Update (Tuesday, October 18, at 8:45 a.m.): A peace agreement has been reached in the McNally-Corden affair. Mere hours after restaurateur Keith McNally posted on his Instagram that comedian and late-night host James Corden would not be welcome back at his restaurant Balthazar due to bad dining behavior, McNally posted a follow-up that confirmed Corden had given him a ring to patch things up. 

“James Corden just called me and apologized profusely,” McNally wrote. “Having fucked up myself more than most people, I strongly believe in second chances. So if James Corden lets me host his Late Late Show for 9 months, I’ll immediately rescind his ban from Balthazar. No, of course not.” 

“But....anyone magnanimous enough to apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn’t deserve to be banned from anywhere,” McNally added. “Especially Balthazar. So Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Corden, Jimmy Corden. All is Forgiven. xx.”

McNally did not address the egg yolk omelet.

The original article continues below.

Keith McNally, restaurateur and Instagram influencer, has turned his sharp tongue on James Corden, the carpooling English jokester and host of The Late Late Show With James Corden. Corden is no longer welcome at Spring Street staple Balthazar. 

“I don’t often 86 a customer, to [sic] today I 86’d Corden,” McNally wrote on Instagram. (Vanity Fair has reached out to both Corden and McNally.)

What was the offense? Allegedly, some classic rude dining behavior. In McNally’s telling, Corden, a “Hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny Cretin of a man,” achieved the ignoble superlative of “the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.” 

McNally offered two examples from Balthazar’s manager reports, where all the best celebrity gossip is hiding; he’s been sharing such reports from his restaurants on Instagram for some time now. Per the first example, Corden ate at the restaurant in June and allegedly finished an entrée that had a hair on it. The late-night host showed the hair to “manager G,” who was apologetic. 

“Corden was extremely nasty to G, and said: ‘Get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of all of our drinks so far. This way I write [sic] any nasty reviews in yelp or anything like that,’” McNally wrote, quoting the report.

And then he wrote of one day in October when Corden and his wife dined at Balthazar for brunch. She ordered something called an egg yolk omelet: 

James Corden was at Balthazar with his wife on October 9th for brunch. He asked for a table outside. Brunch Maitre D’ Allie Wolters took the party to table 301. Mr. Corden’s wife ordered an egg yolk omelette with gruyere cheese and salad. A few minutes after they received the food, James called their server, M. K. and told her there was a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk. M. K. informed the floor manager, G. The kitchen remade the dish but unfortunately sent it with home fries instead of salad. That’s when James Corden began yelling like crazy to the server: “You can’t do your job! You can’t do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelette myself!” M.K. was very apologetic and brought G. over to the table. He returned the dish, and after that, everything was fine. He gave them promo Champagne glasses to smooth things out. G. said that Corden was pleasant to him but nasty to the server. M.K. was very shaken, but professional that she is, continued to finish her shift.

The biggest mystery here, other than why Corden returns to Balthazar despite apparently having bad experiences there, is what an egg yolk omelet could be. I’ve heard of an egg white omelet, and I wonder if, in his frustration, McNally misquoted the manager’s report. But if that’s the case, he did so twice. An egg yolk omelet without any egg white is a bit of a culinary impossibility and very offensive indeed. Hope they enjoy the promo Champagne glasses at home, since it would seem that once out of McNally’s good graces, you’re gone for good.