Michael Lomonaco

And for those of us in hospitality, the one prominent memory we have is the very high-end restaurant that was on the top floor of one of the towers.

Windows on the World, a friend of the SoCal Restaurant Show, was the executive chef there, Michael Lomonaco, really wonderful guy, community-oriented.

And his fate would have it, he was scheduled to be there when the aircraft hit that tower, but instead he was downstairs in the mall getting a prescription for his glasses checked.

So he was not there.

West Drift has been their official hotel for the first two years, but the whole event itself is moving over there, which is great because they have lovely grounds there.

So we will be speaking with their founder and producer, Shelby Russell, about what's new for year three.

Then we'll also be talking with one of the participating restaurants and chefs, that being Jairo Martinez, who is the executive chef of the Viv Hotel right near us in Anaheim.

and also their destination, Steakhouse, the top of the V.

And for those of us in hospitality, the one prominent memory we have is the very high-end restaurant that was on the top floor of one of the towers.

Windows on the World, a friend of the SoCal Restaurant Show, was the executive chef there, Michael Lomonaco, really wonderful guy, community-oriented.

And his fate would have it, he was scheduled to be there when the aircraft hit that tower, but instead he was downstairs in the mall getting a prescription for his glasses checked.

So he was not there.

Time for a short break now.

Afterwards, I'll introduce you to Michael Lomonaco, who, as I say, was the, was the sort of boss, the executive chef at the top of the Twin Towers and, and would have been at work had he not decided to take a brief detour into an optometrist's at the bottom of the building instead of making his usual route directly to the elevator, and so that story Is just extraordinary.

[upbeat music] Michael Lomonaco, a New York chef, and at the time that we are discussing today, the executive chef of Windows on the World, the restaurant at the very top of the North Tower.

Uh, he was there, as I've told you a few times today, on that morning.

Um, he was also there in 1993 when there was a bombing at the World Trade Center that you will ...

So we have a great kinship between New York and London.

Um, Michael, you honor, you honor the memory of, of your colleagues and, and, and of your guests, and of course, of, of everybody who died on that day, and I'm very grateful to you for finding some time to talk to us.

Michael LoMonaco, thank you.

Garrett, let's listen to another voice from that day.

This is Michael Lomonaco.

He was the executive chef at Windows on the World, which was a restaurant on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

And Michael was actually on his way to work on the morning of 9-11 when all of a sudden he took an unexpected detour.

And, you know, it's so random.

A guy named Michael Lomonaco was downstairs because he was getting his eyeglasses fixed.

There's a guy named Siko Sebe who was supposed to work that morning but changed shifts with another worker.

It's like...

And I started thinking about it.

One of the persons that I knew who worked there was the executive chef of Windows on the World, Michael Lomonaco.

And I had met Michael at a Culinary Institute of America event with his then wife.

They had just moved to the Hudson, uh, Valley, and my wife and I were thinking of buying a weekend place up there, and he-- they invited us to come visit them to check it out.

But first, this is Today on NBC.

We are back with culinary personality Katie Lee Beagle and chef Michael Lomonaco.

We have, of course, cooked with both of them many, many times here on the show.

But this morning, they're here on 9-11 to share the remarkable story of the legendary restaurant atop the World Trade Center.