The owner, Glenn Bernbaum, fastidiously organized the seating arrangements: Well-known regulars got the tables along the walls, whereas up-and-comers were seated at tables down the middle. “A food critic dining anonymously at Mortimer’s once described the welcome accorded walk-ins as a greeting normally given to bill collectors,” wrote The New York Times of the restaurant. To be fair, no one really went to Mortimer’s for the food. “The professional dieters in the crowd often make a meal out of an appetizer selection, asparagus vinaigrette, say, or tomatoes basil, cucumber, and dill salad and mushrooms with fines herbes,” read a 1980 account of Mortimer’s in The Daily News. Instead, it was about vibes. Regulars included Henry Kissinger, Oscar de la Renta, and Brooke Astor—the latter of two threw a buzzy dinner for Renata Adler’s made-for-television movie Reckless Disregard. Bill Paley (CBS Chairman and husband of Babe Paley) often dined there with his daughter, Kate (the step-aunt of Belle Burden, the New York Times best-selling author of Strangers.) Farrah Fawcett dined there with Ryan O’Neal and Valentino …