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Area Commander
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,480
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Naïveté
Naive is often described as a quality or state of being, devoid of experience, sophistication, worldly wisdom, or judgment. Often implying innocence, artlessness, simplicity, or gullibility, sometimes endearing, or viewed as a weakness.
In the fall of 1990, after leaving Mondrain, the restaurant that I built at 59th and 5th Avenue in New York City, an opportunity was presented to rejuvenate a restaurant in Chatham, NJ., a few blocks east of my former NJM Four-Star rated restaurant, the Tarragon Tree. The challenge required refitting the kitchen, creating a plush interior design, and rebranding the location as Dennis Foy’s Townsquare. The effort was an immediate success.
Before my involvement, the restaurant consisted of a group of investors with exceptional business acumen in management, finance, and real estate, but lacked any restaurant experience, thinking incorrectly that hiring a chef and a manager would return their capital investment.
The shortsightedness of that decision forced the closure and eventually a change in ownership, buying out the original partners. Luckily, the new owner was rational and understood that quality matters, engaging a talented interior designer, who transformed the space from a sparse corporate-like wooded bar, with three adjoining cold and sterile dining rooms, devoid of flowers, artwork, and proper lighting, with gas-fed fireplaces, transforming the space to an elegant, sophisticated dining environment.
His pragmatism and direction afforded me the great gift of a free hand. To that end, the restaurant was staffed with professionals who held the same commitment to excellence as I. Within three months, we received glowing reviews and 3 Stars from the NYT.
In 1994, with four years of operation and solid stellar reviews, the restaurant, by any measure, was a success. Paul stopped in for dinner, seating himself at the bar. Kate Lyons, the maître d', informed me that Paul was at the bar. I joined him. After pleasantries and detailing the current state of operations, I asked how he was doing. I could see he was very tired and commented on that observation. He replied that he was working on or was involved in the new constitution for Tajikistan. On hearing this, I remember being filled with emotion, thinking of our own constitution, and Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin, the moment that teared my eyes. As he observed me, I explained how extraordinary that experience must be, and that I felt honored to be in the company of someone so involved in changing the world, in creating history.
Paul looked at me and plainly said, “You can’t be that naive.”
Caught off guard by the remark, I asked, "What do you mean by that? Paul then explained that the work involved presenting all the constitutions ever written, so that the leaders could choose what they wanted in their constitution. Using an example, the First Amendment, freedom of speech, offers both the pros and cons for its constitution.
When I asked how the leaders chose the principal concepts, he answered that they always chose the concept that would keep them in power, which was in direct conflict with their constituents' freedom.
Deflated and depressed by that information, I related a similar experience about the 1988 presidential election between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.
Earlier in that year, one of my great clients at the Tarragon Tree was Bob Scott, who was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and would later become President of the firm. Our Children attended the same school.
Tarragon Tree, as mentioned earlier, was a groundbreaking restaurant; looking back, I can attribute that to the hiring of great, gifted, intelligent talent, obsessed with the adventure of being on the cusp of “the new” American cuisine.
The success of the Tarragon Tree allowed me to venture into NYC, where I found a space on 59th Street and 5th Avenue, the former Playboy Club, now owned by the HSBC bank. After meeting the then Chairman of the Bank, I was given a tentative lease and time window to seal a deal.
A few days after that meeting, Bob Scott came in for dinner, and I asked if he was involved in banking. I do not remember his reply, but I do remember handing him the tentative lease. He would look at it and get back to me. This would be my first rodeo.
Bob Scott is a Prince! Honorable and forthright in every way. The concept for Mondrain was actualized solely on his ability to Marshall the finances and create the JV, or joint venture, necessary for the project to be built.
With that in mind, and the finances in place, Bob created the partnership under the following terms: ICOR and CCOR. 50/50 Partnership and fiscal responsibility. That completed, we held a closing and tasting dinner for the partners in the JV at the Tarragon Tree, along with a few invited guests. Among those in attendance were Gail Green of NY Magazine and Roger Martin, our future PR agent in NY.
Also in attendance and a member of the investment element of ICOR, Joseph G. Fogg III, who was a prominent executive at Morgan Stanley during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1988, he served as a senior Managing Director at Morgan Stanley & Co. At that time, he was a key figure in the firm's investment banking operations.
On the night of the tasting dinner on September 23rd, 1988, for the JV, Joe Fogg arrives late. Having flown in from Spain, apologizing for his lateness, by explaining that he was with the Chairman of the DNC, and how excited he was about the upcoming debate on the 25th, and that he knew what the strategy and the questions that were going to be asked of the candidates were. He then recited 13 questions.
At that time, having reenlisted in 1982 with the Army Reserve, I was serving with the 12th Special Forces Group, having interest to reclassed into S2 as an Intelligence analysis, I sat there and listen to Mr. Fogg presentation of how that debate would unfold, undermining the Bush campaign, all I could think of was how underhanded this was and how this corrupts the structure of our republic.
The next morning after a fitful night's sleep, and several phone calls, I contacted Larry Bathgate in Bay Head, NJ., the largest fundraiser in the state of NJ for the republican party, which, as a register democrat, I did not know of.
My call to Mr. Bathgate after introducing myself was without comment. I retold the event and recited the 13 questions that might be asked, and the intended strategy. Mr. Bathgate thanked me for the call, asked for my number, and told me to stand by my phone.
Ten Minutes later, I received a call from Jeb Bush, who informed me that others were listening and asked me to repeat what I had told Larry Bathgate.
On the 25th night of the debate, George H.W. Bush closed the debate with the following comment, “I want to thank the people in our military, our intelligence community, who serve this country so well, often in silence, often without thanks. They keep us safe. And I thank them tonight.”
The first two clients on opening night were the future 43rd President of the United States and his brother Jeb Bush.
Last edited by Penn; 03-19-2026 at 13:39.
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