After two failed restaurants, can Keith McNally return to the top?

It's only the second night of business for Keith McNally's new restaurant, Cherche Midi, and already the place is buzzing. Stylish diners sip Champagne at the bar and cozy up in red leather banquettes beneath decorative shelves of French tea towels and wine bottles, nibbling on beet salad or a decadent burger. Soft amber light bounces off pale gold walls, making the comely crowd even more attractive.

The restaurant isn't yet 2-weeks-old, but Anna Wintour, Meg Ryan and Ian Schrager have already stopped by. It looks to be a hit for McNally, and at this point, he could use one.

McNally pioneered the downtown restaurant scene when he opened the Odeon with his brother, Brian, and Lynn Wagenknecht in Tribeca in 1980. It was wildly popular and became a symbol of the decade's decadence. In the years that followed, he opened a string of eateries that became some of the city's most quintessential spots, such as Lucky Strike, Balthazar and Pastis, which helped transform the Meatpacking District from gritty to glam. But McNally, a boyish man of 62 with a floppy mop of gray hair and propensity for jeans, has had a rough time of late.

With harsh lighting, industrial tables and heavy pizzas, Keith McNally's Pulino's wasn't a hit with the chic crowd who usually flock to his places.Photo: Zandy Mangold

He's thoroughly renovated the space to turn it into Cherche Midi. The new restaurant has a soft glow, rich booths, pink tablecloths and light bistro fair, including a popular whole grilled daurade.Photo: Gabi Porter (2)

At the end of February, he was forced to shutter Pastis, the beloved fashionista clubhouse, because the building it occupies is being demolished. (He hopes to reopen next year when it's rebuilt, but nothing is confirmed.) This past December, he had to close Pulino's, his 4-year-old pizza place that, despite initial hype, received lukewarm reviews and never took off like his other restaurants.

"It was losing money,'' admits McNally, talking with the Post from London, where he is from, in his first interview since Cherche Midi debuted. "It was only busy between 8 and 10, and for a restaurant to thrive, it has to be busy outside of those hours."

Shuttering Pulino's was especially hard for the detail-obsessed restaurateur, who hadn't experienced such a failure in his more than three decades in the industry.

"I've never left a location due to lack of business," he says. "Pulino's was my idea, and it didn't work, and I'm solely responsible for it. However, out of pride, vanity or whatever, I couldn't bear the idea of a failure."

But while he eventually gave up on Pulino's, McNally wasn't willing to abandon the prime Bowery and Houston Street corner it occupied. Instead, he decided to extensively renovate it to create Cherche Midi.

"At an alarming cost — and one that's impossible to recoup — I set about putting together the kind of restaurant I'd most want to go to," he says.

While Pulino's had industrial-looking tables and harsh-lighting, Cherche Midi boasts the classic McNally decor elements: distressed mirrors, banquettes and flattering lighting. The menu is also pretty classic McNally — there's a signature burger and plenty of French bistro fare — though there are healthier options for ladies looking to stay svelte for their latest Intermix purchases.

"The menu is lighter, more feminine and deceptively more complex than many of my other restaurants," McNally says.

To that end, there's an artistically plated beet salad, a whole grilled daurade and, on the more complex but heavier side, a foie gras appetizer served with a rhubarb compote.

PASTIS (CLOSED): McNally had to shutter his wildly popular, 15-year-old Meatpacking District bistro in February because the building is being demolished.

PULINO'S (CLOSED): The Bowery pizzeria didn't have the McNally magic. It opened in 2010 to much buzz, but closed at the end of last year due to poor business.Photo: Zandy Mangold

CHERCHE MIDI (NEW HOPE?): This elegant boîte has risen from Pulino's ashes. It opened less than two weeks ago and already looks to have the makings of a hit.Photo: Brian Zak

With both the food and the atmosphere, McNally is determined to fix the mistakes of Pulino's.

"Pulino's was simply too loud,'' he says. "To correct this, I've insulated the restaurant like crazy, blocked off a number of windows, changed the entrance and made a policy of having absolutely no music between 7 and 10 every night."

And he admits the food at the pizzeria, which opened with buzzy San Francisco chef Nate Appleman at the helm only to have him leave six months in after mediocre reviews, wasn't up to snuff. "We didn't get the pizzas right until it was too late," McNally says.

Industry insiders say Pulino's was always incongruous in the McNally empire, which includes seven restaurants in New York and one in London.

"[It] always felt odd in his stable of restaurants," says Bon Appétit restaurant editor Andrew Knowlton. "Some of his fans didn't want to eat pizza while they were looking awesome. Pulino's didn't feel cool, and Keith is the king of cool."

Will returning to his tried and true French bistro formula be a recipe for success for McNally? He's spent much of the last few years in London, where he opened a Balthazar in 2013, and New York's ever-fickle tastes have changed — or at least expanded. In recent years, the city has become obsessed with ramen and sushi — with critically acclaimed spots from big names like Sushi Nakazawa and Ivan Ramen opening — and been captivated by the theatrics and kitsch of restaurants like Carbone and RedFarm. And, thanks to McNally's influence, New York is now lousy with French bistros and bars with mirrors behind them. For a younger generation of restaurant- goers, McNally's restaurants might be more vintage than cutting edge.

"My mom used to go to Keith McNally's restaurants when she was younger," says Savannah Kessel, a 25-year-old fashion brand consultant who lives near Cherche Midi and was there one recent night eating filet mignon au poivre.

But despite the "mom" factor, Kessel says she's a big McNally fan. "My friends and I love [his restaurants] and think they are trendy,'' she says. "My [meal] tonight was amazing!''

Others note that Cherche Midi is a slight a twist on the McNally standard.

"[It] has new light touches that make it fresh," says chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. "He knows how to do French places better than the French . . . His places are hip but totally unpretentious."

They're also quite profitable. His restaurants reportedly gross a total of about $70 million a year, with profits from 8 percent to 14 percent.

"It would take other people 10 restaurants to gross what he does with two," chef Daniel Boulud says.

But the ever humble McNally isn't one to dwell on his bottom line or past successes. He just wants Cherche Midi to succeed where Pulino's didn't.

"I loved the space itself," he says, "and felt I could do better given a second chance."