While describing three decades of New York City restaurant experience, Billy Gilroy mentions that it all really began while learning to bake bread at an ashram in Livingston Manor in the 1970s. Mr. Gilroy – now one of five owner-employees of Employees Only – was only 18 years old when he headed to the Catskills for some higher learning. He was an East Village kid who had discovered meditation while in drug rehabilitation. “They pitched it like ‘10% of all Major League baseball players meditate,'” Mr. Gilroy said. “They never really talked about enlightenment. It was the McDonald’s of meditation.”

After European sojourns and intensive meditation studies, Mr. Gilroy landed back in Manhattan and taught the practice of contemplation. It wasn’t exactly paying the bills, so in 1975, he took a job at SoHo’s La Gamelle. From there, it was on to Cafe Luxembourg, Nell’s, Lucky Strike, and the Match outposts. By 2001, he needed a break from restaurants: He’d been in the game for 25 years and wanted more family time. But after considering a new career, he scratched it. “The idea of getting apprenticeship pay at my age wasn’t going to work,” he said. Instead, Mr. Gilroy helped his old friend Ken McNally open Schiller’s Liquor Bar. There, he ran into some faces from the past. He also met some other new players in the scene and the group launched Employees Only.

Now, Mr. Gilroy is the maitre d’ four nights a week here – where the owners craft the designer cocktails, work behind the line, and prepare steak tartar tableside. He’s the one sporting a hat, often a white Panama Jack number. “It’s like a security blanket for me,” he said. His father, an Irishman from Hell’s Kitchen, was known also to wear a hat. Mr. Gilroy moves across the floor with purpose and keeps an eye on customers’ body language to make sure spirits are high. He’s not afraid to stir the pot and introduce his guests to one another.

“The common denominator is everyone eats,” he said of bringing a diverse crowd together. “I serve soup and sandwich.” The restaurant certainly offers a little more than your average lunch counter – groups linger over sauteed oysters and a Serbian charcuterie plate.

“I do feel pretty fulfilled these days,” Mr. Gilroy said, taking stock of his current mental state. “I feel solid inside, and I’m kind of digging what’s going on on the outside.”

510 Hudson St. at Christopher Street, 212-242-3021.