I Regret Almost Everything

A Memoir

De: Keith McNally

Narrado por: Richard E. Grant

New York Times Bestseller

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.©2025 Keith McNally (P)2025 Simon & Schuster Audio

A Real Treat on Many Levels

I most definitely enjoyed this book. For starters Richard Grant is sensational as the reader. He's one of my favorite actors so that part was easy. The story was honest and gave the listener keen insight into Mr McNally's journey as a restaurateur and as a person. Both his youth and young adulthood and into his private life and marriages. The theme is what it means to be a survivor and that no one gets out of this life unscathed.

Painful confession

He walked the line between being boastful and self deprecating better than most. He does a fair amount of name dropping but that is the circle he runs with. I wish he’d had a bit more insight into what it was like to be married to him. As a woman who divorced an absent husband, I felt sympathy for his wives. I really appreciated his conversations about art and culture, I would’ve liked to have heard more about how he came across the designs that he came up with for his restaurants. I find it interesting that he could hardly cook and yet he was wildly successful with restaurants. A part of me like the book a part of me didn’t but overall, I’m glad that I listen to it. I wish him well

Brilliant

A joy from beginning to end! I loved this book and the author too! Keith

A lesson in memoir-writing

One of the best memoirs I’ve read for its raw honesty and humanity. Thank you, KM!

Stunned

Had to stop my life to listen to it near continuously and I don’t regret it!

Ever Surprising McNally

McNally writes with a fluid honesty. His insightful, self-deprecating style took me by surprise, unexpected for such a legendary downtown figure.
It feels strange to say the candor in sharing his experience of both his stroke and subsequent suicide attempt I found utterly endearing. A must read for anyone, yeah pretty much anyone.

Great fun read

As a New Yorker who came here about the same time as Keith McNally came from England, this was a great trip behind the scenes of NYC’s cool, hip and in some cases, most enduring restaurants. A pretty much unvarnished report of a real life with all the foibles of being human on display. Read with great heart and intimacy by the reader (not McNally whose voice had been decimated by a stroke), it feels like a long personal talk with the author. Highly recommended.

Fascinating Life

Best autobiography because McNally has a varied life, he spans many careers, deep reflections on all of his relationships.

Great listen. Richard Grant reads.

This is a very relatable story about the trials and tribulations of life. Specially helpful for people coping with the aftermath of stroke. Highly recommend. Really appreciate the efforts the author must have gone through to write this book.

Unraveling Preconceptions

I really enjoyed the humble revelations of this long admired New York wizard of the dining experience. It also brought me the "we're only human" enlightenment of my own self reflection. I was especially moved that Keith kept a hand on the shoulder of modesty while unraveling what he was and what mattered upon inspection as the tides of inevitable change is embraced.