Oui oui
Le Veau d’Or, Figure Eight, Saga, Skylight at the Refinery, non-power lunches, Colbo, best Times Square restaurants, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Person
The more French, the better
The menu at the recently reborn Le Veau D’Or on East 60th St. is broad and tall, in stark contrast to the cozy quarters of the restaurant to which it belongs. Both restaurant and menu, however, are proudly anachronistic throwbacks to a different era of fine dining.
Up top, an array of starters, opening with pommes soufflées caviar rouge a la creme, continuing with other French classics down to the mains, a subsequent salad course, and finally, desserts. And how French — and classically French — it is. Reading that menu, if you don’t already know by then, you might need Google Translate or a waiter to decode exactly what you’re in for, which (in both languages) works out to a very, very good night.
After an impressive run from 1937 to 2019, followed by a five-year closure, Le Veau d’Or reopened earlier this month. Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr of Frenchette and Le Rock renown have assumed ownership, blessing the space with subtle updates that echo the vintage design down to the red and black tiled floor. The result is a very 2024 room, in which every bit of history feels intact.
Before returning to that menu, a martini is in order. Though it can be tailored “your way,” take it “our way,” namely, with dry gin in a martini glass accompanied by a sidecar of vermouth topped with Vichy Catalan sparkling water and a lemon twist. The idea is to sip back and forth between them.
As drinks arrive, you’ll chart a course through the four-course prix fixe, $125 per. The food, like the design, is updated without erasing the past: You could ease in with salade de tomatoes, oysters, or a petit omelette. Or you could dive in head-first, via a beautifully crusted and glistening pâté en croûte, or escargots provençale served out of the shell in individual cups and topped with a wafer. If there’s a best practice for navigating this portion of the menu, it seems to be the more French, the better.
All four entrees on our table earned raves. Plates of crusted halibut and duck magret aux cerises were finished in a flash. The best was (somehow) yet to come: The onglet frites is a borderline-psychedelic hanger steak, impossibly tender, with a meticulous, peppery, seared crust on the outside. Fricassée chicken “en cocotte” — served in a Le Creuset — arrived in a throne of vin jaune sauce the color of uncut sunshine.
After entrees are cleared, a lightly vinegared bowl of lettuces appears, clearing the palate for desert, where that beautiful shade of yellow shows up again in île flottante, a cloud of meringue swimming in a pool of crème anglaise. It’s a French standard not often seen stateside and was a first among equals alongside boozy strawberries au sabayon, a scoop of house-churned cherries jubilee ice cream, and a cheese plate.
As the night wound down, we admired a menu on the wall across from our table dating, they think, to the first decade of the restaurant’s life. It has the same spirit and energy as today’s menu, and was a last reminder of how completely of the city, yesterday and today, Le Veau d’Or is. It’s the sort of place to return to when an essential and exceptional Gotham feels like it’s drifted out of reach. Or as one of our dining companions put it: Why would anyone ever leave New York? –Foster Kamer & Lockhart Steele
→ Le Veau d’Or (Upper East Side) • 129 E 60th St • Tues-Sat 5-9p • $125 prix fixe • Reserve.
RESTAURANTS • Intel
LE PDR: Following our meal at Le Veau d’Or, Derek Summerlin — the restaurant’s front of house leader, not to mention a grandchild of the restaurant’s original owner — told us he had something special to show us. To the right of the entrance is a staircase, at the top of which we found ourselves standing in what will quickly become one of NYC’s most vaunted private dining rooms. Although the space was previously used for offices, the makeover has captured the same vibe as the dining room downstairs, right down to the small bar at the rear of the space. It looks to seat about 20, 30 standing. Book your holiday party sooner than later.
CAFE EIGHT: Inside the excellent Cornelia Street spot Figure Eight (Greenwich Village), the restaurant’s pastry chef Janic Sung has started the pop-up Dogwood Cafe, serving pastries, including salted duck yolk croissant and bolobao (sourdough milkbun with craquelin topping and butter). It runs Fri-Sun 9a-3p through the summer — and perhaps longer, if demand persists.
NYC RESTAURANT LINKS: Chef Charlie Mitchell of Brooklyn Heights’ Clover Hill taking over kitchen at Saga • Four Horsemen team sign lease for new Williamsburg restaurant • Longtime pop-up Ha’s Đặc Biệt opening restaurant in former Gem Wine space on LES • Coqodaq making US Open debut next month.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
Skylight’s skylight
STEPHANIE BLAKE • CEO • Skylight
Neighborhood you work in: Williamsburg
It’s Tuesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I’m bicoastal, between Petaluma, CA & NYC; when I’m in NYC I stay at the Wythe or the Chelsea Hotel. Our office is a 2,600-square-foot, loft-style space at The Refinery at Domino, a building on the waterfront in Williamsburg that is also home to our penthouse venue, Skylight at the Refinery. When we’re on virtual calls from our office, people ask if our backdrop is real, because it’s the amazing window openings in the original brick facade of the original Domino Sugar Refinery. There are over 100 “windows,” none the same size, because they were never meant to have glass — they were meant to act as a beautiful facade for the big sugar refinery machinery.
This space represents the ethos of Skylight — we celebrate the art of gathering through our global collection of venues — and this particular building captures the soul and industrial past of Williamsburg. Our office also represents how we dream and our vision: Whether we’re in our office, or in our venue on the 15th floor above, the views are the best in NYC. From our penthouse in the sky, I’m eye level with the Brooklyn & Manhattan bridges, and get a daily, show-stopping sunset set against NYC’s skyline.
What’s on the agenda for today?
In addition to putting the finishing touches on Skylight at The Refinery, we’re in the midst of launching our district canvas at The Penn District, by Skylight.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
My best friend since the seventh grade and her husband, a butcher, are the people I trust most in the restaurant department. They took me to Dame in Greenwich Village for the first time, and it was to die for, every single bite. Sitting on the patio, it’s a perfect quintessential NYC evening.
How about a little leisure or culture this week?
I’m getting a new tattoo with Loki Lines at High Line Tattoo in Chelsea. One of my favorite tattoos is a simple abbreviation for a phrase we’ve used often at Skylight for the last 14 years — KOW, for “knock on wood.” The font is the same font E. B. White’s essay “This is New York” was originally printed in — it’s one of my most beloved essays, captures the energy and timelessness of this city, and rings especially true during this steamy summer.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I love this Isabel Marant set I bought just a couple of days ago, unexpectedly stumbling into her store after a business lunch. It’s a black and cream zip-up mini skirt and matching jacket with shoulder pads… and I couldn’t resist adding her steel toe slingbacks. A perfect outfit.
What NYC store or service do you love to recommend?
I’m a sucker for repeating a place where I've found magic again and again and again. My forever favorite breakfast spot for the last decade-plus and counting is Buvette. Sitting in the garden patio that squeezes in three tables of two, I always order soft scrambled eggs with caviar, not on the menu. My most recent tattoo is the word caviar, written in script. It’s not meant to be literal, it’s meant to remind me to always celebrate, life is short. Always choose joy.
WORK • The Cafeteria
Non-power lunches
Last week’s news that Daniel Boulud is launching a corporate catering business seemed like a natural evolution in the world of office amenities.
Meals are a key battleground in the war against work-from-home, and it’s hard to compete with a well-stocked refrigerator. Boulud could do it, though maybe not for everyone (prices start at $30 a person for breakfast and could hit $1000 for “a parade of caviar and truffles,” per Bloomberg).
Fresh out of college, my investment banking friends used to crow about free dinner via Seamless every time they stayed late to work, 18-hour days a small price to pay for Sparks at your desk.
I used to enjoy bringing lunch back to my office from the neighborhood, too, even though it was usually on my own dime. It was better in the East Village — where the options weren’t tailored to office workers — than Bryant Park, where they definitely were. But in all locations, the novelty inevitably wore off.
Now, in the home office, I usually piece together some leftovers in a way that feels luxurious only in that I’m in complete control. It’d be a hard routine to give up.
Of course, when a business lunch with an old friend is an option, I’ll happily make exceptions. I might even come into an office for Boulud delivery. Maybe I’d stay past dinner as a fair trade for the caviar parade. –Josh Albertson
WORK LINKS: Suddenly everywhere Whole Foods signs lease in StuyTown • Law firm Willkie re-ups at 787 Seventh Ave • Sephora renews on Madison and 53rd for 66% rent discount • LinkedIn survey records career confidence at four-year low • How to manage the career arc of superstar employees.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop
Creative hang
Orchard Street on the Lower East Side is teeming with galleries, vintage stores, bars, restaurants, and stylish shops. One such venue is Colbo, an understated, earth-toned boutique that houses an eponymous clothing line designed by Tel Aviv-born Tal Silberstein and defined by roomy shapes, desert tones, and natural fabrics. Amidst the fashionable racks, though, Colbo is as much a watering hole and hang-out for creatives as it is a store.
In addition to the in-house fashion label, there’s a full-service coffee shop with (very well-dressed) locals floating in and out for cortados and espresso tonics. A turntable plays vinyl records to set the tone as you peruse the clothing — a mix of Colbo, other small designers, and vintage — as well as other treasures, like incense and art books.
On weekends, Colbo shapeshifts into a pop-up venue, hosting a wide range of creatives, from DJs to florists to chefs and beyond — like former Bon App personality Alex Delany on music and cocktails and Win Son on Taiwanese-American bites, or Karla Smith-Brown of OLIVEE Floral arranging bold, dynamic bouquets by the entrance. Follow along on Instagram for updates, or just drop by for an Orchard Street surprise. –Phoebe Fry
→ Shop: Colbo (Lower East Side) • 51 Orchard St.
GOODS & SERVICES LINKS: Designer talks about making over 1 Wall St retail for forthcoming Parisian department store Printemps • Cult pottery brand East Fork opening Brooklyn storefront • Trader Joe’s opens first outpost in Harlem • A look at the hyper-personal new Bode in Tribeca • Starbucks Astor Place closes after 30-year run, reportedly after balking at rent hike • Bankrupt dispensary MedMen reportedly shutters 5th Ave store • Inside Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx.
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RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Restaurants, Times Square
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of NYC's best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundny.com.
Don Antonio, seriously underrated pizza from Neapolitan oven master