Within some hallowed halls of Manhattan, the power lunch lives on. Though the mid-day martinis have mostly dried up, a sliver of the bygone-era activity still exists. In these increasingly rarified settings, sad desk salads are swapped for, well, restaurant-made salads, and pivotal decisions that propel the moving and shaking of the city are discussed. The annual CityMeals Power Luncheon harnesses that energy while raising funds to deliver meals and companionship to elderly New Yorkers in need.
This year, the scene unfolded at The Plaza Hotel—newly bedecked for the holiday season already. The soaring ballroom saw hundreds of guests convene for a brisk 90-minute affair and raise a staggering $1.4 million in the process (equating to over 140,000 donated meals.)
Co-chaired this year by Derek Blasberg, Dr. Samantha Boardman, Margo M. Nederlander, and Lizzie Tisch, it’s a longstanding tradition that began as an intimate gathering at The Regency Hotel some 38 years ago. “I’ve been attending for 38 years, and it has cost me a lot to have lunch,” quipped Jon Tisch, whose father, Robert Tisch, spearheaded the cause. These days, the reigns have largely been turned over to New York’s fashion set, with notable support from Chanel and Natalie Massenet’s Imaginary Ventures, as well as supermodels Karlie Kloss and actress Brooke Shields, designers Brandon Maxwell, Christian Siriano, and Brett Heyman, stylist Kate Young, and Bergdorf Goodman’s Tracy Margolies, all of whom could be found in the crowd.
As guests dined on a menu devised by Chef Daniel Boulud, who also joined guests in the room alongside his wife Katherine Gage Boulud, they were delighted by a charming short film introduced by Deborah Roberts and narrated by Kathleen Turner, highlighting two senior New Yorkers connected through CityMeals who are now longstanding friends. Both Roberts and Turner are among the bold-faced names who lend their time to the cause, offering a hand in the CityMeals kitchen and making deliveries to recipients, helping ensure that an estimated 700,000 meals will be shared this holiday season.
