Photo Credit: Scott McDermott
BY LAURA SCHREFFLER
PHOTOGRAPHY SCOTT MCDERMOTT
GROOMING WALTON NUNEZ
SHOT ON LOCATION AT ZZ’S CLUB, NEW YORK
Photo Credit: Scott McDermott
“I ,” says Mario Carbone, “am a genie in a bottle.”
I start with surprise. Up until this point of our Zoom chat, I have been fixed by the “Carbone Stare” — a stern, unsmiling expression both coined and implemented by the world-renowned restaurateur himself. His gaze is so steely that I feel like I’m going to be scolded or schooled, but then this: an unexpected sprinkling of deadpan humor.
To be clear: this is not the kind of statement the Major Food Group partner makes unprompted. We have just finished chatting about his newly opened New York City members club, ZZ’s, and how he, as its proprietor, sets about making culinary dreams come true. Whether a patron rubs a lamp or simply walks through the door makes no difference: once you’re in, you’re in — and there’s no limit on the number of wishes, either.
Once one becomes a member of the VIP Hudson Yards-located club, a $50,000 initiation fee and yearly dues of $10,000 give guests access to, among other high-end amenities, a “culinary concierge.” It’s something Carbone and partners Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick [the ZZ of ZZ’s, as it were] have been toying around with: a unique offering that provides the crème de la crème of haute cuisine to those who can afford it.
Carbone explains the logic behind this innovative idea as such: “There are more than enough clubs out there. Many are fun, or well-built and pretty to look at. But I’ve yet to really encounter one that has good food and beverage. And so, in asking the question ‘Why come here?’ or ‘Why choose us?’, the answer is: food and beverage. It often seems to be the last thing that’s thought of [when creating a members club] and so here, it was really important that it was the first thing.”
The position was created when the partners put their collective heads together, discussing how to cater to ZZ’s founding members. Given that Major Food Group has recently opened both a hotel and the residential arm of their business, the concept of a hotel concierge was front of mind. “At a hotel, you have that person who stands behind a desk and is just simply armed with information. They don’t know what the hotel guest is going to ask them; it could be a subway stop or a restaurant recommendation. They’re there to navigate for you. So, we created a position called ‘culinary concierge,’ which is meant exactly for that purpose — for food and beverage needs. Someone who can make your food and beverage dreams become reality.”
Photo Credit: Scott McDermott
This includes customized dishes, or any dish from one of the plethora of venues within ZZ’s, or even a dish that isn’t served on site, but in one of Major Food Group’s 12 global concepts — or otherwise. “Maybe you proposed to your wife at Da Paolino in Capri, and it’s your anniversary. We can try to recreate the menu from Da Paolino and surprise her with that food and beverage experience here. Because if you give my team a couple of days, we will figure it out. We’ll do the research, get the ingredients in, and make it happen. We’ll even get the same white truffles she had during that meal. Or maybe you have a vintage bottle of wine that needs to be opened in advance. It’s things like that that this concierge can do. I’m excited to see how it gets used. I’m not sure about the questions our guests are going to ask, but we’re going to do our best to answer them.”
If there is one thing that MFG does well, it’s truly listening to what their patrons want, be that in a restaurant, hotel, members club, or their forthcoming residential concept, Villa Miami, a first-of-its-kind residential tower in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood. At ZZ’s, nothing is off the table, so to speak.
Japanese brasserie ZZ’s is on the club’s first floor of the 25,000-square-foot Manhattan West space, offering fun fine dining via both traditional and non-traditional dishes such as dumplings and crispy rice toast. The second floor is mainly kitchen space, but it is the third level that seems to be the most entrancing. Dramatic, triple-height ceilings and elegant interiors courtesy of interior designer Ken Fulk lend a sense of theater to the space, which is comprised of 75-seat eatery Carbone Privato, bedecked and bedazzled in velvet banquettes and sparkling chandeliers, with 24 new menu options from existing Carbone locations, inclusive of lobster risotto and tortellini in Brodo. Next door, Carbone Bar, or the Founder’s Room, has its own menu, china, employee uniforms and more, and is specifically reserved for ZZ’s founding members. Leo’s lounge is a leopard printed libation extravaganza where local legend Stretch Armstrong can often be found behind the DJ booth, and the Living Room is a venue where members and guests can mingle, with its own small bites-focused menu and cocktail list. Carbone calls this place the “beating heart of the club.”
No doubt, ZZ’s Club will have MFG’s Midas touch, which makes a membership here even more desirable. And difficult to obtain. Regulars and existing friends have it easy; they’re in like Flynn. An average Joe can certainly head to the ZZ’s website and sign up to register for membership, but, as with any private club, multiple people — in this case, a dedicated board — have the final call. Ultimately, they’re seeking a very simple criteria, says Carbone: “[To find] a nice collection of people that we think are going to jive in a private space.” Which is, as we all know, much easier said than done.
Photo Credit: Scott McDermott
Then again, that Midas touch hasn’t failed Carbone and co. yet. It’s how the OG ZZ’s Club came to be in the first place, after all. Its first concept was born in Miami’s Design District in 2021, during the pandemic, and started, as with everything the group does, with an opportunity. “We started with the space, then looked at the area, and then worked backwards. Two years ago in Miami, we listened to the space and realized we wanted it to be a bi-level sort-of club environment that went beyond the walls of a restaurant; there was more of an ecosystem in place. The goal was to have a wider breadth of hospitality than your traditional restaurant.”
So, when a similar opportunity arose in New York, Carbone and his team jumped (kind of: in Carbone’s retelling, it was more of a cautious tiptoe than a straight-up all-in leap) when Steve M. Ross, the chairperson of global real estate firm The Related Companies and majority owner of the Miami Dolphins, presented the Major Food Group guys with the chance to breathe new life into the space at 37 Hudson Yards. “When we first stepped foot in it, we started to think, ‘Is this a challenge we want to accept? Is this something we want to do?’ Ultimately, we said yes. From there, we started working backwards as usual, thinking about what we wanted to accomplish with the space, and what our end goal was — and then we started chipping away. It probably took two years to get this done from when we started talking about it until now. There are millions of decisions that go into these restaurants, which equal a very textural experience hopefully, especially when it’s us doing it. We seem to thrive in going above and beyond.”
But word to the wise: that doesn’t mean ZZ’s Club New York is an exact replica of what MFG created in Miami. The venue is larger by square footage and has a wider culinary offering. But their quintessential ethos exists — it is hard to miss that this is a Carbone-owned spot, especially because the signature, self-titled eatery bears his name… and his spirit. “Carbone [and Carbone Privato] is very much the embodiment of me; I’m an old soul,” he declares. “Carbone is a throwback. It — like me — is first generation Italian American. It’s big, abundant, celebratory, and entertaining. It’s very much that sort of idyllic Italian American restaurant, very similar to many of the ones that I grew up going to [in Queens, New York].”
It was there that he was first schooled in the intricacies of preparing Italian cuisine — both the northern elegance preserved by his maternal grandparents and the Sicilian heritage that defined his father’s side of the family. This turned into a bonafide love of cooking, and a life path that was always crystal clear. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Carbone worked in some of the best kitchens in New York, inclusive of Babbo, Lupa, wd~50, and Daniel Boulud’s Café Boulud, where he reconnected with former CIA classmate Rich Torrisi. Together, along with the support of regular patron Jeff Zalaznick, their company, Major Food Group, was born along with their first eatery — Torrisi Italian Specialties — in 2009. A restaurant that, I might add, officially earned the group its third-ever Michelin star (Carbone and ZZ’s Clam Bar had previously earned said accolade).
In addition to accolades like a total of 21 stars from The New York Times and numerous James Beard Foundation distinctions, Major Food Group has grown in leaps and bounds since its inception, with more than 40 restaurants in six countries, and more global destinations to come soon. Carbone cites London, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Mexico City, and Los Angeles as just some of the cities he hopes to be a part of in the future.
But he’s got more than enough going on in the present to keep him busy as well: starting with ZZ’s Club and continuing in the coming months with the arrival of Chateau ZZ’s, an upscale Mexican eatery housed in a beautiful, old 1930s French château in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. There is also Villa Miami, a residential oceanfront community via developers Terra and One Thousand Group that is programmed and serviced by Major Food Group, with chef’s kitchens designed by Carbone, MFG-curated food and beverage programming throughout, as well as an Italian-inspired, two-story MFG restaurant, and Pier Park, a collaboration with the Boucher Brothers that will replace the former Nikki Beach day club space in the South of Fifth neighborhood that will house three chef-driven F&B concepts, including a Mediterranean eatery, a Japanese steakhouse and sushi bar, and all-day dining institution Sadelle’s that is set to open in 2026.
Photo Credit: Scott McDermott
Carbone is happy with his current situation. He dreamed big with Major Food Group and is beyond pleased with how his business has evolved. “I think we are progressing in many ways. Today, we are the best team that we’ve ever been, which gives us an opportunity to do greater things than when we started. At the time, there were five of us, and today, we are 5,000. My team is extremely talented: anything is possible because of them. Anything I dream up, they are talented enough to produce.”
He loves that Major Food Group has not been just limited to food as they grow. “The future goes beyond the traditional walls of a restaurant; it’s a greater ecosystem, [inclusive of] hotels and private residences,” he notes. “It’s looking at what a guest wants the second they wake up to the moment they go to sleep. I have to think about what happens when a member comes in at four p.m. and wants to have a meeting somewhere, a drink, and maybe a tiny bite of food; I need to be prepared for that. All those little challenges are things that the team and I talk about, and those are the things that we continue to get excited about. It’s all within the world of hospitality, but they are new challenges, and I love that. I think that as long as the answer to these questions — ‘Is this something we should do?’ and ‘Do we have something to say?’ or ‘Can we affect change?’ — is yes, then we’re going to give it a try. I’m excited to see what those things can be in the years to come. We are still just a 10- or 12-year-old company, so I’m not entirely sure what the next 10 years will bring. And that, to me, is really exciting.”
Although his signature stare reveals nothing, his words betray his passion for the industry he has built his career within. Carbone is Italian, after all: that he doesn’t crack a smile or gesture wildly with his hands is a major indicator of his control. Despite his stoic visage, the excitement he describes for his industry — inclusive of nights out on the town checking out new and interesting restaurants — is extremely believable.
“I don’t do it that frequently, but when I do it, it’s the best. When I come across a new restaurant that I really want to check out, it feels like getting excited about a newly released movie. I’m thinking, ‘I can’t wait to go there. I’m going to order everything.’ When I travel, whether it’s in my hometown or abroad, I’m always seeking those places that are local institutions. ‘What’s been there for a hundred years? Why are they still busy? What’s their thing?’ I will forever be inquisitive about that kind of stuff, and I think that if you’re not inquisitive, if you’re not completely infatuated with this business, it’s not the right [career for you]. You have to be in love with it, in good times and in bad. It’s just like a marriage. If there’s going to be ups and downs, you have to take them both for what they are. You can’t just love the good stuff. It’s a grind, so you have to love the business as a whole. And it’s a very fulfilling business if you can find that balance. I think I have, and I hope that I never fall out of love with it.”
Photo Credit: Scott McDermott
Carbone has found it, and his joy of cooking and love for the industry present themselves in the most minute of ways. It is equally important to him to appreciate the small moments as much as the big ones. “There are so many little behind-the-scenes moments that I’m privy to, in the kitchen, behind closed doors. A lot of it is just cooking with the team and developing food, getting to speak every day about my culture. I’m making the food of my ancestors, and I’m developing these restaurants that have my name, but which really stand for the Italian American first generation movement. It’s like an archeological dig, doing these things, these lost recipes, and putting them out into the world. No one sees when or how we’re doing it — there are no lights, cameras, or music: it’s just a bunch of people in a kitchen, working. But that’s my job, and I take a ton of pride in it.”
Having a career like this is a luxury, and stoic face aside, Carbone is grateful enough never to take it for granted. “I get to have a soapbox to stand on, to speak on behalf of some of the generations past, like my grandparents and great-grandparents who didn’t, but who made that first decision to leave their homeland to come somewhere new for me — no matter if they knew it was for me or not — for the betterment of their future. I am here, trying to memorialize it in my own way, with the craft that I chose.”
And finally, Mario Carbone cracks a smile. It is small, but it is there — and to me, that is major.
Photo Credit: Scott McDermott
