“An earnest, gruff, celebrity-and-anecdote-rich memoir of the 11 years [McDonald] worked for Ms. Kaufman, and of his life before and after Elaine’s as an on-and-off-the-wagon alcoholic. He touchingly conveys both the intoxication he felt at interacting with the clientele he lionized and the despair he has suffered during periods of crippling addiction. [The] power of this book lies not in its style, but in its sincerity, and in its tribute to a world that might have seemed larger than life to people outside the window, but behind the bar just felt like home.”--New York Times

“Rowdy, eccentric, a rambunctious primer of New York's hustle and bustle and rustle after dark, the book is colorful anecdotes of debaucherous nights, celebrities who fall off the wagon then climb back on, and the legendary characters who've filled this dynamic watering hole. Like when Mick Jagger wanted change for $20 for a tip and the then-bartender said, "Mr. Jagger doesn't need change," and stuck the whole 20 in the waiter's apron.”--New York Post

“A titillating tale of slinging drinks at the famed Upper East Side watering hole-slash-shrine.”-Black Book Magazine

“What a rich book this is - and you don't have to be a drinker to love Last Call at Elaine's. You may be weary of redemption stories - but this is different. Yes, there is a falling off the wagon and, ho hum, there is a climbing back on, but that is almost incidental to the larger narrative. The richness is in the writing: detailed, funny and with a certain barroom pungency. Elaine, herself, has been written about dozens of times but never with such insight, such tenderness. Brian McDonald has a sharp eye and an even sharper ear for New York after dark.”--Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes

“Elaine' restaurant has always been the classy center of a certain kind of New York City Glamour. This loving portrait of the place and its proprietor shows Elaine to be a courageous and generous character who does her best to conceal her soft-heartedness. Woven together with McDonald's struggle to become a writer and to get clean, this story is as moving and compelling as the stories of the writers who made Elaine's their home away from home.”-Susan Cheever, author of American Bloomsbury and My Name is Bill 

“Brian McDonald began using his writer’s ear on the Underwood that retired with his father from the 41st Detective Squad in the Bronx. The machine had recorded manslaughter and maiming and molesting. Now he was on a computer and into the great glow of Manhattan nights where he tended bar and looked and listened with a writer’s ear. He took a famous boss named Elaine and patrons like Frank Sinatra and Woody Allen, and the normal 15 rounds against alcohol, out into the world beyond Manhattan and gives us a big league book of life today.”-- Jimmy Breslin, author of The Good Rat: A True Story

“Last Call at Elaine’s is a grand read. If you need to find out what the famous, the great and the literati do for fun, this is your book. This is a rambunctious story full of self-deprecating humor, addiction, tragedy, outbreak, lies, rowdy nights and laughter. At times, I thought I was reading artfully written and imaginative fiction, but personal knowledge told me otherwise. Sit down, read this book, and once you start, it’s unlikely you’ll stir until you finish. There will never be a last call at Elaine’s.”--Malachy McCourt, author of A Monk Swimming

“A voyeur de force on Manhattan's most celebrated watering hole. Bracing as the third shot of Wild Turkey, satisfying as the House Special veal chop (after Elaine switched chefs). If the dearth of unflinchingly funny, insightful and humane prose is the problem, Brian McDonald is part of the solution.”-- Bill Scheft, writer, Late Show with David Letterman, author of The Ringer and Time Won't Let Me

"McDonald writes courageously about his battle with addiction while leaving the reader in stitches with behind-the-bar tales from the famous New York writer's hangout - Elaine's. Buy this book before your friends start to telling you to."-- Christopher Kennedy Lawford, author of Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption

 

"Last Call at Elaine's" is an intimate look at the well-known and beloved restaurant, its owner, and its famous clientele. McDonald's memoir is also a deeply personal, sensitively drawn story of drinking, serving, writing, and how he found his way out from behind the bar.

Brian McDonald was a few years sober when he took a job as bartender at the renowned Elaine's restaurant on Second Avenue at 88th street in Manhattan. During his eleven years at Elaine's, he saw, served, and overheard many famous customers, from Woody Allen to Kurt Vonnegut to Mick Jaggar. He also developed a unique friendship with Elaine herself. Last Call At Elaine’s is an intimate look at the well-known and beloved restaurant, its owner, and its famous literary and luminary clientele.

At the same time, McDonald’s memoir is the deeply personal story of how a bartender became a writer, fell off the wagon and got back on, and found himself through the window of a very famous restaurant. Last Call at Elaine's is Brian McDonald's colorful and sensitively drawn memoir of drinking, serving, writing, and finding his way out from behind the bar.