FOUND: Routines
Hesser, Rosati, Freedman, Peckham, Hattikudur, Wilson, Salmon, MORE
THE ASK • Routine Subjects
Know someone who would make a great FOUND Routine? Hit reply or drop us a line at found@foundny.com. And now, a special pre-Labor Day Weekend Thursday edition for your enjoyment.
ABOUT FOUND • Routines
All in a day’s work (or play)
FOUND Routines chronicle how notable New York area residents — across industries, neighborhoods, and interests — spend their days and nights.
On Tuesdays, FOUND delves into the workday of a New Yorker, from the first meeting to the final nightcap. At the end of the week, the Friday Routine focuses on what’s on tap for the weekend, whether around the city or at a getaway.
The best routines are vibrant snapshots, full of personality, useful intel, and actionable recommendations. Collectively, they paint a picture of lives well spent in and around the city.
Welcome to FOUND routines. Get to know us.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
‘I don’t believe in WFH’
BESS FREEDMAN, CEO, Brown Harris Stevens
Neighborhood you work in: Midtown East
It’s Tuesday morning, where are you working?
I'm in my office at 445 Park Avenue. I don’t believe in WFH — I despise it. Real estate is a relationship business, and to build strong relationships, it helps to be in person. I also think it's nearly impossible to build culture over Zoom calls.
What’s the Tuesday morning scene at your workplace?
As soon as I get to the office, I make a cup of coffee, and read the papers. The morning scene is fairly chaotic. Lots of phone calls, some Zooms, a few in-person meetings. Arriving around 8 allows me a little time to prepare. I like to walk the halls to see who's in, so I usually do that when I get a break from my schedule. I love seeing people in person… catching up, sharing a story, a hug, connecting. It’s why I do what I do — the people!
What’s for lunch?
Today I have lunch with an agent at Bilboquet. I love it there, because it's fast (and good). I LOVE their French fries, and they have great salads, and fresh fish. Also, the staff is impeccable... Incredible service.
Any plans tonight?
Tonight I'm going to Sandro's on East 86th to sit at the bar and have dinner with some friends. I've been going there since my kids were little. Love the lemon pasta. And a family-owned business… Solid people, and delicious food. I also love Raoul’s, in Soho. Dover sole, fries, great dessert. It’s a cool spot with high vibes. Feels very New York.
GETAWAYS • Friday Routine
One-mile beach life and ‘a crazy good year of travel’
Pavia Rosati, Founder, Fathom
Neighborhood you live in: Chelsea
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
I split my life between NYC and London – a few months here, a few there — and just got back to town last week, so I’m still in full soak-up-the-city mode. On Friday afternoon, that means heading to Anton’s for a late lunch in the sunshine (roast beef sandwich and chicory salad), then meeting a friend for a little end-of-the-week vino.
Any restaurant plans this weekend?
I have a hard time not going to Shukette anytime I want to eat out — it’s just too good. I’m keen to check out to Greywind (Dan Kluger can do no wrong) and get back to C as in Charlie for more Korean BBQ ribs. Weekends are for at-home dinner parties with friends. I go to restaurants on weekdays.
Do you get away anywhere regularly for the weekend?
Dear friends are very generous about inviting us to their place in Sagaponack, across the street from a rambling old house I rented for 10 years. My Hamptons routine is pretty easy: Gibson Beach, Marilee’s Farmstand, Wölffer rose, dinner in the backyard, books I start and don’t finish. Is my beach life confined to a one-mile radius? Yes. The less I do out there, the happier I am.
What was your last great vacation?
Before I answer, I should say that I run a travel website, so I travel more than most people. But even for me, 2023 has already been a crazy good year of travel. The experiences that stand out are Sujan Sher Bagh (a tiger safari) and Sujan Jawai (leopards!) in Rajasthan, India; a way-too-brief stay at Passalacqua on Lake Como (above); ten days in Istanbul, Ephesus, and Cappadocia on my first trip to Türkiye; and discovering Feria, an insane, two-week party that happens every year in Seville. (Pause while I catch my breath.) I’m ready to stay put for a while. But I’m scheming a trip to the Canadian Rockies.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
Food52’s oasis in the Navy Yard
Amanda Hesser, founder and executive chair, Food52, Schoolhouse, and Dansk
Neighborhood you work in: Brooklyn Navy Yard
What’s the Tuesday morning scene at your workplace?
A bunch of our team is traveling today so the office is a bit cavernous. I’m in my new office in the Brooklyn Navy Yard (above) – my first office in my career (I’m 51). I’m an introvert so having an oasis that I can slip into to recharge feels like a massive upgrade.
What’s on the agenda for today?
A friend of mine, who consults with CEOs on strategy and communications, is coming by for coffee. I’m helping work through our construction punch list (you didn’t say my day had to be glamorous, right?). I’m writing a blog post on the marzipan bars at Koloman and working with a production company on a cooking show concept. Later, I’m meeting up with one of our longtime Shop partners — Zwilling, a cookware company — who’s coming to visit our new space. And I’m going to talk to a friend who started a big coffee business to try and convince him to write a book about it.
What’s for lunch?
Egg salad with extra capers on a toasted wheat bagel, and a side of slaw from nearby Russ & Daughters. I also had the tahini-tomato orzo salad that’s part of Will Coleman’s chef-in-residence menu for Hungry House. Will does funny and charming cooking videos for us, and he’s starting his own spice company, Bold. He’s a great NY story.
Any plans tonight?
Going to see The Fears, a new play by Emma Sheanshang.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
Line dancing and a ‘never-miss’ on the Lower East Side
LINDSEY PECKHAM, co-founder, POMME Creative
Neighborhood you live in: Nolita
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
I like to pepper my Fridays with less-official meetups with friends to find out who’s doing cool things. There’s a very good chance my darling Natasha Pickowicz will feature prominently in these shenanigans, recently including lots of fun events, fundraisers, and garden parties for her brilliant debut cookbook More Than Cake. This Friday, specifically: I scheduled a haircut at 5pm, intentionally, so I can come ready with gossip (and martinis) for me and Jennipher, the only person allowed to touch my hair, sober or otherwise.
Any restaurant plans this weekend?
It’s not really a weekend morning if I’m not nursing my hangover with an incriminatingly large array of beverages (Topo Chico, coffee, OJ, Miller High Life) plus a donut, a kolache, and a breakfast taco at Yellow Rose. As for dinner — oh god I’m so wary to put this out there, it’s a sacred space to me — Le French Diner on the Lower East Side is a never-miss. There are literally only 10 bar stools and three tables, and the kind of abbreviated menu that somehow has everything you want and nothing you don’t. A picture-perfect teeny delicious chaotic better-than-it-has-any-need-to-be neighborhood restaurant.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I’m all about dancing as much as possible this summer, and my super talented friends from Muscle Memory are hosting a nonstop dance party at Public Records next week called Infinite Beat, where the live and DJ sets go all night, no breaks.
Speaking of dancing, I’m also a devoted (fanatic?) line dancer… yeehaw, friends. I’m always checking for classes and events at Big Apple Ranch. It’s the kind of dance class that’s improved by a shot and beer beforehand, aka the best kind.
Do you get away anywhere regularly for the weekend?
We sneak up to our friends’ dreamy farm in Pawling (above) as often as we can. We also spend some time in Utica every summer where my husband does a Shakepeare summer stock show at Woodshill, a local theater nonprofit. I’d encourage people to look outside the traditional Hudson Valley spots and explore some of the smaller, objectively weirder, towns in upstate and central New York.
GETAWAYS • Friday Routine
A city summer weekend kiki (and Kiki’s)
MANGESH HATTIKUDUR, co-founder of Kaleidoscope, previously co-founder of mental_floss Magazine
Neighborhood you live in: Boerum Hill
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
I just came back from a crazy reporting trip in India, so staying put in the city this weekend is a luxury. I save Fridays for joyous meetings (met Racquet co-founder Caitlin Thompson at Dimes to gossip about her Racquet House event at the French Open), or dreaming up fun ideas and chatting up friends and people I enjoy/admire, who as a rule, I try hard to work with. My friend Melissa came through today to chat about an audio doc, but we ended up talking about the specialized Japanese Highball Machine at Superiority Burger, and how good the high balls are (if you ask nicely, they will just give you the seltzer from the machine — she swears it’s the best seltzer she’s ever had).
Any restaurant plans this weekend?
We tend to get a sitter one night a week, so tonight we’ll get a cocktail by our house at Bar Goto. The drinks are wonderful, but the number of times I’ve told people that their celery appetizer is the greatest bar snack: Remarkable. My friend and collaborator Mark Lotto (editor on my astrology/memoir show Skyline Drive) has a birthday, so we’ll see him for dinner.
We’re considering having the launch party for our new podcast The Good Thief at Kiki’s, so we’re going to swing by and check out the scene at some point, too. I’m keen to meet one of the owners — all I know about him is that he’s amazing, and also, paints his chicken’s nails (above), which endears him to me immediately.
What was your last great vacation?
We had really lovely vacations in Rome and South Goa last year (I got to visit my grandfather’s old ice cream factory, which was sold off when I was a kid, and somehow still exists!). But oddly, the one we keep thinking about is Nova Scotia. Neither my wife nor I had time to plan anything, so we just bought tickets, got a rental, and drove. And ate fresh berries, fresh corn, and hiked — cooled our heels in streams under waterfalls and ate good seafood. The whole trip was just so easy and pleasant and beautiful.
And more Routines:
Joanne Wilson, founder, Gotham
Philippe von Bories, co-founder Refinery29, most recently CEO Lonely Planet