Speed Dial

Like many stars, Jean-Georges Vongerichten wants to direct. The food may be great at Jean Georges, the latest restaurant in the chef's Manhattanbased empire (which includes JoJo and Vong), but the bustling scene in the 64-seat dining room appears to have been choreographed to the hilt: waiters in tailored black suits strut about purposefully, silver-domed dishes are shuttled to and fro. This mini-epic is managed not via Busby Berkeley-style megaphone, but over Vongerichten's brand-new Motorola StarTAC 6000 (a gift from a regular customer). "It's mad, but I love it," says the 40-year-old Alsatian. "You can't miss a beat." The numbers programmed into Vongerichten's speed dial show how focused he is: JoJo kitchen, JoJo desk, Vong kitchen, Vong desk, Jean Georges kitchen, Jean Georges desk, his publicist, etc. The length of his average call? "Ten seconds." Though he has yet to put any of his noted fans on instacall, he does give his number out to V.I.P.'s, among them Miuccia Prada and French fashion figure Jean-Claude Weil. With four restaurants in New York, one in London, and one in Hong Kong, Vongerichten's phone never stops ringing— yet he doesn't seem to mind. "It can have 100 numbers," he says. "So there's room to open more restaurants."

DAVID COLMAN