Brief Description:

Since 1989 in New York and 1979 in Santa Monica, Michael's has dedicated itself to offering guests the finest in food and wine, presented with casual yet impeccable service in rooms filled with modern art treasures. An American restaurant, Michael's is renowned for developing a classic contemporary cuisine that is constantly evolving with new ideas and ingredients.

Wine aficionados and beginners alike will find a world of outstanding, intriguing selections on the award-winning wine list, which includes more than eight hundred labels from California, France, Italy, and other locales.

Our unique and spacious Garden Room, adorned with fresh flowers and artworks by Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, David Hockney, and Robert Graham, is ideal for parties ranging from 20 to 400 guests.

Located in the heart of midtown Manhattan, Michael's New York is the perfect venue for business meetings (including breakfast), large and small celebrations, or pre-theater dinners. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served Monday through Friday, dinner only on Saturday.

Michael McCarty opened Michael's Santa Monica in 1979, at the age of 25. An instant success, it remains one of the most acclaimed and popular restaurants in the United States, as has the New York branch of Michael's which opened in midtown Manhattan in 1989.

From the beginning, Michael and his team have dedicated themselves to offering their guests the finest food and wine, presented with casual yet impeccable service in rooms—and, at Santa Monica, a legendary garden patio—filled with modern art treasures.

An American restaurant, Michael's is renowned for developing a classic contemporary cuisine that constantly evolves with new ideas and ingredients. Wine aficionados and beginners alike will find a world of outstanding, intriguing selections on the award-winning wine list, which includes more than eight hundred labels from California, France, Italy, and other wine-growing regions—as well as the latest vintages from The Malibu Vineyard, McCarty’s own winery featuring grapes grown on the hillsides surrounding his Pacific-view Malibu home.

Michael was raised in Briarcliff Manor, New York and Rockford, Illinois. His parents' frequent parties and array of great friends gave him an early appreciation for stylish hospitality and good American food. He attended the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and lived in Rennes, France for a year as part of the Andover-Exeter School Year Abroad program, during which he experienced for the first time the artistry, quality, and joie de vivre of French dining.

He went on to study cooking, wines, and hotel and restaurant management in Paris, earning diplomas from the Ecole Hoteliére de Paris, the Cordon Bleu, and the Academy du Vin. In 1974, he returned to the United States, attended Cornell's Summer Hotel Program, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in the Business and Art of Gastronomy from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Michael is married to the painter Kim McCarty, and they have two grown children, daughter Clancy and son Chas. They split their time between Malibu, California, where they live in a hillside home surrounded by The Malibu Vineyards; and an apartment high above Michael's New York.

Devoted followers and patrons of the arts, the McCartys are deeply involved in organizations including the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Santa Monica Museum of Art; the Whitney Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Music Center/Disney Hall/Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County; and the Armory Art Exhibition, New York.

michael@michaelssantamonica.com

In 1997, Mike Nicol first met Michael McCarty, who offered him a job as sommelier at Michael’s New York and then quickly promoted him to General Manager and Wine Director of the Manhattan restaurant. After briefly returning home to Texas in 2001, Mike and his wife Marieke moved to California in 2003. In early 2004, he met up again with Michael—and the rest, as they say, is history. Sharing many of the same passions as Michael McCarty, including food, wine, and art, Mike aims to contribute that passion along with knowledge and integrity to this award-winning restaurant, and to help be part of what has made Michael’s so special for more than three decades.

mnicol@michaelssantamonica.com

Raised just south of the Napa Valley in San Jose, California, Andrew Turner developed a love of wine at an early age. Only after years supporting himself with jobs in restaurants from San Diego to New York and back while he pursued other careers, however, did he finally turn his passion for wine into his vocation.

Working at Michael’s as Sommelier since 2005 has provided Andrew with a wine education he considers second to none. He is continually amazed and appreciative of the opportunities that come through working with creatively talented chefs, interacting with the restaurant’s guests both loyal and brand-new, and managing the 700-to-800–entry wine list.

The joy Andrew finds in wine, and the pleasure he derives from sharing the experience with Michael’s guests—whether a simple question of a particular wine’s style, or something more involved such as pairing wines with the chef’s tasting menu—enables him to say that he truly loves his job.

andrew@michaelssantamonica.com

Michael Stern has been with Michael’s Santa Monica since April 2002. Known in the kitchen as Mikey, he grew up in the L.A. area, and after high school he enrolled in 2000 in Le Cordon Bleu Program at the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena. While there, Mikey began to work at Michael’s as an extern, rapidly advancing through the posts of Garde Manger, Saute, and Sous-Chef. His meteoric rise, together with his creativity and passion for cooking and his dedication to running an efficient, happy, hard-working brigade, led to his appointment as Executive Chef in the summer of 2007. Mikey promises to be the latest top culinary talent to gain acclaim in the kitchen at Michael’s Santa Monica.

stern@michaelssantamonica.com

Lea moved to Los Angeles from her home town of Denver, Colorado after graduating from Colorado State University with a degree in journalism concentrating on broadcast news and television, with a minor in theater. She started working at Michael’s as a hostess in Spring 2006. After learning from the best, she is now one of our events coordinators, which she finds to be the perfect role with her love for great people, food, wine, and parties—everything for which Michael’s is famous. Lea is happy to be part of the restaurant’s exceptional team and looks forward to working on more fabulous events here. Maybe the next great party will be yours!

lea@michaelssantamonica.com