Penthouse dining at Mr. A’s in Bankers Hill (By Frank Sabatini Jr.)
Trivia, Bankers Hill

Did You Know…

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

…that since its founding in 1965, the legendary Mr. A’s restaurant perched on the 12th floor of a Bankers Hill office building still has a dress code in place?

The code, however, is now somewhat more relaxed compared to the days when women weren’t allowed to wear pantsuits in the restaurant, and dress jackets for men were de rigueur.

So what if you didn’t want to stain your formal threads with flambéed duck l’orange and crepes Suzette made tableside. The maitre’d at the time would either provide a suit jacket for men near the coat check, or politely decline entrance into the dining room if you weren’t wearing one. That policy carried through well into the 1990s.

Today the dress code is business-casual after the restaurant went through a couple changes of ownership and modernized its menu and interior.

Although formality still rules the day.

For guests who want to spare themselves embarrassment, they should leave the cargo shorts at home, along with T-shirts, any kind of shorts, hats, flip flops, beachwear and athletic wear. Remarkably, jeans are permitted, as long as they are free of rips and tears.