If you are not any kind of a longtime A-list New Yorker celebrity like Woody Allen,chances are that you have never experienced,and will never experience-a meal in a legendary  Italian-American restaurant called Rao's. Rao's,the East Harlem restaurant with a history of more than l00 years,is simply the toughest restaurant to get a reservation in the US, if not the world.Michelin three-star restaurants like elBulli in Spain,often ranked the world's top restaurant,would sell out the second phone lines opened.But in the case of Rao's,the phone lines never open. There are about a dozen tables in the tiny restaurant, and each is spoken for, semi-permanently, as regulars have had their reservations for years, and when they can't use them,they often gift them to friends. The place is so small that the owners rarely have the flexibility to do favors even for people they know. Since it is always busy,there has never been a need for publicity.The last remarkable national review of the restaurant came from The New York Times more than 35 years ago.It was already tough to get a table at Rao's but reservations have been non-existent ever sincce the magic review. According to a critic who is "very, very lucky to have dined at Rao's a few times,"the experience rivals the tasty food.There are no menus at Rao's, and one of the owners will pull up a chair and run through the massive list of options, allowing people to have diner by mixing and matching nearly any ingredient with any classical Italian style of cooking. The place doesn't take credit cards, isn't open on weekends or for 1unch, and "at some point during your meal the one-room restaurant will almost unavoidably break out in song." It is truly one of a kind,"the critic wrote. What was Rao's like before The NewYork Times review?
Unique and attractive. Tough and greedy. Terrible and unknown. Poor and hopeless.