Au naturel
Elvis, Boerum & Cobble Hill townhouses, RAW WINE, Ten Bells, Frog Wine Bar, grower getaways, New York Comedy Festival, Thanksgiving provisioning, MORE
BARS • First Round
Elvis lives
The Skinny: Opened on Great Jones Street in September, petite French wine bar Elvis is the newest project from the team behind Le Dive and The Nines.
The Vibe: Thirty-four seats plus space for standing, the design takes cues from Parisian sidewalk cafès as a place for both after-work drinks or long weekend lunches that bleed into dinner. Hints of the space’s longtime tenant, Great Jones Cafe, remain in the burnt orange color scheme and original wood bar running down one side. But the burgundy tiles and red marble counters that line the room are new, as are the wine bottles behind the bar painted with Elvis’s logo, a just-kitschy-enough touch. Vintage posters and a mix of ceramic plates hang above rattan stools, two of which allegedly had their legs partially sawed off to fit beneath the street-facing window. The cut was worth it — it’s the best seat in the place.
The Food: Casual wine bar fare — multiple pâtés, cured beef topped with hazelnuts and fennel pollen, soft cheese from Champagne served alongside hunks of honeycomb and tart tomato jam, anchovies dressed in diced chilis with good olive oil. The Gaufre waffle with raclette, potato, and espelette pepper will surely be a hit as the weather gets cooler.
The Drink: A wine list exclusively of French naturals by the glass or bottle — many of which are reasonably priced — and classic cocktails with a slight twist (a martini with tangerine, a coffee negroni, “The Shaggy,” a rum-based riff on a Moscow mule).
The Verdict: A worthy successor to Great Jones Cafe (and shorter-lived The Jones) and a consideration for those seeking café culture beyond Dimes Square and its masses. –Caitlin Pangares
→ Elvis (Noho) • 54 Great Jones St • Mon-Wed 4p-12a, Fri-Sat 4p-1a, Sun 2-10p • Walk-ins only.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Sponsor
Water & all that we love
Ryan and Arjan here, the co-founders of Jolie, a beauty wellness company focused on purifying the quality of one’s shower water for better skin and hair. We’re both fans and readers of FOUND, which is why we decided to sponsor this newsletter to reach like-minded folks like you.
As much as we love discussing water’s impact on skin and hair, we’re equally enamored by the connection of water to all else that we love in life — art, coffee, surfing, food, oysters, ceramics, and so much more. That’s why we created a fun video series, Water &, which looks at these topics through the lens of water. Some highlights:
We spent an early morning in Montauk with artist Joe Henry Baker who used the salty ocean water to paint with and wet his canvases, resulting in a crystallization in the painting as it dried.
We spent an evening with Esben Piper, the founder of the renowned Danish coffee company, La Cabra, at their Soho location in New York. Did you know that the parts per million of minerals in water (or the water’s “hardness”) made to brew La Cabra’s coffee is finely tuned to extract flavor while not making the coffee taste sour?
We joined designer Cynthia Rowley for a morning surf out east on Long Island, where the water is both a calming force for her and “balance” to her planned out, calendared work days.
We’ve always loved oysters, but we loved them even more once we started spending time with both the Billion Oyster Project and Montauk Pearl Oyster’s Mike Martinsen. Oysters clean the water by filtering water as they eat, removing ecosystem-destroying pollutants such as nitrogen. They also act as a natural storm barrier and help foster biodiversity. (The Billion Oyster Project, our non-profit of choice, is restoring the oyster reefs in New York’s harbors to clean the Hudson and East Rivers. Last we checked, 122 million oysters have been restored in New York’s harbor over the last 10 years.)
You can watch all of our Water & videos on our website here.
We worked with these partners because we think they are the best at what they do. If you are thinking about buying a Jolie, we encourage you to do so via the link below. We are picking five FOUND buyers to gift a year’s worth of La Cabra coffee to make at home.
The role of water is all around us. –Ryan Babenzien & Arjan Singh
→ Shop: The Jolie Filtered Showerhead (Jolie) • available in brushed gold, modern chrome, brushed steel, jet black, and vibrant red • $148.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale townhouses in Boerum Hill and Cobble Hill that came to market in the last 30 days.
→ 35 Douglass St (Cobble Hill) • 5BR/3.1BA, 3500 SF townhouse • Ask: $4.7M • 27’-wide currently configured as 3-family, 5000 SF buildable • Days on market: 17 • Monthly taxes: $827 • Agent: Cheryl Nielsen-Saaf, Corcoran.
→ 86 Bergen St (Boerum Hill, above) • 4BR/4.2BA, 3080 SF townhouse • Ask: $5.75M • newly built with four en-suite baths, garden & rooftop • Days on market: 16 • Monthly taxes: $692 • Agent: Edgar Zaldivar, Compass.
→ 537 Pacific St (Boerum Hill) • 5BR/6.1BA, 5671 SF townhouse • Ask: $7.4955M • 1300 SF of exterior space across four terraces, attended lobby • Days on market: 23 • Monthly taxes: $1922 • Agents: Tamara Abir & Noah Plener, Compass • Open house Sun 1130-1230p.
REAL ESTATE LINKS: Partial office-to-residential conversion planned at 2 Wall Street • Nolita’s Elizabeth Street Garden will stay open until February at least • An NYC draught watch explainer.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
Glug, glug, glou
ISABELLE LEGERON • founder • RAW WINE
Neighborhood you work in: Bushwick when I’m in NYC (where the fair is)
Neighborhood you live in: Ridgewood (this weekend), but Tourrettes sur Loup most of the time
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
This Friday afternoon is particularly special as we'll be getting ready for the 7th edition of RAW WINE New York (tickets here), taking place Sunday and Monday at 99 Scott. Lots of our growers and makers will be arriving in town Friday to pour all over the city in advance of the fair itself, so I'll be running around saying hi and tasting some of their newest wines. Since RAW WINE doesn’t have an office anymore and we all work remotely from different countries around the world, the NYC fair is always a double joy for the team as we’re not just getting to see all the natural wine community at large but also each other IRL.
Where are you dining this weekend?
When I come to New York for the fair, I always make sure to stop by some of the institutional wine bars that have been a huge part of defining natural wine in NY (Ten Bells, Wildair, The Four Horsemen are a few I love) but I'm also looking forward to trying newer spots that have sprung up recently — top of my list to try this weekend are Frog Wine Bar, Bar Vinazo, Place des Fêtes, and Margot.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Whenever I visit NYC, I like to sneak off for a pick me up: a two-hour, full-body massage in Chinatown. It really is the best way to get rid of jet-lag quickly, and since our autumn tour is pretty full-on (after NYC, we head to Toronto then Montreal then Berlin), it’s a great idea to start out full of bounce.
Any weekend getaways?
Having recently returned to mainland Europe after nearly a decade in the UK, it’s been a joy to rediscover how easy it is to get around, seeing great growers without having to even change currency. For some of my favorite grower getaways (all wines guaranteed delicious), check out:
The holistic Valli Unite in Piedmont — an agricultural cooperative community that set itself up in the ‘80s — has a rustic restaurant and agriturismo onsite, and a farm where they grow all sorts, and produce some of the best honey around.
The stargazing at the unique La Maliosa in Tuscany. It’s one of the darkest spots in Italy and you get to stay in a roofless StarsBOX in the middle of a vineyard on top of a hill (plus they are one of the few wine farms in the world that is actually a carbon sink, i.e., they absorb more CO2 than they produce).
The charismatic duo that is Steffi and Edi from Gut Oggau in Austria. They have a delicious Heuriger (wine tavern) open in summer, as well as Root Time weekends where you can spend lots of time with them understanding the natural world through their eyes. And if you need somewhere to stay, Steffi’s equally charming family have a boutique hotel, a guesthouse, and a three-starred Michelin restaurant all about five minutes away.
What was your last great vacation?
We have family in Bermuda, so we go there often. With the exception of the odd cruise ship, the island is surprisingly un-touristy given how spectacular the sea is. We’re big into swimming and snorkeling, so we spend all our time in the water, and one of our firm favorites is a fish sandwich from St George’s and a moreish glass of salty, mineral Albariño Viñas Vellas from Constantina Sotelo in Galicia at Jobson’s Cove (ideally on a Tuesday or perhaps Friday evening when no cruise ships disembark). Unfortunately, there’s no natural wine on the island, so we come with suitcases fully stocked.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
My new home! The house itself needs quite a lot (read “masses”) of work (we currently have no heating, for example) but the views of the Med and the Massif de l'Estérel are breathtaking, and we’re literally surrounded by wildlife — owls, toads, scorpions, snakes, wild boar, deer, eagles, and vultures. Our neighbors were sitting in their hot tub when two wolves trotted by.
GETAWAYS LINKS: The growth paradox of CLEAR• World’s longest flight getting first-class upgrade • On St Barths, Nikki Beach reopens for season this week following refresh • New Turks and Caicos resort South Bank opens at southern tip of South Bay • Inside San Miguel de Allende’s reopened Casa Dragones.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Laughfest
An Evening with the Disco Biscuits • Brooklyn Steel (Williamsburg) • Fri @ 8p • preferred terrace, $116 per
Bucks v Knicks • Madison Square Garden (Midtown South) • Fri @ 730p • section 107, $770 per
Judd Apatow & Friends • New York Comedy Festival • Beacon Theatre (Upper West Side) • Sat @ 8p • upper balcony, $80 per
CULTURE & LEISURE LINKS: The fight over city’s first disc golf course in Queens • Matthew Lusk’s gravity-defying exhibit worth the trip to Newburgh • NYC Marathon champ Ubered to Secaucus diner for afterparty • Embracing the chaos of Sunset Boulevard’s outdoor scene on Broadway.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Thanksgiving provisioning, Manhattan
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of NYC's best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundny.com. Previously: Thanksgiving provisioning, Brooklyn.
Natoora, fresh turkey delivery from NYC’s best home produce delivery service, pre-order