Steve Kroft Quaffs as Cafe Lux Turns 25

When he’s not grilling rocker Jon Bon Jovi, or tooling around Dubai with ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft is often found chatting up the various characters at Café Luxembourg on West 70^th Street.

“It’s always been my local,” said Mr. Kroft.

On Sept. 10, owner Lynn Wagenknecht’s longtime celebrity haunt celebrated its 25^th anniversary with a bubbly, sliders-and-fries-stuffed party attended by such notable guests as screenwriter Nora Ephron and actresses Kathleen Turner and Aida Turturro.

Mr. Kroft was among the first to arrive—and last to leave.

“It’s halfway between work and home…I know that I can walk home, stop here, have a drink and meet interesting people,” said Mr. Kroft, citing director Robert Altman and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as being among the more interesting individuals he’s bumped into at the Café Lux bar over the years.

“I’ve learned a lot about how New York works, talking to people in the fashion industry, people on Wall Street….”

One group of people that he doesn’t often encounter at Café Lux: his colleagues at CBS.

“If other CBS people came here,” said Mr. Kroft, laughing, “I wouldn’t come here.”