Taste Sensation

With acclaimed restaurants including Carbone and Sadelle’s and locations from New York and Miami to the Middle East, is Major Food Group set to take over the culinary world?

- Shivani Vora

IT WAS A Monday night in January, an achingly slow time for restaurants as diners recovered at home from holiday revelries. But The Lobster Club, a Japanese eatery in Midtown Manhattan, was a microcosm of its own.

Here, in a dark, glamorous space designed by renowned architect Peter Marino, a well-dressed crowd gathered at the bar sipping cocktails and pours of rare Japanese whisky. More filled every table in the sleek dining room and ordered plates of sushi and other raw fish dishes presented with seafood that had arrived from Japan earlier that day.

Guests kept pouring in as the evening stretched on. Oblivious to the seasonal slump, they were here for good food and a memorable time. From their animated faces, it was clear that both were being had by all.

Welcome to just another night with Major Food Group (MFG), whose diners are never there for only a meal. A reservation heralds a full-on theatrical spectacle that engages every sense. Among today’s most successful hospitality brands, the company is on its way to becoming a global empire.

If you don’t know the name MFG, you’ve likely heard of at least one of its concepts. They are, after all, chronicled frequently in the press for their inventiveness and celebrity-studded clientele.

Founded in 2010 by restaurateur Jeff Zalaznick and chefs Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, the brand is behind the Italian-American spot Carbone, with locations in New York City, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Miami Beach, Dallas and Doha. The trio also created the brunch institution Sadelle’s, which has outposts in New York, Paris, Las Vegas, Miami, Dallas, Boca Raton and Riyadh, and The Grill and The Pool, a steak house and event space located in New York’s Seagram Building. Once home to the Four Seasons Restaurant, it’s a venue that plays a significant role in American dining history.