Dining + Design: James Beard Foundation & The New School

It seems I'm not the only one thinking about restaurant environments and how they affect our dining experiences. I went to a fascinating panel the other night at the New School, the first in a series of three called Dining + Design: Conversations with Chefs and Architects (so close in name to Design & Dish!), coproduced with the the James Beard Foundation. About 50 or so of us got the amazing opportunity to hear chef Dan Barber, of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns fame, casually discuss the genesis of his restaurants and their design with his architect, Peter Guzy. Dan waxed poetic about Blue Hill, which opened in 2000 and is inside what was once a speakeasy, saying that it's one of the greatest examples of "understated intelligent design," and that Peter had created "the restaurant he'd always dreamed even though he'd never pictured it." Peter, whose firm Asfour Guzy Architects has also designed all the Blue Ribbon restaurants, noted that the architect's role is to find the "essence of the chef and the narrative of the food" and then capture that in the design, a process that's hard to define, that evolves over "thinking, eating, talking, and exploring together with the chef." Also on the panel was Dan's sister-in-law, Laureen Barber (she and her husband, David, who is Dan's brother, are co-owners with Dan of the Blue Hill empire) (Blue Hill, btw, was the name of Dan and David's grandparents' 138-acre farm in Great Barrington, MA). Laureen has a background in marketing and graphic design and serves as the restaurants' design director, overseeing everything from logos to tableware to uniforms (fun fact: John Varvatos, before he was the famous John Varvatos, designed the first set of shirts for the Blue Hill wait staff when it opened).

Peter Guzy, James Beard's Mitchell Davis, Laureen Barber, Dan Barber; photo: Clay Williams

 Much more was discussed, you can see the video here. 

And mark your calendars for the next two Dining + Design panels:
May 20 - Andrew Carmellini (the Dutch, Locanda Verde) + Roman + Williams
June 10 - David Chang (Momofuku) + the Design Agency

Stumptown, Greenwich Village, NYC

Interior designer and my good pal Andee Hess was in town this week from Portland, Oregon. We met three years ago on an IIDA Oregon design panel and instantly became besties. (Hopefully she agrees.) Lucky for me, she's been coming to New York a lot lately because she's designing NYC's first stand-alone Stumptown Coffee Roasters cafe on West 8th @ MacDougal (there's one inside the Ace Hotel New York and several in Portland, where it launched in 1999). It's still under construction, but she gave me a private tour the other night. She only allowed me to take this one photo. But I can say that when it opens in early May, you'll want to look up - the ceiling treatments are super cool.

A sneak peek into Stumptown cafe at 30 W. 8th St.

Aamanns-Copenhagen, TriBeCa, NY

Design: If you have a taste for minimalist and/or mid-century modern aesthetics, then you'll likely say "Aaahh" when you enter Aamanns-Copenhagen. The bleached-wood space is white, bright, and airy, outfitted soup to nuts in all things Danish (Arne Jacobsen chairs, Bodum salt & pepper shakers, Anne Black ceramicware). One noteworthy element, however, hails from Japan. A slender black object stands inside the bottle of tap water on the table. We thought it was liquorice (since that's one of the words emblazoned on the exterior), but it's actually Japanese coal that's been boiled to remove its soot, then placed in the water to purify. The bottle even has a coordinating black cap. Low fuss; high impact. 

The exterior.

Tap water with a purifying coal stick.

Arne Jacobsen chair.

The restaurant on a Sunday around lunchtime.

Dish: The main food concept here is updated versions of traditional smørrebrød, open-faced sandwiches on homemade rye bread. They're pretty small (thus the $8-11 price range), but they're really good. I had the green chicken salad with yogurt & crispy parsnip. You're encouraged to get 3 dishes each, whether smørrebrød or a seasonal special; we had 3 between the 2 of us and we were almost totally full. Our other 2 dishes were fiskefrikadeller—(half the fun is trying to pronounce them)—pan-fried fish cakes served with a tasty remoulade and pickled cucumber, and the cheese plate. All of it was super yummy, which was lucky because the service was really disorganized. The 12 or so tables were full, but there were 3 servers—the problem was that they were playing man-to-man defense when they should've been playing zones. The place is relatively new, so hopefully they can iron out the service kinks in time. In addition to the tables, there's a nice long marble bar that has it's own dedicated server. That might be the place to sit. Overall, Aamanns is a great addition to the neighborhood (my neighborhood), especially being next door to TriBeCa cinemas. I'll definitely be back. 

Green chicken salad smørrebrød.

Fiskefrikadeller.

Cheese plate.

What's Your Beef, Rumson, NJ

Design: I've been coming to What's Your Beef since I was a little girl (Rumson is where I grew up), when I'd call it What's Your Barf. True story. I didn't like meat then. My appetite for beef has surely changed, yet the restaurant's design hasn't really at all since it opened in 1970. Beyond the houselike exterior is a casual pubby interior marked by brick, Tiffany-style pendant lamps, and stained-glass windows. It's not high design, but it's definitely cozy, and one of my favorite haunts to visit when I'm in the area.

The exterior.

Brick, stained glass, and old books in the dining room.

Dish: Obviously, the draw here is the meat, and boy is it a draw. The chalkboard menu lists NY sirloin and filet mignon, both ordered by the ounce, as well as prime rib, which is a family favorite (there're also tasty chicken and fish options, but we always wonder who on earth would order either at a place with beef in its name). There's waitress/waiter service, but you put in your dinner order yourself, at large a window that allows glimpses of the succulent cuts. Just as delicious as the meat is the salad bar. It's old-school format—sneeze guard, iceberg lettuce, and all—but it's immaculate and fresh and just plain awesome. Over the years, the owners have updated the selection to include more trendy items like mesclun and spinach leaves, roasted red peppers, and Kalamata olives, but they've retained the oldy-but-goody stuff too, like the chunky blue-cheese dressing you pour on with a ladle. Before returning to your table to eat your salad and get served your dinner, locals know to stop at the bread drawer: Heated and stocked with loaves of marble rye, French, and pumpernickel, it's heavenly.

The salad bar.

The heated bread drawer.

The prime rib.