I Regret Almost Everything - by Keith McNally (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The entertaining, irreverent, and surprisingly moving memoir by the visionary restaurateur behind such iconic New York institutions as Balthazar and Pastis ... taking us from his gritty London childhood in the fifties to his serendipitous arrival in New York, where he founded the era-defining establishments the Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg, and Nell's. Eloquent and opinionated, Keith McNally writes about the angst of being a child actor, his lack of insights from traveling overland to Kathmandu at nineteen, the instability of his two marriages and family relationships, his devastating stroke, and his Instagram notoriety"--

Book Synopsis

New York Times Bestseller

Winner of the 2026 Gotham Book Prize

The entertaining, irreverent, and surprisingly moving memoir by the visionary restaurateur behind such iconic New York institutions as Balthazar and Pastis.

A memoir by the legendary proprietor of Balthazar, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, and Morandi, taking us from his gritty London childhood in the fifties to his serendipitous arrival in New York, where he founded the era-defining establishments the Odeon, Cafe Luxembourg, and Nell's. Eloquent and opinionated, Keith McNally writes about the angst of being a child actor, his lack of insights from traveling overland to Kathmandu at nineteen, the instability of his two marriages and family relationships, his devastating stroke, and his Instagram notoriety.

Review Quotes

"Perceptive and sharply entertaining."
--New York Times

"Wry, insightful and vulnerable, a courageous book alive with mordant humor and British irony. ... The book reveals his intellectual ambitions, innermost thoughts and nagging self-doubt. In the aftermath of his terrible stroke, he has established himself as a remarkable writer."
--Wall Street Journal

"Unguarded, cynical, and delightfully name-droppy, McNally's autobiography is the best New York memoir in a year full of them."
--Vulture

"Blunt, witty, and surprisingly tender."
--Rolling Stone

"Rueful, self-aware, chatty, entertaining, dazzling, and harrowing: a book that contains multitudes."
--Kirkus (starred review)

"Genuine and wryly funny, this book is one to tear through and then share with a friend so you can talk about it over dinner."
--Garden & Gun

"Starting from a hospital bed after he suffered a stroke in 2016, restaurateur Keith McNally chronicles the inspiration behind each of his restaurants and the details that make them unforgettable - the origins of the neon clock at the Odeon and whom the topless busts that bookend the bar at Balthazar are modeled after. And he dishes about his encounters with downtown legends Patti Smith, John Belushi, Jean-Michel Basquiat and more. There is a lot to chew on! He goes deep on his sexuality, immigrating to America and his work as a stage actor and film director."
--NPR

"This year's not-to-miss memoir."
--New York Post

"[McNally is] the best thing a memoirist can be: a masterful storyteller with a rich trove of stories to tell."
--Jenny Rosenstrach

"This book is a triumph."
--Tina Brown

"A magical, tender, revealing, rude, honest, very funny and very vulnerable book. It is about more than McNally's gift for creating magic-making restaurants--it also powerfully describes what goes on in his head: the self-reflection, the intellectual ambition, the relentless self-doubt. McNally writes with a novelist's feel for what happens in the powerful silences between people. I was blown away. This is a frickin' masterpiece that will be read and talked about for a long time."
--Bill Buford

"Moving and poignant, Keith McNally's book shifts between the arc of his illness and that of his work without any bitterness or self-pity."
--Anna Wintour

"Keith McNally is one tough dude, having come back from a debilitating stroke with aplomb and humor. But he's also tough on himself--for the mistakes he made and the opportunities he blew in a life otherwise marked by massive success. In this heartfelt memoir, he does his best to atone for his misdeeds while recounting remarkable tales of romance, adventure and survival."
--Griffin Dunne

"I have known Keith McNally for a very long time. I was curious to read his memoir to see how he remembers his amazing, creative and productive life. He shares his incredible ups and downs and writes with straightforward candor about his health challenges and how he bravely overcame them--all with his inimitable sense of humor. What a career and what a life!"
--Martha Stewart

"An incredible life, recounted with wit, humility and a surprising amount of vulnerability. Keith McNally is the architect of downtown New York's café society as we know it, but in this memoir, he shows he is also a humbled man grappling with his own failings. In I Regret Almost Everything, he ultimately finds enough resilience to survive even himself."
--Padma Lakshmi

"This memoir is a revelation. I can't help but be surprised that a man as wildly successful as Keith McNally could be so riddled with self-doubt. Here's hoping he can appreciate the fact that to all of his other considerable accomplishments, he can now add this engrossing, fearless and ultimately very moving book."
--Jay McInerney

"Those who know Keith from media coverage and his own social media will probably assume his memoir is hilarious and fearless. And it is all that, but it's also extremely moving, insightful and jaw-droppingly surprising.... Most of all, it is so beautifully written - you can hear his voice in every sentence, always the mark of a real writer."
--Hadley Freeman

"Keith McNally's memoir vividly evokes an expansive time in New York City history. It is also heartbreaking in its honesty."
--Darryl Pinckney

About the Author

Keith McNally, called "The Restaurateur Who Invented Downtown" by The New York Times, founded Balthazar Restaurant, Balthazar Bakery, Pastis, Minetta Tavern, Pravda, Schiller's Liquor Bar, Morandi, Cherche Midi, Lucky Strike, Nell's, Cafe Luxembourg, and the Odeon, plus the staggeringly unsuccessful pizzeria, Pulino's. McNally is the author of The Balthazar Cookbook and Schiller's Liquor Bar Cocktail Collection, and the writer and director of two features, End of the Night and Far from Berlin. He lives in downtown New York.