Dining Like Don Draper

Storied NYC eateries where fans can make like one brooding ad exec from Mad Men.

- Julian Manning

High up on Madison Avenue, the stomping grounds of Don Draper dripped with pop culture persuasion, from brutalist lamps to the high contrast, au courant adverts illustrated under their light. However, Mad Men—the timeless TV show about an ad man in 1960s America—garnered accolades by using more than just perfectly positioned props in studios. Manhattan modelled some of its most historic bars and restaurants for the show. These classic haunts, where whiskey-fuelled executives and midtown mistresses were wined and dined, became the signature of Draper & Co.’s retro mise en scène.

Across its seven seasons, these scenes made such an impact on me that I retired a lot of my previous distaste for NYC. My parents are New Yorkers, so ‘nowhere else is like New York,’ I was frequently told throughout my childhood. It often seemed they had a secret they weren’t letting me in on. Unlike them, my childhood had been anchored partly in Texas and partly in Tamil Nadu. As a countrified kid who wanted to be half-John Wayne, half- Rajinikanth, I sensed I might never understand their love for this big city.

Then, in 2007, the show first aired. My father was instantly obsessed, and my mom would even glance up from her book to smile at a familiar purlieu. As immaculately dressed people flitted from glittering bars to elaborate restaurants, my dad would jump out of his seat and exclaim to my mom, “You remember that place?” or to me, “Your Grandma used to love the Italian at that joint!” Even for a wannabe cowboy like myself, it was a struggle to hide my appreciation of the series, and not be captivated by the warm nostalgia that emanated from the TV screen.