Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter with his ski slope sculpted white hair and Ecco Press's Daviel Halperrn in a halo of white frizz hosted a party for chef John De Lucie's “The Hunger,” at The Waverly Inn on Monday night. This book records his rise from low management head hunter, to cooking school, working through the kitchens and women of New York-with a detour to Nick & Toni's and Oceans in the Hamptons– to become co-owner of the hottest restaurant in the city. Adding to its allure, The Waverly Inn operates through a secret system of reservations. Packed every night, the restaurant has no phone, a fact that astonishes De Lucie even as he tries to explain this phenomenon. His rake's progress takes the reader into the behind the scenes grit of resto life as he finds his passion, with De Lucie's surprising self effacing humor, his bewilderment at diners like “Jenny from the block” and the “taxi driver” lauding his signature dishes like the mac and cheese with truffles and chicken pot pie. On Monday night, the diverse crowd chomping on hors d'oeuvres of filet mignon, jumbo shrimp cocktail, tuna tartare, and truffled pizza included Marty Richards, Harvey Weinstein, Jill Hennessey, and John Scotto of Fresco in a moment of one happy restaurateur celebrating another. A number of leggy celebrity models made it past the invisible velvet ropes. The real secret of The Waverly Inn is like the appeal of “The Hunger.” What it offers, you cannot put down.