If you’ve lived in New York for at least twenty years, Babbo probably has a place in your heart. I know that it does in mine, as a restaurant that represented everything cool about New York. After all, what was better than walking into Babbo in the early aughts with AC/DC blasting on the speaker system and Bono eating a plate of pasta in the front bar? The answer is nothing, and that was just Babbo NYC on any given…
If you’ve ever eaten at a roadside stall on the Thai-Myanmar border and wondered why no major city has bottled that energy, the answer in London is Kiln. This is a case where something is seemingly low-brow, but so brilliant it becomes high-brow. On its appearance, Kiln looks like an old-school diner, with just a counter for meals on the first floor. It’s tucked into a sliver of a space on Brewer Street in Soho. If you don’t know about…
You have the membership at Maison Estelle in London. You’re a regular at the rooftop at Aman. Your downtown outpost is Bond Street. But you may not have the in at The Polo Bar, which is in a league of its own. When something is perfect, why change? Well, after 10 years, The Polo Bar is (maybe) on the move in NYC. What Is (Maybe) Happening? After opening its doors at 1 East 55th Street nearly a decade ago, The…
Firstly, welcome back, New York. We know that you enjoyed your time in St. Tropez, sitting next to Victoria and David at Cherry at lunch. And Ibiza was everything this summer, because Jondal doesn’t ever disappoint. But no matter how epic your vacations were, there’s one place you call home, and that’s New York City. Even if you don’t live here, New York is a place that seems to adopt everyone. So, in honor of our annual New York issue,…
Enter Spa de La Mer through the Baccarat Hotel New York doors on West 53rd Street. You’ll pass a live flame kept burning in homage to the French glassmakers, whose furnaces gave Baccarat its name centuries ago. Then, you’ll descend to a subterranean sanctuary that feels entirely removed from Midtown. It’s like a European seaside grotto sealed off from the city. This is the world’s only full-service Spa de La Mer, and it has introduced a treatment unlike anything else…
It almost seems like the inevitable, that the famed private club of Annabel’s would make it across the pond to New York City. What’s not intuitive though, is its future Meatpacking district location, in a building that once housed The Vault – a former S&M club in the old days. If only these walls could talk. Stationed on a corner that traded Dos Caminos hustle for its next upscale act, the address is 675 Hudson Street — right in the…
There’s nothing quite like kicking it old school in New York. These six spots aren’t trying to be the next big thing. Instead, they already won, decades ago, and they’re still winning. Here’s where to catch a jazz set, take in a mural, or simply slow down in a room built long before anyone cared about turnover. The Experience: A Night of Jazz at Bemelmans Photo courtesy of Bemelmans Bar. The Neighborhood: Upper East Side Bemelmans Bar has been the…
If you wonder where those who sit front row for Fashion Week in Paris gather for a nibble, the answer is unequivocally Baronne. It all makes sense, as in a way — it’s like the French society coming full circle. Baronne is set in the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild. As its name implies; Baronne is a former home of the Rothschild family. And it doesn’t disappoint— Baronne is as grand Belle Époque dining as it gets in Paris. We would…
There are restaurants you go to for the food, and there are restaurants you go to for the scene. Lafayette’s, tucked into the Marquis de Lafayette’s former private mansion on Rue d’Anjou, firmly belongs to the second category. And deservedly so, it makes no apologies for it. If you want to have a guaranteed glamorous night out in Paris, 99.99% of the time Lafayette’s will deliver. Atmosphere This is the reason to book a table. The 18th-century mansion once belonged…
I don’t remember a world without handrolls, and thank goodness — now I don’t have to. The East Village has never lacked handroll bars, but Nori Shinn arrived this spring with a compelling pedigree. Nori Shinn is from the same team behind Thirteen Water and Shinn East, two of the neighborhood’s most reliable under-$100 omakase spots. It’s walk-in only, no tipping, and handrolls made to order at a center bar. I went in expecting a quick, casual bite. What I…
