Geoffrey Zakarian Dishes About Power Lunches, Fashion Icons, and One Very Rare Burger 

If you thought The Devil Wears Prada was a work of fiction, think again. Culinary icon and consummate gentleman, chef Geoffrey Zakarian, recently sat down on All on the Table with Katie Lee Biegel, serving up stories about New York’s golden era of power lunches—when a table reservation could make or break your social standing. He also had some words about a certain Vogue editor and one pop star that might make Miranda Priestly seem downright cordial. 

Anna Wintour’s lunch order

Zakarian, a top-tier chef, has served everyone from Madonna to Karl Lagerfeld (more on that later), but no one commanded a dining room quite like Anna Wintour. According to Zakarian, the Vogue powerhouse was such a regular at the Royalton Hotel’s restaurant that she had a table that was hers and hers alone: Table One.

Her order? A meticulously prepared, obscenely rare hamburger served alongside a pot of buttery, silky mashed potatoes. But it wasn’t just any burger—it was an eight-ounce, one-and-a-half-inch-thick masterpiece, ground fresh daily exclusively for her. And if you’re wondering whether it was a messy affair, don’t worry—she never removed her signature sunglasses, even while dining. The ultimate power move.

But the real kicker? She had a system. The moment Wintour left her office, her assistant would call ahead, giving the restaurant staff a five-minute warning—just enough time to ensure her cappuccino was frothed to perfection and her burger was being prepared exactly to her rare-beyond-rare standards. Zakarian himself fired up the mashed potatoes the moment she walked through the door.

“She ate like clockwork,” Zakarian recalled. “Same thing, every single day. We just knew—start the burger, fire the potatoes, and make sure her cappuccino is ready.”

And if you’re thinking she was warm and chatty with the staff? Think again. According to Zakarian, she never acknowledged the host or the front desk—just a quick nod to her favorite maître d’, Jonathan, and straight to business.

Katie Lee couldn’t help but gasp. “So it was like The Devil Wears Prada in real life!” she said.

“Oh, worse,” Zakarian laughed. “Meryl Streep played her way nicer than she actually is.”

McDonald’s fries… but make them high fashion

If Anna Wintour’s lunch was an exercise in calculated simplicity, Calvin Klein’s was a masterclass of culinary illusion.

According to Chef Zakarian, Klein dined at the Royalton almost daily, always accompanied by a new, impossibly gorgeous model. His ultimate guilty pleasure? French fries. The problem? The restaurant didn’t serve them.

Rather than turn him away, the chef devised a genius workaround. Each day, a prep cook would slip out the back door, head to McDonald’s, and return with four large orders of fries. Back in the kitchen, Zackarian zhuzhed them up—sprinkling them with celery salt, fresh parmesan, and sea salt, then crisping them in the oven before serving them in a pristine, artful presentation.

“He never knew,” Zakarian admitted. “He loved them, and we did it every day. Calvin Klein ate McDonald’s fries and thought they were fancy.”

Katie Lee burst out laughing. “Stop it! So you were basically running a secret drive-thru for one of the biggest fashion designers of all time?”

Zakarian grinned. “Pretty much.”

Madonna? Not so materially generous

While Zakarian admired some of his high-profile clientele (Oscar de la Renta? A gentleman through and through!), not everyone left a positive impression. Case in point: Madonna.

“Madonna was… not a nice person,” Zakarian said carefully.

Katie Lee gasped. “Oh no! Say more!”

“I mean, not generous, not respectful. Just not great to be around,” he added. “And that’s all I’m going to say.”

Katie Lee, ever the instigator, groaned. “You have to give us something!”

Zakarian smirked. “Nope, that’s all you get.”

Karl Lagerfeld’s hyper-specific diet plan

If Anna Wintour’s dining habits were precise, Karl Lagerfeld’s were downright extreme.

“Karl was the most disciplined eater I’ve ever met,” Zakarian shared. “He lost 100 pounds eating one thing—a double order of salmon tartare. Every. Single. Day.”

But while he had a strict diet, he was equally strict about what not to eat.

“‘I don’t like fruits and vegetables. Get them away from me,’” Zakarian recalled Lagerfeld saying, in peak dramatic fashion.

Katie Lee cracked up. “Karl, my man. That’s a choice.”

The lost art of dressing up

Beyond spilling some truly delicious gossip, Zakarian also waxed poetic about a lost era of dining elegance.

“I don’t understand when people say dressing up is uncomfortable,” he lamented. “It’s just about looking put together! People used to wear suits and dresses just to go to dinner. Now it’s all sweatpants and flip-flops.”

Katie Lee nodded. “I love my sweats, but if I’m going out? I make an effort.”

Zakarian wasn’t having it. “Well, if I’m on a plane and the guy next to me is barefoot? I will say something.”

Katie Lee gasped. “You didn’t!”

“Oh, I did. Told him straight up—sir, your feet are unacceptable.”

Honestly? Someone had to say it.

Listen to All on the Table with Katie Lee Biegel every Thursday here.