Counter revolution
Yamada, Kappo Sono, Hakubai, sales hiring, Printemps, Balenciaga, The Future Perfect, Nickey Kehoe, Eerdmans, best Citi Field dining, MORE
WORK • Help Wanted
Sales pitch
Big month here at FOUND HQ: We just passed 50K subscribers in NY and are on track to hit 100K across the FOUND network later this month (more on this situation as it develops). One of the ways we’re marking the occasion is by adding to our sales team. Here’s what we’re looking for:
Creative sellers who know how to connect brands with valuable audiences
A passion for building the next generation of lifestyle media
Category expertise in NYC real estate a plus
Category expertise in national (& global) luxury, spirits, financial services a plus
Experience selling newsletter sponsorships a plus
Open to full-time and part-time candidates
We have experience building and scaling sales operations and are excited to be doing it again with FOUND, which is now delivering recommendations and intel on dining, real estate, shopping, travel, culture & leisure, and work across six markets — NY, LA, SF, Miami, London, and Paris. Interested? Drop us a line at sales@foundny.com. (Of course, if you’re interested in advertising in FOUND, we’d love to hear from you as well. Same email!)
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Three seasons
After a decade of haute sushi openings in New York, it’s kaiseki’s turn. The Japanese style of dining — in which chefs pay tribute to the season through multi-course menus of small dishes prepared in a variety cooking methods with diversity in color, flavor, texture, and temperature — is on offer at these three exemplary counter-style spots that opened in roughly the last year (including one that just opened last week):
NEW KID: Isao Yamada famously ran David Bouley’s Brushstoke for seven years, and some of the French technique he picked up there is on display at his brand-new counter, Yamada (above). See, especially, the foie gras chawanmushi with king crab and Hokkaido uni. It’s the second of ten courses on his tasting menu ($300 per), which debuted last week. The restaurant abuts sibling Kooth Hospitality spots Kono and Nakaji, each of which sit behind nearly unmarked doors along Chinatown’s Canal Arcade.
Yamada’s classically Japanese space is dressed in the requisite earth-toned minimalism, with a 10-seat hinoki counter anchored by a central white quartzite island. While some kaiseki experiences test Western palates with unfamiliar ingredients (e.g., squid guts, monkfish liver), Yamada’s is more of a people pleaser, with its fatty, umami-laced ingredients in dishes like silky sweet gyokuro tea and soy sauce-marinated fatty otoro bluefin over rice. Yamada’s five-day sakura leaf-aged A5 wagyu, kissed with subtle nutty-vanilla flavor, is an immediate contender for best wagyu preparation in the city.
→ Yamada (Chinatown) • 16 Elizabeth St • Tue-Sat, seatings @ 530p & 830p • Reserve.
REAL DEAL: In Japan, it’s common for restaurants and bars to be discreetly tucked away on random floors of unassuming buildings. Getting lost is part of the adventure. Perched as it is on the sixth floor of an unmarked office building just off Union Square, Kappo Sono perfectly captures this transportive, uniquely Japanese charm. As the elevator opens, you’ll step into what feels like an apartment living room outfitted with a 12-seat L-shaped dining counter, complimented by a view of Union Square.
Behind that counter works Chikara Sono, one of the city’s OG kaiseki masters, best known for his 13-year tenure at the highly acclaimed Kyo Ya, which shuttered in 2020. As at Kyo Ya, the experience at Kappo Sono is deeply Japanese, entrenched in hyper-seasonal delicacies like slippery, chilled raw octopus roe in dashi and a kombu and ginger-flavored soft-shell turtle soup.
If you dine on a Friday or Saturday, you’re in for the full $350 omakase — an immersive three-hour, 11-course journey. (An abridged nine-course menu is available on Wednesdays and Thursdays for $285 per.) If you’re in the market for a dining experience that feels wholly transportive to Japan, this is it.
→ Kappo Sono (Union Square) • 39 E 13th St • Wed-Sat, seating @ 630p • Reserve.
STEER AUSTERE: A sleek and polished eight-seat kaiseki enclave in the basement of Midtown’s revamped The Prince Kitano New York hotel, Hakubai is also a very Japanese-feeling place, serving a high-level, traditional menu with exceptional ingredients (nine courses, $250 per). The space, which also includes seating along two U-shaped banquettes, has an impersonal sparseness and austerity to it in line with the aesthetic (and sometimes, energy) encountered in Japan, especially in hotel restaurants. It’s a unique cultural element that, in a good way, reminded me of being there.
Behind the counter, the team moves slowly, working around each other like animated puzzle pieces, hunched over tiny gold leaf-shaped dishes holding the first course: an amuse built from a short stack of slippery botan ebi (shrimp), sakuradai (cherry sea bream), and pickled turnips, finished with spinach oil and bits of finger lime. Next, a triptych of small seasonal bites: egg yolk yellow vinegar miso sauce with poached and grilled squid; yuba with ikura and a sweet gold leaf-annointed black bean; and dashi-simmered whelk topped with sansho. A show-stopping uni chawanmushi follows, the egg custard just barely held together and topped with creamy uni sauce, fresh uni, and a goji berry, which disintegrates in your mouth. It’s spectacular, perhaps the best version of this very common dish I’ve ever had. –Kat Odell
→ Hakubai (Midtown) • 66 Park Ave • Tue-Sat 530-10p • Reserve.
RESTAURANTS • The Ticket
Matt Lightner x ILIS Dinner • 12-course prix-fixe menu from acclaimed chef Matt Lightner, optional beverage pairing • ILIS (Greenpoint) • Tue 04/16 @ 530p, $362 per
Place des Fêtes 3 Year Anniversary Party • raw bar, fish sandwiches, all-you-can-drink wine • Place des Fêtes (Clinton Hill) • Mon 04/21 @ 6p, $95 per
Cinco de Mayo Salsa Daddy Launch Party with Rick Martinez • book launch celebration featuring 4-course menu and meet and greet with Rick Martinez and DJ • Hellbender (Ridgewood) • Mon 05/05 @ 5p, $65 per
NYC RESTAURANT LINKS: In the West Village, Fedora rises again • Chef Alex Guarnaschelli in at New York Historical’s restaurant Clara • Acclaimed tasting counter Blanca closing at end of week • Manhattan’s first 2-D restaurant opens in East Village • Cuozzo to dining slobs: learn how to dress! • Inside the short, wild life of Baby’s Nightclub at Hudson Yards Hotel • How to save a dive bar without ruining it.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
Springtime
GREGORY GOURDET • culinary director • Printemps America
Neighborhood you work and live in: Financial District
It’s Tuesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
It’s a buzzing Tuesday morning at the restaurant. In our dining room at Maison Passerelle, 40 new team members are getting onboarded with HR as we prepare to open [April 17]. Training starts this weekend, and the energy is high.
I walk through the prep kitchen, greeting our executive sous chef as he shows me the dry-aged ducks he’s preparing for our opening menu. Next, I stop by our raw bar, Salon Vert, which will open in a few hours for service. I confirm the oyster selection for the day and taste all the prepped sauces, vegetables, and seafood. Then, I head to our café, Café Jalu, to check on the team, grab my first coffee of the day, and take a look at the pastry case. Everything looks incredibly fresh, and the line for croissants and Haitian chocolate cookies is the longest it’s been since we opened.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Today, our focus is on executing a great lunch service at Salon Vert. It’s a small, intimate kitchen, so efficiency and flow are key to making it work. Tonight, we’re hosting our first private event in the space, for 100 guests. It’s exciting to see how the team handles this volume in a new setting.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
With 12+ hour days at the restaurant, I usually grab a quick bite to keep going. Right now, I’m on a steady diet of chicken tacos and guac from Los Tacos No. 1, which just opened around the corner — great protein and fiber at a solid price. This weekend, my vegan chef friend is visiting from Portland and invited me to Eleven Madison Park last minute. I’m justifying the splurge by telling myself that it’s been about a year since my last visit.
How about a little leisure or culture this week?
My friend Dom Dolla is DJ’ing at MSG, with Kid Cudi as his special guest. I’m excited to support him and get inspired — seeing a friend sell out MSG and share their passion with 20,000 people is unreal. Plus, I’ll get to go backstage at MSG for the first time. I was just here last week for a Knicks game, so it’s wild to be back in such a different context.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
As a recovering NYC raver from the ’90s, you can imagine my excitement when Balenciaga dropped their Platform Sneaker on the runway last year. I was on my client advisor immediately to secure a pair, and after months of patiently waiting, they finally arrived. This shoe is the epitome of a modern throwback. Just 30 years ago, I was getting my Pumas turned into platforms at East Village Shoe Repair (original St. Mark’s location) before hitting the West Side clubs. This is a fun, full-circle moment.
What NYC store or service do you love to recommend?
Andrew Pannullo at Bodyworks DW is hands-down the best massage therapist I’ve ever worked with — and as a chef and runner who’s put his body through decades of wear and tear, I’ve had a lot of massages. I’m a few months out from back surgery, and his deep, intense technique has been a game-changer for my chronic pain. I can’t recommend him enough.
WORK LINKS: As trophy spaces fill up around it, Third Avenue regains allure • Sauna and cold plunge studio Othership is magnet for NYC tech biz crowd • Goodwin Procter relocating to 200 Fifth Ave in Flatiron • Law students canceling interviews with Skadden • Unlearning hustle culture isn’t easy • Is the era of prescriptive office design over?
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shops
Collecting design
Three west-side design showrooms set in brownstones that offer a lived-in way to shop for home decor.
HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: To the untrained eye, The Future Perfect looks like a normal, residential West Village brownstone. Once inside, it’s a different story. Every room in the four-floor townhouse is staged to look like a space someone (with very chic, expensive taste) actually lives in (above). Displaying the homewares and art in situ is meant to encourage visitors envisioning these items in their homes, as all pieces are available for purchase. Shelves are lined with small, special items, too — like a silver martini coup encrusted with garnets and abalone shells — making it easy to picture how they would look on your kitchen shelf. Other placements are… less traditional. Witness a 6-foot tall, $10K copper sculptural floor lamp casually plugged in next to a functional bathtub, or a large-scale In Common With blown-glass table lamp set up inside the basement wine fridge. It’s attention-grabbing, even if that’s not exactly how you’d style them yourself.
→ Shop: The Future Perfect (West Village) • 8 St Luke’s Pl • By appointment only.
EAST COAST HOMECOMING: Celebrity-favorite, LA-based interior designers Todd Nickey and Amy Kehoe opened their first Nickey Kehoe store in a historic Greenwich Village brownstone last spring. This was a homecoming of sorts, as the pair originally met in NYC. The building itself has historical significance, too — it was once home to Jackson Pollock during his early career. The basement floor holds a curation of practical-but-beautiful household items, like hand towels by Spanish brand Autumn Sonata or bars of soap by Wonder Valley. The main floor is more expansive, dedicated to custom-made couches, lighting, textiles, and wallpapers, as well as vintage one-of-a-kind ceramics and fine art. The soaring ceilings with preserved period details serve as a fitting backdrop. All these large-scale pieces are arranged as they would be in a customer’s home, if that home was designed by Todd and Amy. Everything fits within their point of view.
→ Shop: Nickey Kehoe (Greenwich Village) • 49 E 10th St • Mon-Sat, 10a-6p.
SEEING GREEN: Just off Fifth Ave., Eerdmans is a hidden haven for art and antiques. Interior designer Emily Evans Eerdmans lives in the upper floors of the brownstone and operates her studio and showroom out of the garden-level and parlor-level floors. The warm space exists in direct opposition to other (borderline-sterile) design stores on East 10th. It’s immediately apparent that you’re inside someone’s actual home — Emily’s specifically. Guests are greeted by either her cat (Babs) or pug (Pompey), who often tries to escape out the front door. The gallery itself is painted in Eerdmans’s signature lime green, and houses rare vintage furniture and lighting for sale as well as a series of rotating art exhibits. The adjoining private courtyard is used for events or rotating exhibits’ opening parties, furnished with a patio set that’s a similar bright, neon green. Eerdmans’ accompanying website sells books she’s authored on interior design, and additional home decor items not available to shop in person. (Eerdmans is also popping up at Bergdorfs as part of their new Charish partnership, in a booth built to feel like the downtown domain.) Eerdmans believes objects should be lived with as well as appreciated — shoppers in her special showroom will leave feeling the same. –Caitlin Pangares
→ Shop: Eerdmans (Greenwich Village) • 14 E 10th St • Tue-Fri 10a-6p, Sat 11a-5p, or by appointment.
GOODS & SERVICES LINKS: Century-old NYC watch brand Benrus is back • New owners hoping to re-open Silver Moon bakery at new UWS address • Ralph Lauren fending off LVMH bid for Soho storefront • Tariffs could devastate the American wine industry • Expect secondary market for Ferraris and Burgundy to boom • Trying on all the ‘compromise pants.’
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Dining, Citi Field
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of NYC’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundny.com.
Patty Palace (Hudson Whiskey NY Club & Clover Club Market), new this season, Jamaican patties w/ curried chicken from Tatiana chef Kwame Onwuachi