Chef Michael Lomonaco's Miraculous Twist of Fate on 9/11
He’s got a window on the past. Star chef Michael Lomonaco had spent 25 years running Windows on the World, the celebrated restaurant nestled high in the Twin Towers. But on the morning of September 11, 2001, the Brooklynite narrowly avoided tragedy when an issue with his eyeglasses prompted him to head to LensCrafters instead of to his kitchen on the 106th floor of the North Tower.“It’s been my personal mantra to do the work my colleagues were doing when they lost their lives,” said Lomonaco (pictured). Eric VitaleBy the time his vision was restored, his heart had shattered — 79 of his colleagues tragically died in the historic terrorist attack. 25 years later, Chef Lomonaco is revisiting the restaurant that changed his life with the documentary “Top Of The World,” which is streaming now on the CNN app.“Windows on the World is something I’ve always carried with me,” Lomonaco told The Post. Now at the helm of Midtown’s ultra-buzzy Brasserie Cognac Américain, Lomonaco says he grapples with both survivor’s guilt and the need to “excel” in order to honor those who were lost in the disaster.“It’s been my personal mantra to do the work my colleagues were doing when they lost their lives,” he said. That means creating gorgeous food for curious diners that demand excellence above all else — but also honoring the legacy of Windows on the World, a fine dining institution that was at the forefront of trends like local ingredients and urban fusion food that still influence New York’s grub hubs today.Portal to the past“Windows [on the World] was unique in its time,” Lomonaco told the Post, noting that it turned the Twin Towers from a gleaming office building into a social hub for the city’s power players as well as its awestruck tourists. First opened in 1976 by renegade restaurateur Joseph Baum, the 50,000-square-foot space spanned two floors and pioneered the gourmet international fusion craze of the 1970s and 1980s. The staff’s military precision and the space’s over-the-top decor helped make it a “theater” for dining, according to Kevin Zraly, the restaurant’s longtime cellar master. (Like Lomonaco, he was also saved on September 11 by divine coincidence — in Zraly’s case, his son’s 10th birthday.)Kevin Zraly led the wine selection at Windows on the World from its opening in 1976 until Sept. 11.Windows on the World was a sensation in the years following its opening, but by the late ’80s, the restaurant was a falling star in the restaurant world — in 1990, it even lost its two-star rating in the New York Times.Then came the first WTC attack in 1993, when terrorists detonated a massive truck bomb beneath the complex. The disaster killed six people and caused structural damage that forced the complex to close for three years — and gave Windows on the World a chance to reset with Lomonaco at the helm.New world orderChef Michael Lomonaco and owner David Emil. https://www.oliviaellisshop.com/When Windows on the World finally reopened in 1996, Lomonaco was enlisted to save the restaurant from oblivion. The American-born chef had cut his teeth with Daniel Boulud at Le Cirque, then replaced the 21 Club’s staid continental fare with bold American cuisine.“They wanted me to do the same thing at Windows,” says Lomonaco, who was encouraged to completely ditch the old menus.An early adopter of the farm-to-table movement that’s now a staple in New York dining, Lomonaco realized that from Windows on the World’s perch on the 106th floor, “we could see the farms where our food would come from.”“We share a tragedy, but we also share a love of hospitality,” said Lomonaco. “I’ll always be part of the Windows on the World community.” Courtesy of CNN FilmsOut went the international house of canapes. In came grilled Hudson Valley venison chops, Montauk lobster and herbs sourced directly from the World Trade Center’s own farmer’s market.The local lean-in worked wonders. Under Lomonaco’s guidance, Windows on the World doubled the restaurant’s visitor count, and by 2000, the culinary sky castle was earning around $37 million a year, making it the highest-grossing restaurant in the country.Hostess Nathalie Tolentino at Windows On The World in 1999. Courtesy of CNN FilmsCritics were impressed, and dining guru Ruth Reichl even restored Windows on the World’s two stars, noting in the headline that it served “food that’s nearly worthy of the view.”Lomonaco insists his transformation wouldn’t have worked without the restaurant’s committed team of employees, including 450 staffers from all walks of life and all corners of the globe. “It was like the UN,” he said. “We had 65 different languages spoken there. I mean, people came from all over the world and this was a job that people wanted.”Tony Bennett stopped by, as did Bruce Springsteen, the now-deceased Dolly Parton and the cast of “The Sopranos” in their HBO heyday. New Yorkers had returned as well. “People began using the restaurant as a destination that happened to have a great view,” Lomonaco said. “It was truly beloved.”September 11 attacksThen on a clear morning, everything changed. At 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, American Airlines Flight 11 struck the North Tower.Lomonaco normally arrived at 8:00 a.m. to oversee breakfast, but that morning, his reading glasses were giving him trouble. He made what he thought would be a quick pit stop at LensCrafters in the Trade Center’s concourse to get them checked out.Sunrise view of Uptown from Windows in 2000. Courtesy of CNN FilmsJust as he finished, he felt the building shake. Initially thinking it was a routine subway rumble, Lomanaco realized that was not the case after the lights flickered and went off and then on again and he was subsequently evacuated.Outside on Liberty Street, he witnessed office paper fall on shell-shocked pedestrians like “confetti” and saw a fuselage that had landed on the road.Nonetheless, fearing the worst, the panicking chef hurried back to the building to see if he could “help out” on the ground level because his whole staff was “up there that morning working.”As Lomonaco tried to head back to lend a hand, the second plane hit, and he realized “this was no accident.”“I heard the whining of the engines of the second plane and I saw the fireball of the second impact,” the stricken chef recalled. “It was shocking.”A total of 79 Windows employees lost their lives.Life after WindowsChef Michael Lomonaco holds the NY Strip Steak at Porter House. NY Post Brian ZakThe next day, over 100 of the restaurant’s friends and regular patrons gathered further uptown to track the missing. Soon after, they launched the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund, ultimately raising more than $20 million for victims’ families.Struggling with the loss, Lomonaco didn’t cook again until Thanksgiving of 2001. In 2002, he helped open Noche, a Latin American restaurant in midtown with 60 of his Windows on the World alumni, then made TV appearances and consulted for celebrities and luxury hotels. Lomonaco was offered executive chef jobs around the world, but despite the near-guarantees of money and fame, he tells the Post, “I couldn’t leave New York.”Chef Michael Lomonaco (left) and Andre Agassi attend the Third Annual International Taste of Tennis to benefit Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund at W New York on Friday, Aug. 23, 2002. freelanceInstead, he opened Porter House Bar & Grill at the Time Warner Center in 2006 as an homage to Manhattan excellence and steakhouse tradition. The restaurant carried the DNA of Windows on the World—both in its elevated American cuisine and its staff, which included former Windows colleague Michael Ammirati as its chef de cuisine.While high-profile guests like former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg frequented the dining room, Lomonaco ensured the atmosphere remained “accessible to everyone” with lunch specials and smaller menu dishes — a practice he began at Windows on the World to encourage tourists and artists to dine elbow-to-elbow with CEOs.Porter House remained a staple on the city’s dining scene until its lease expired in September 2025. Today, Lomonaco leads Brasserie Cognac Americain alongside several of the beloved steakhouse’s longtime team members.When reflecting on the 25-year legacy of Windows on the World and how it’s impacted Lomonaco today, the chef says that although the food was spectacular, it was always the people who were at the heart of its success.“I think it was a real lesson at Windows in respecting our coworkers, respecting them for their contribution no matter what their job was,” he told The Post.“Everyone contributes equally what they do to a restaurant’s success in caring for the guest. I think that was very evident at Windows and it’s something I’ve always carried with me… We share a tragedy, but we also share a love of hospitality. I’ll always be part of the Windows on the World community.”
