchen, below the Mercer Hotel, with Jean Georges Vongerichten at the helm.
Now everyone will know Sartiano’s name. And the pressure is on.
“When you have your name on a restaurant, there’s no running from it … and it better be f—king good,” Sartiano told The Post, a skylight beaming through the space designed by Studio Sofield, the same firm appointed by Tom Ford and Gucci.
Sartiano assembled an all-star team – three-time James Beard Award-winning chef Alfred Portale and executive chef Chris Lewnes – and is majoring on a combination of Italian-American classics, like $36 chicken parm, upscale dishes inspired by red-sauce staples, like $68 Dover sole piccata, and ultra-luxe wallet-busters like the $425 36-ounce wagyu porterhouse.
And of course, the $48 caviar cannoli, which The Post’s Steve Cuozzo calls “little darlings.”
“You’re being compared to one of the greatest chefs. Those are massive shoes. There’s going to be critiques and comparisons. [It’s like] I’m replacing Tom Brady as quarterback,” he said—dropping the name of one of his celebrity friends.
The retired quarterback himself is a little more optimistic, telling The Post: “Scotty has amazing charisma, an incredible sense of humor, and the unique ability to make everyone feel comfortable.
“There are a lot of places to go in the city, but I always find myself going to places that Scott’s involved in. I mean, he’s always there to please people and he always puts others first.”
For Sartiano’s, so far, so good. The restaurant, with Carrara marble counters, leather seating and a limoncello-toned bar, has an average wait list of 750 people every night, a rep told The Post.
Not needing to wait are stars like Paul McCartney, Martha Stewart and Chris Rock who have all dined there since it opened in June after a curtain-raiser hosting the Chanel Met Gala after party in May. (Another Met Gala after party was hosted at Zero Bond that same night.)
The usually zen Sartiano recalled having to fly back from former NBA star David Lee’s 40th birthday party in Florida when he learned the furniture for the restaurant didn’t arrive in time for the Met Gala overflow.
“None of the furniture was here. I had to leave the party early to come stay here for 24 hours straight. The staff didn’t leave for 24 hours and neither did I. I’m such a mellow, monotone guy. I was like, ‘This restaurant has my name on it and it has no furniture. It’s the Chanel Met Gala.’”
He pulled it off, hosting Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne, Gisele Bundchen and Penelope Cruz, among others. (He had more than his two-drink maximum himself, he admits.)
But most nights, diners would never even know they are brushing up against celebrities at Sartiano’s outside is, so far, paparazzi-free and the dimly lit restaurant offers discretion compliments of the house.
Call it the dinner-party extension of his Noho members-only club Zero Bond where celebrities value their privacy.
It’s where Adams held court to celebrate his mayoral win with rappers, movie stars and CEOs, and regularly returns.
Elon Musk hosted a Met Gala after party in 2021. And its Jones Alley Bar is featured in the nail-biting “Succession” finale – an “if you know, you know” nod to members, Sartiano said.
Sartiano attributes his success to playing the long game – building relationships, keeping his word and not selling out.
“Someone once offered me a quarter of a million bucks to get into Zero Bond,” Sartiano told the Post.
“You can’t buy your way in. You can’t buy cool. Nobody goes to a place to look at an old rich guy. In a lot of these [private members clubs], money can buy your way into a lot of places.”
“I’m not a money-driven person. I’ve always said I’d rather have 100 friends than $100. I think that’s one reason why my places last longer, and probably why my house is smaller.”
Indeed, loyalty to his Rolodex of power-players-turned-friends is what’s given him staying power. And it’s a two-way street: Kim Kardashian, possibly his most famous Zero Bond member, was happy to praise Sartiano to The Post.
“There are so many things that set Scott apart from others in hospitality, first of which is his constant prioritization of his friends and family above all else. His authenticity comes through in all that he does and is reflected in each of his projects,” said Kardashian.
The native of Columbia, SC, entered the nightlife scene in the mid-90s when he was attending Columbia University as a tennis recruit majoring in political science.
He rode a bottomless champagne wave in the 2000s with his then business partner Richie Akiva. Together they ran Chelsea’s 1Oak, Union Square’s Spa and Butter, the Noho hotspot he opened at the tender age of 26.
Sartiano quickly found himself in the center of Hollywood’s elite circles – his dating record includes Ashley Olsen, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Anne Hathaway.
Now a father of two, with wife Allie Rizzo — he married the Wilhemina model in 2014 — he also sold his share of Butter Group to Akiva that year.
Still, he’s always considered himself more of a wallflower than the life of the party.
“I don’t consider myself the trendiest person – my wife does my Instagram. I’ve never really Tweeted. In general, I’m a listener and watcher. I love meeting new people and I love watching people. Even when I was in the nightclubs back in the day, people were like, ‘You’re not having fun,’” he told The Post.
“I’m not a super social person. I’m actually selectively extroverted. But I love seeing friends coming into my places.”
That’s made Sartiano’s the new place he needs his friends to come. Sartiano was called in to help when Richard Born, who co-owns the Mercer Hotel with business partner Ira Drukier, realized the Mercer Kitchen space needed a glow-up towards the end of the pandemic.
“We said, ‘who has a following and a Rolodex and the cultural background that’s akin to what we are doing here?’
“It was really quick and obvious that Zero Bond is the Mercer Hotel — their clients are our clients. I spoke to one person, Scott,” Born told The Post.
It was his ability to attract up-and-coming artists and designers with the Karl Lagerfelds and Calvin Kleins of the world that sealed the deal for Born.
“If you can build an establishment where Cardi B and Martha Stewart are both comfortable, you’ve accomplished something,” he said.
Sartiano, meanwhile, is still humble.
“Prince and Mercer is bigger than life, but to me I feel like this is my neighborhood and this is my neighborhood restaurant. It’s a very personal restaurant experience.”
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