Chris Stang

The annual White Truffle Dinner is about to start at SD26, and the Men Who Dine are at the center of the action. The occasion is a special one, even by the standards of New York gastrocrats; each table at the famed Italian luxury restaurant has an entire white Alba truffle as big as a fist on it, of the kind that even world-class establishments only have two or three of at a time. Typically, a diner might get a few shavings laid on, with a courtly flourish, by some liveried captain; here, you just take it and grate as much as you want. Christian Louboutin, the shoe designer, is here; Jeffrey Chodorow is at another table with his entire family. The room, an immense space set under twinkling artificial stars, is crammed with the cream of the restaurant’s regulars—millionaires, doctors, top executives, Italian high society. And in the middle of all of it, the Men Who Dine, bloggers for want of a better word, are clowning with Marisa and Tony May, the restaurant’s owners.