“Restaurant – Café – Gathering Place.”
Maxwell’s Plum
April 1, 1966–July 10, 1988
American/California/Pick-Up Bar
Ownership:
Warner LeRoy (1966–1988)
Location:
1181 First Avenue at 64th Street
Film:
John and Mary. Directed by Peter Yates. Hollywood, California: 20th Century Fox, 1969. [See photographer John Dominis’s gelatin silver print, Dustin Hoffman Filming “John and Mary,” Maxwell’s Plum, New York, 1969.]
Publications:
Biederman, Diana. “Iconic Palm Beach County Restaurant with NYC Roots, Famed Founder Closes for a Second Time.” Palm Beach Post, March 26, 2025.
Platt, Adam. “Maxwell’s Plum in 1975: Where the Sex Was as Good as the Escargot.” In “Who Ate Where: A Social History of the City, Told Entirely Through Its Restaurants.” New York, April 8-21, 2024: 32-33 (illustrated, postcard).
Coleman, Oli. “Legendary New York Restaurant Maxwell’s Plum is Coming Back.” Page Six (New York Post), May 8, 2023.
Robin, Tristan. “Manhattan’s Legendary Maxwell’s Plum…” Enchanted Revelries. Blog, January 23, 2018 (illustrated).
Newman, Kara. “Maxwell’s Plum.” In Andrew F. Smith, ed. Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover’s Companion to New York City. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015: 127, 377, 429.
Simonson, Robert. “A Tour of NYC’s Historic Barroom Diaspora.” Punch, July 15, 2014.
Horne Grose, Sarah. “Jennifer LeRoy Plots Comeback with Maxwell’s Plum Revival.” New York Post, June 25, 2013.
Whitaker, Jan. “Swingin’ at Maxwell’s Plum.” Restaurant-ing Through History. Blog, January 7, 2009 (illustrated).
Grimes, William. Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York. New York: North Point Press, 2009: 299, 313.
Greene, Gael. “The Most Important Restaurants in Forty Years.” Insatiable Critic. Blog, September 30, 2008. [Originally written for New York magazine’s 40th anniversary issue. Lutèce also makes the list.]
Tully, Judd. “Maxwell’s Plum Pickings.” Washington Post, January 13, 1989.
The Contents of Maxwell’s Plum, January 11, 1989. Auction catalogue. New York: William Doyle Galleries, 1989.
Miller, Bryan. “Maxwell’s Plum, a 60’s Symbol, Closes.” New York Times, July 11, 1988: B1.
Miller, Bryan. “Food View: A Year of Surprises.” New York Times, December 8, 1985. [Features a recipe for Madeline Sorel Bread Pudding from Maxwell’s Plum pastry chef Nancy Silverton, also available here.]
“Maxwell’s Plum Hot Chicken Salad.” Food & Wine 7 (1984): 39. [Features a recipe for Maxwell’s Plum’s Hot Chicken salad, including a Walnut Oil Dressing.]
Ferretti, Fred. “Brunch Goal: Chic Identity, Not Just Food.” New York Times, September 18, 1981: 10 (illustrated).
King, Wayne. “Maxwell’s Plum Opens in San Francisco.” New York Times, May 13, 1981: C3.
Miller, Larry. “Traveling Chefs Find New Dishes Abroad.” New York Times, August 27, 1980: C1.
Zion, Sidney. “Barfly’s Guide to the Best Watering Holes.” New York Times, August 8, 1980: C23. [Also lists Elaine’s.]
Benson & Hedge’s 100’s Presents Drink Recipes from 100 of the Greatest Bars. New York: Philip Morris Incorporated, 1979.
Flanagan, William. “The First-Ever Bloody Mary Blood Test.” New York, October 24, 1977: 36-38. [In which Maxwell’s Plum’s weak Bloody Mary fails to impress.]
Canaday, John. “The Last Word in Restaurants from Canaday.” New York Times, August 6, 1976: C1, C13. [Canaday signs off from his brief stint as the New York Times restaurant critic with a list of his favorite restaurants, including Maxwell’s Plum (“New York’s nightly extravaganza, with a cast of thousands”), Chalet Suisse, Gino’s, and La Caravelle.]
Bradshaw, John. “The Action at Maxwell’s Plum.” New York, June 16, 1975. [Cover story.]
Sokolov, Raymond A. “It’s a Peach of a Restaurant.” New York Times, January 12, 1973: 38.
Claiborne, Craig. “Yes, Some People Actually Go to Maxwell’s Plum for the Food.” New York Times, July 30, 1970: 57 (illustrated). [Features a recipe for Kay LeRoy’s Tarte Tatin.]
Burke, Tom. “Rosemary Has a New Baby.” New York Times, March 16, 1969: D17. [Regarding the filming of John and Mary (1969).]
Notable Guests:
Warren Beatty (Actor & Filmmaker)
Bill Blass (Fashion Designer)
Julie Christie (Actress)
Sheena Easton (Singer)
Vince Edwards (Actor)
Cary Grant (Actor)
Buddy Hackett (Actor)
Rock Hudson (Actor)
Myrna Loy (Actress)
Ethel Merman (Actress)
Emilio Pucci (Fashion Designer)
Richard Rodgers (Composer)
Barbra Streisand (Singer & Actress)
Claude Terrail (Restaurateur, Owner of Tour d’Argent, Paris)
Donald Trump (Businessman & 45th President of the United States) & Ivana Trump (Businesswoman & Model): Maxwell’s Plum is often reported as where the couple first met in 1977. (1)
Gloria Vanderbilt (Actress, Model, & Artist)
Louis Vaudable (Restaurateur, Owner of Maxim’s, Paris)
Notes:
The restaurant’s name was LeRoy’s spur-of-the-moment idea: “In the first place, I thought a restaurant should have a name with a word of food in it, and I thought of plum. I wanted the name to be warm-sounding and offbeat without being cute. I’ve always loved the name Max, so I called it Maxwell’s Plum.” (2)
LeRoy met his wife, Kay O’Reilly, at the restaurant. The Trans World Airlines stewardess was at Maxwell’s Plum on a date with a friend of the owner. She took on the redecoration of the restaurant, adorning the ceiling and lamps with 70,000 jewels and 10,000 sheets of antique Tiffany glass. (3)
A second location briefly opened in San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square in 1981.
After the restaurant closed, an auction of its remaining contents was held in January 1989. The island bar was acquired by former Maxwell’s employee Drew Nieporent. The following year, Nieporent and Robert DeNiro opened the Tribeca Grill, where the Maxwell’s Plum bar still features as a centerpiece today. The only item which did not sell was a “gigantic leaded-glass ceiling” with a minimum bid of $1 million. (4) Owner Warner LeRoy incorporated pieces of this ceiling into his designs for the Russian Tea Room, which he reopened in 1999. (5) However, the ceiling was removed when the Tea Room reopened yet again under new ownership in 2006. (6)
In 2021, Warner LeRoy’s daughter Jennifer Oz LeRoy re-opened Maxwell’s Plum as a “restaurant, bar, gathering place, and event space” in Wellington, Florida. (7) LeRoy closed the restaurant on March 29, 2025, while hinting that it may move to a new space at a later time. (8)
Menu:
Dinner, 1974 (Culinary Institute of America)
(1) Biederman, 2025.
(2) Claiborne, 1970.
(3) ibid.
(4) Tully, 1989.
(5) Stern, Robert A. M., David Fishman, and Jacob Tilove. New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium. New York: Monacelli Press, 2006: 738.
(6) Fabricant, Florence. “Tea Room Coming Back.” New York Times, October 4, 2006.
(7) Maxwell’s Plum website, 2023; Coleman, 2023.
(8) Biederman, 2025.
Cover photo: Sourced from Robin, Tristan. “Manhattan’s Legendary Maxwell’s Plum…” Enchanted Revelries. Blog, January 23, 2018. Accessed June 23, 2021.
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