HD Talks Blog

Authenticity

I just received an email from a Manhattan restaurant with a subject line that I was sure was some lame marketing ploy: "Lost and Found Jewelry". But then I opened it up, and here's the message I received, much to my amazement.

To our Patrons,

A piece of jewelry was found last Saturday night on January 30th at our  downtown restaurant , Kellari Parea Bistro ( 36 E 20th street, NYC, NY 10003). Unfortunately nobody has claimed the piece of jewelry yet, so we thought to send an email to all of our Friends & Family to let them know.

If you believe that you may have lost some jewelry at our restaurant last Saturday or possibly Friday or Thursday, please call us at 212-777-8448 to provide a description of the lost jewelry and then we would be very happy to return it to you. Also, please pass this information along to your friends or family that might of dined with you on any of those nights, they might not be on our mailing list.

Please call me directly to claim your jewelry.
Thank you,
Stathis Antonakopoulos
Kellari Taverna N.Y. | Kellari Parea Bistro | Kellari Taverna D.C.
T: 212-777-8448 | F: 212-777-3251 | Email: stathis@kellari.us
"Enter as Strangers, Leave as Friends"

For a restaurant with the tag line "Enter as Strangers, Leave as Friends" this is one of the most authentic marketing messages I've ever seen. It's such a simple thing to do, but it's amazing how many companies do not do the simplest thing to give that personal touch to their customers. And seriously, they're starved for it! This will stick with me today, and well into the next time I'm deciding where to have saganaki the next time I have a craving.

Bravo Kellari Hospitality Group. Honesty is the best policy.

Food, Wine, and Great Design

I've never been to Mohegan Sun. Nor have I been to a wine and food festival. I'm a foodie and an aspiring wine enthusiast, so the 7th Annual Sun Winefest, the largest food and wine show in Connecticut (it brought in 15,000 attendees this year), was just the event to tend to my taste buds! 

From the time I walked into the lobby, I knew my time here would be a real experience, in food, wine, and design. Here are some of the elements that stood out at Mohegan Sun:

The lobby

Intense lighting hanging above escalators. 

The amazing sculpture by Dale Chihuly in front of Todd English's Tuscany restaurant.

Now, let's get back to the show. I must admit I was a bit star-struck or should I say chef-struck. I watch most of the cooking shows, own many cookbooks, and yes, I love to cook. But seeing some of these celebrity chefs up close made me excited and nervous at the same time. What do I say? What do I ask? There were chefs left and right--Tyler Anderson, Kevin Cottle, Jasper White, and Betty Fraser just to name a few.  

 

Prior to a wonderful dinner at Bobby Flay's second outpost of Bar Americain (the restaurant opened at Mohegan Sun in November) I attended a cocktail reception with chef Govind Armstrong (Table 8 and 8 Ounces restaurants) and Ben Ford (Ford's Filling Station). I was smitten, having been a huge Govind Armstrong fan for a while. I also saw chef Armstrong in action at Sunday's cooking demonstration making brandade fritters with wood-roasted tomato coulis. Yum. 

 

And the show wasn't complete without chef, restaurateur, TV personality, and author Bobby Flay doing his thing. He made his dallas burger crunchified, something you could find at Bobby's Burger Palace. After the demonstration, I tried it out for myself and waiting online for almost 25 minutes was worth it. This burger (probably the best I've ever had) along with a pistachio milkshake was a real winning combination. 

Bobby Flay was also one of 22 chefs to participate in Saturday night's Celebrity Chef Dine Around. This event was filling with both great food and wine pairings. Every type of dish was there from Rich Lucas' braised short ribs of beef with a pumpkin and wile mushroom polenta to Todd English's lobster rolls to an all-out meal from Lydia Shire with lobster popovers, crab cakes, and tiramisu with Kahlua. 

The demonstrations were just part of the show. The other part was of course, the wine! There were seminars from vineyards like Far Niente and Bridlewood Estate Winery; a grape stomp; and even an oyster shucking contest--The Oyster Open. And now for the tastiest wine and liquor--Duckhorn Vineyards' Paraduxx, Far Niente's Cabernet Sauvignon 2001, Apel Eis Apple Ice Wine, Navan's natural vanilla liqueur, Pearly Bay's semi-sweet sparkling wine from South Africa, and Soave's dry white wine from Northern Italy. But taste wasn't all that caught my eye--so did the bottle and label design. Here are some of my favorites--and yes, even Ed Hardy is now making wine (the sangria was pretty good):

It's Monday and I'm still full from all the goodness from the weekend. I enjoyed talking to the winemakers and the chefs so much that I feel like I want to become one myself. There was so much passion felt throughout the event---it was very hopeful. Cheers to the thriving food and wine industry! 

Carpet on a Sunny Saturday

I'm a big admirer of design (obviously) so when I got the chance to see Malene Barnett of malene b custom handmade carpets' new home, I was so inspired that I didn't want to leave. First of all, we have the same favorite color, turquoise, so when I saw her brightly colored door (picture below), I knew I was in the right place. I was in awe of all of the beautiful furnishings, African pieces, tiles, textiles, sun-filled kitchen, and the list goes on and on. 

Now here's a little background on Malene. She is a Brooklyn-based carpet designer who uses her travels (she's been to places like Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai) as inspiration for her designs along with her African-Caribbean background (for an extensive look at Malene's work, check out the September 2009 issue of Hospitality Design). Her designs are inspirational and hopeful. And now, you could find her carpets at the Sacco Carpet showroom in Manhattan. 

malene b is part of GoodWeave, helping to combat exploited children who produce carpet for the industry. While talking to Malene, I learned that she will be designing a carpet inspired by the rich history and culture of Haiti. The design will be added to malene b's signature collection and will debut at ICFF in May. "Since the design will be a part of our collection this will be an on going effort to help with the rebuilding of the country," she says. The money raised will be given to a selected grassroots organization that has been doing work in Haiti long before the earthquake. 

Besides eating Crumb's cupcakes, drinking tea, and sharing our thoughts on design, I was introduced to Sheridan Black of Custom Cool , a design company that makes rugs and is also a part of GoodWeave. As a products editor, I love hearing about the design process, the highs and lows of having your own creative business, and all that's to come. Here's a picture of us (from the left: me, Sheridan, and Malene). Thank you for a great afternoon and showing me your home. I will be back soon! 

Saying Goodbye to a Friendly Face

For many, Willem van Es, was more than just a fine and commercial artist and custom wallcoverings-maker. He was a friendly face around the industry. You've seen him walking the floors at the Hospitality Design Exposition & Conference and HD Boutique tradeshows and enjoying himself at the HD Awards. And as the above picture shows, Willem was fashionable, making our fashion file page for looking dapper at the Party by the Pool event in Las Vegas. 

Yesterday, we here at HD were saddened to learn that Willem passed away on Christmas night on an international flight bound for Amsterdam. 

I met Willem when I first started at HD magazine. He had a great personality and passion for art. I remember my interview with Willem for a designer profile I was working on. He came to our New York offices one afternoon along with his dog Johnny, a Newfoundland. If you know this breed, then you know that they are fairly large dogs. Although Johnny sat there quiet as a mouse under the conference table some people in the office thought Johnny was a bear! Good memories.

He founded Willem van Es Design Studio Ltd. in 1997 with his wife Quincy in 1997 and his hospitality career took off with work that includes the China Grill in New York, Miami, and Mexico City; the Wynn Hotel and Venetian Resort, Hotel, and Casino in Las Vegas; and the Algonquin Hotel, Plaza Athenee, and Helmsley Palace in New York. He was also involved in boxing (he was known as the Dutch Bomber), sailing, and most recently, acting, starring in a documentary, Chelsea on the Rocks, about the place he called home for several years, the Chelsea Hotel. 

He always made you smile with his charismatic persona. I know he made me smile. His cheerful and positive energy will be missed. 

Do you have any memories of Willem to share? If so, please comment. Also, please visit the memorial page for Willem at http://memorialwebsites.legacy.com/willemvanes/Homepage.aspx 

A glimpse into the future

By Michael Adams

For the past two years, I've had the pleasure of being among the judges of FIT's  design competition wherein students create carpet lines specifically created for hospitality. Seeing the abundance of creativity and imagination that manifests itself in this competition is a joy, and the eager hopeful faces of the students reminded me not only of the fertile mother lode of talent out there, but also (sadly) that this is not a banner year to be heading into the marketplace.  But suppliers, take note: when times get better, and they will, here's one place to start to find the next generation's artists.

This year's theme was global unity, and students were required to submit designs for an area rug, a large-scale axminster pattern, a small-scale axminster pattern, and an inspiration board. Here are the top three are rug designs, plus a photo of the winners. 

      1st place, Vanessa DeSousa

       2nd place, Younjung Lee



      3rd place, Emily Guzzi


Congratulations to all!  

A guide to the big city

Vacationing in U.S. cities with the kids just got a little more fun...and educational. ABC Travel Guides for Kids is a new set of city guides for children that offers an alphabet book, map, and souvenir all in one. These books are used by hotels as an amenity or part of a family package. Matthew G. Rosenberger, publisher, can have the hotel brand imprinted on the front and/or back covers as well as images of the property. Right now, cities including Chicago, San Diego, Boston, and Philadelphia are all available and Providence, Rhode Island, Nashville, Orlando, and Miami are all in the works. Rosenberger will also create a book from scratch if a hotel in a city that is not yet written about is interested. The guides have photos of famous sites, a place for children to write their thoughts down regarding their favorite parts of the trip, and a full list of interesting places with addresses and websites for that given city. 

City of Collaboration

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend the opening of Aria, the casino-hotel component and the final hotel of the $8.5 billion LEED-certified CityCenter development in Las Vegas. (Harmon Residences and Veer Towers are still under construction.) It was my first time seeing the city-within-a-city. I knew a lot about it after doing a story on MGM Mirage Group president Bill Smith two years ago and keeping up to date on it since. But to be honest I didn't know quite what to expect—and I have to say I was impressed. 

Most everyone knows that it is a great collaboration or architects--Gensler, Libeskind, Foster, Pelli, Viñoly, to name a few. Impressive, definitely, especially the camaraderie that was shown at the opening event. But what I found even more impressive was the number of designers that worked on the interior spaces. They seem to flow, even though each one is unique, while at every turn there was another detail, something different in design that I hadn't quite seen before. (Maybe that is why it has taken me so long to figure out what to blog about.) And what really made the design enthusiast side of me excited is that MGM Mirage's design team (especially Sven Van Assche) brought in a mix of designers—the old guard and the new, some who are even making their Vegas debut. For instance, BBGM handled the guestroom design of condo-hotel Vdara and the suites at Aria, David Rockwell created an interior park in the Libeskind's modern Crystals retail and restaurant building, and Adam D. Tihany designed the impressive Mandarin Oriental and two restaurants in Aria, one for Sirio Maccioni and one for the Light Group. Speaking of the Light Group, the young restaurant and nightclub operators chose Franklin Studios (a recent HD Wave of the Future honoree) for gaming bar Deuce, while three-person firm SL Design led by Chris Sheffield created a natural environment for Michael Mina's fish house, American Fish. And that's just to mention a few of the designers (not to mention chefs and operators).

I think people will come to see the largest privately funded construction project in the U.S., but I think they will come back to try out all of the variously designed spaces housed within.

Look for a more in-depth look at the designers involved in an upcoming issue of HD and a few sneak peeks of a few of the spaces on our website.

Stu-Stu-Studio

It's holiday time, and that means its also time to visit the Robert Allen Group and this afternoon I got the chance to see what the design team has been up to. It's a very busy time at Robert Allen, I'm happy to say, as I saw from all the great new products. These ladies are quite busy--that is Jessica Smarsch, design manager, essentials upholstery, and Jane Riback, design director, contract. As I walked into the design studio, I was amazed at how much product there was laid out for me to look at and to find out just how much went into creating these various collections was exciting to hear. Jolie Cross Cohen, operating vice president, public relations, was also on hand to let me in on all the new goodies. 

The table, as you could see was covered with swatches, new hospitality books, new designs, inspiration boards, and much more. The fabric design team thought carefully about what is really needed in the market: affordable products, luxurious colors and textures, multipurpose offerings, and something I was very excited to see--a new line for senior living facilities. Bold and lively colors and striking patterns including plums and greens and blues put into five color stories: Spa, Bouquet, Tuscan, Classic, and Mediterranean. A one-stop-shop for these senior living facilities, the Robert Allen Group will offer two books, one for multipurpose products (prints and bedding) and one for upholstery (everything else and outdoor too!). The company is even collaborating with Sherwin-Williams to make it that much easier for these properties to select finishes where coordinating low-VOC paint colors will be offered to match the fabrics. There is a new site that lets you learn about new offerings and color experts' visions for ways to integrate paint colors and fabric designs called DesignStudio. 

The hospitality fabric offerings are endless. Below is one of many inspiration boards for the contract market. The new hospitality book, which last year started with the Excursions collection, will feature fabric inspired by Europe. There is everything from designs with feathers (so much fun to look at) to cobalt blue and gold fabric used for bedding, drapery, and headboards. I also got to see more value-oriented fabrics that are multipurpose, come in five fabrics (2 tone basketweave, 2 tone dupioni, 1-inch stripe RR, ottoman RR, and 1/8-inch stripe RR) in 23 colors, and are domestically made. Talk about saving money and fuel. And how do you end a great meeting? What about walking across the street to Bryant Park to the pop-up Max Brenner chocolate store for some hot chocolate. A day full of treats--exciting new fabric and hot chocolate. What more could I ask for?

HD Does Dallas

This week HD's CitySCENE: Next Generation Networking party went back to Dallas. Roughly 125 young designers, architects, owners, and purchasers headed to Ghostbar at the top of the W Dallas for some great food, conversation, and views—the unseasonably cold Dallas weather held off just long enough for us to make use of the expansive balcony overlooking the city. Luckily enough, Deborah Lloyd Forrest of ForrestPerkins was able to stop by as our guest of honor. Look out for photos in the Jan/Feb edition. (For past photos of CitySCENE events, click here.)

While in Dallas, I took the time to stop in and say hello to a few design firms. I had a fantastic lunch with Dan Nelson and William Bradley of Vision Design at Villa O, which they recently designed. In the summer, the indoor-outdoor space must come alive, but even with the dampening weather, the space had a warm, yacht-inspired feel with painted exposed ceilings, wood floors, banquettes, and tables (with a high gloss finish), and white and blue furnishings. And the Italian food was a stand-out as well. I am still thinking about the breadless chicken parmesan with zucchini pasta. 

I also stopped in the Wilson Associates expansive offices, which they have been for 20-some years. It was so great to walk around and meet everyone with Amy McEvoy, the firm's head of PR. Even though she had told everyone to clean up for me (which they didn't have to do), it was so inspiring to see the many, many project boards of hotels they are working on, from the Sofitel Dubai to the Ritz-Carlton Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico. We plan to publish one of their newest with Sol Kerzner, the Mazagan Beach Resort in our March issue, and the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain in Arizona opens next week. The best part: spending time with Trisha Wilson in her office (which has the best view in the house overlooking the city). She's a woman of pure inspiration.

I also had a lovely breakfast with Trish Martinek of HKS. I have worked with her for my eight years at HD, but had never met her in person, which was such a treat. We talked about the recent merger with Hill Glazier, monopolizing on social media, and touched on a few of the hundreds of projects they are working on. Two standouts: the W Hollywood, set to open next month, and the St. Regis Punta Mita in Puerto Rico.  

And to cap off my trip, I had a terrific lunch with Design Duncan Miller Ullmann's Kellie Sirna, business development/PR, and principals Kimberley Miller and Turner Duncan. Besides a boutique hotel in Shanghai, they also just finished up the Hilton Bonnet Creek in Orlando attached to the Waldorf Astoria. It may be one of the last 1,000-room hotels for awhile. And the duo, who are recent Platinum Circle Award winners, was just awarded the International Business Achievement Award by the Dallas Business Chamber in the small to mid-size business category. Congrats!

To walk off our big lunch, I got a tour of Duncan Miller's design of the Hotel ZaZa. It may be five years old, but looks brand new. The attention to detail, one-offs, artwork, and the various themed suites would make me keep coming back for more. First I would want to try out the erotica suite; then the rock star one, a favorite of real rock stars. Another ZaZa just opened in Houston as well. Here's to hoping the owners are planning on more locations outside of Texas!

West Side Tale

The other night I had the pleasure of dining at the newly renovated and expanded Dovetail restaurant on New York's Upper West Side. Even though its a 3-Star restaurant, the rustic decor by local architect Richard Bloch gives the restaurant a decidedly neighborhood feel, which goes along perfectly with chef/owner John Fraser's idea that dining should be an experience that's not to be rushed. 

Set in a 110-year-old brownstone building, there's exposed brick on columns and walls, deep gray and blue hues, soft lighting, maple wood panels, and sheer drapery. Besides a larger dining area, the expansion also includes a new cozy bar area that looks out onto quaint tree-lined 77th street, and larger wine cellar, which has grown by 500 bottles. For the cooking show lovers, the downstairs cellar stands next to two original tasting tables that have a sneak peek into the kitchen. The cool thing about this renovation is that it completes the two-year-old restaurant's original floorplan vision; it just took awhile to "get" the extra space.

The best thing about the pared down modern interiors is that it is a perfect backdrop for Fraser's inventive (and I must say delicious) cuisine. I had a gorgeous beet salad and perfectly grilled fluke. Yet one of the stand outs: the salt baked onion lined with burgundy truffles. I know what you are thinking—a salt baked onion, really? But it is so savory and sweet you don't realize you are eating an onion. And to top off the fantastic meal, the new expansions have made room for cheese carts. But this isn't your normal cheese selection. Here they are pairing Vermont versus Old World cheeses, from goat to blue. The winner for me was a Vermont cheddar, but I may have to go back just to make sure.