NYCs media mogul hangout Michaels toasts 35th anniversary: Its all about evolution

My first lunch at Michael’s was in 1995.Playboy magazine had flown me in from Moscow where I had snagged an exclusive interview with the late Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who was then running for president of Russia. It felt like everybody who was anybody was in the room, which glowed with its minimalist design, spectacular flower arrangements and dramatic windows overlooking the tranquil garden in the back. In that respect, it seems that much hasn’t changed about this now-legendary venue, where media moguls, politicians, real estate magnates and museum heads all meet to “see and be seen.”On Wednesday night, Michael’s celebrated its 35th anniversary.

It’s still a Midtown power lunch scene (the Cobb salad remains a fixture).But it also has expanded into power breakfasts (coffee, green juice and blueberry crepe pancakes) and dinners (Dover sole). There’s also happy hour where Chef Kyung Up Lim’s duck confit bao, Korean fried chicken or shrimp and Korean steak lettuce cup are devoured.Owner Michael McCarty, 71, still presides over his namesake restaurant, making his rounds from table to table at 24 W.

55th St.McCarty, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, brought clean California seasonal cooking to New York when he opened in 1989.He also helped introduce New Yorkers to a large collection of Napa wines back when Midtown was still ruled by French restaurants.The decor features art by his wife, the artist Kim McCarty, as well as Cy Twombly, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Helen Frankenthaler and Marcel Duchamp.

Robert Graham has reliefs in the foyer and in the garden — panels from the 1984 Olympics; Dennis Hoppers’ photographs are in the bathrooms.On Wednesday morning, over coffee in a packed, buzzy room, McCarty pointed to a table in the back where Jasper Johns liked to sit every day for a month while working on his 1996/1997 retrospective at the nearby Museum of Modern Art. “He’d sit at the back with Cy Twombly and conspire,” McCa...