At Harry Cipriani's dining room, arranging tables is as strategic as arranging deals.

It's one of the most critical yet unappreciated art forms when it comes to business lunches: the table arrangement. And Hassan El Garrahy, the general manager of Harry Cipriani, has perfected the art of the seating plan with the élan of a grandmaster.

"It's like a chess match," says El Garrahy, who has been with Harry Cipriani since it opened its gilded doors in 1985, on the ground floor of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. On any given day, he is faced with decisions that (almost literally) shape the way business is conducted. This is, after all, the dining room du jour for buyout barons, bankers and high-powered executives such as Bruce Wasserstein, Ron Perelman, Theodore J. Forstmann, Gene Pressman, Larry Silverstein, Harry Macklowe, Howard Lorber and Allen Grubman.

It's El Garrahy's job not only to remember names and résumés, but to stay abreast of industry happenings. "Say, for example, that Mr. X and Mr. Y are in the same business and are considering a buyout of the same company," he says. "We would never put X and Y next to each other."

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