In his place will be someone with a headset, advising would-be diners via phone, fax and E-mail.

Way too soon, dinner had been reduced to bones, coffee had been served, and hungry would-be diners were backed up in the doorway.

So finding its doors closed, as they have been since Monday, has been a source of dismay for many would-be diners.

Most pubs do not take reservations, and particularly at lunch, would-be diners cruise the room looking for empty seats at already occupied tables.

For the owners, keeping the restaurant open for the racing season has proved profitable, creating a certain mystique and ensuring a stampede of would-be diners.

Several would-be diners, unaware of what was going, took one look at the crowd inside and beat a hasty retreat.

"They are people I don't know," a doorman once said of some would-be diners off the street, "so why should I be friendly to them?"

She sat beside Leonard on a cushioned bench in the restaurant's dimly lighted entrance hall, among at least a dozen other would-be diners.

By 8:30 on a Saturday night would-be diners are stacked three deep around the bar.

In the meantime, the line was jammed, and the smooth civilized flow of would-be diners totally disrupted.