He’s at it again. With his revamp of New York City's Minetta Tavern, and a pizza and beer joint set to open next year, Keith McNally sure has a lot on his plate for someone who recently said he was finished opening restaurants. The esteemed restaurateur chatted with the Buzz on his past and future in the industry.

Zagat Buzz: How long had you been interested in buying Minetta Tavern? Did you spend much time at the original?

Keith McNally: My chef, Lee Hanson, mentioned in December '07 that Minetta Tavern was for sale. I reluctantly went along to look at it, but was taken by it immediately. Lee, by the way, and his co-chef at Balthazar, Riad Nasr, are my equal partners at Minetta Tavern.

ZB: How do you plan on upholding the space’s history while attracting a contemporary audience? Are you keeping anything from the old menu?

KM: Minetta Tavern is not a 'historic' place. It's a restaurant, not the Pantheon. But of course I'm keeping most of the original elements: the mahogany bar, the mural, the photographs, the tin ceiling. It's what attracted me to the restaurant in the first place. No one familiar with the Tavern from the past will know exactly what's changed. Apart from the gold fountain in the dining room, of course.

ZB: Your restaurants famously attract a high-wattage crowd. Are you aiming for the same crowd with Minetta?

KM: I don't seek out a high-wattage crowd any more than I seek out a low-wattage one. I build places that I want to go to, period. I also hope they appeal to the small group of people I admire, and also my staff. But after that, the only person I want to please is myself. I don't have a PR person and I don't socialize. I've no idea what the crowd at Minetta will be like. In this economy I'll be happy just to have a crowd – any crowd.

ZB: Any scraps you can share about your planned pizza and beer operation?

KM: The pizzeria on the Bowery and Houston is moving along at a snail's pace. But that's fast for me. It probably won't open for a year.

ZB: Have you ever considered opening a restaurant outside of New York? Or even Uptown or Brooklyn?

KM: I've considered it but for about nine seconds, no more. I'm only interested in opening restaurants in areas I've got a connection to. This means downtown New York and nowhere else. What's the point? Unless it's for money.

ZB: What do you think of the DOH’s planned letter-grade health inspection system?

KM: My opinion on this subject is quite boring.

ZB: Way back when, you once said that Morandi would be your last restaurant venture. What made you change your mind?

KM: I didn't want to bail out after receiving such a mediocre review from The Times.

– Lauren Dru