Raising the bar
The Bar at Quarters, new Dumbo listings, Ingas Bar, Denino's, Yankees World Series tix, Florida Keys getaways, Brooklyn Circus, FOUND Paris & London, MORE
THE ASK: We’re seeking contributors for our forthcoming European editions: FOUND London and FOUND Paris. These are very flexible freelance roles that don’t necessarily require a professional writing background — mostly passion and impeccable taste. Is that you, or a friend? Drop us a line at found@foundny.com.
BARS • First Round
Close Quarters
The Skinny: Tucked away in a second-story Tribeca loft, the concept store/showroom Quarters feels like walking off Broadway into your most design-forward friend’s beautiful home. As of last month, you can stay for a bite and a drink, as the ambitious shop launched all day café service in their back room dining area, The Bar at Quarters.
The Vibe: The loft is styled as a (very elevated) residence — a bedroom, living room, dining room, and bathroom are all staged with exquisite detail. In the café space, glossy ceramic bud vases tables are arranged in neat rows, and servers refill water cups with hand-crafted bubble glass pitchers (all of which can be purchased on-site). The ability to “try before you buy” is rare for home objects, so it’s refreshing to get a use-case test-drive of a ceramic espresso cup before it ends up in your cabinet.
The Food: Pastries from Raf’s, like their popular cacio e pepe scone, complement morning coffee service. The small snack menu available during “apero hour” from 4-5p includes gildas, fennel taralli, and potato chips, after which a full menu of small plates can be ordered from 5p-12a. There’s also a shop for assorted pantry staples, like honey from the Santa Monica mountains, chili crisp made with Marcona almonds, and pink gooseberry elderflower jam.
The Drinks: Espresso is served from 11a-4p, after which, wines by the glass, low ABV cocktails, and non-alcoholic tonics are served beneath an intricate, hand-painted mural from behind a sculpted burled wood bar.
The Verdict: The Bar at Quarters is a welcome addition to a neighborhood that has both coffee shops and wine bars — but none quite as beautiful as this. –Caitlin Pangares
→ The Bar at Quarters (Tribeca) • 383 Broadway, 2nd Fl • Tues-Weds 11a-4p, Thur-Sat 11a-12a • Reserve.
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
In the land down Dumbo, three listings that have come to market recently in the $3M-$6M range.
→ 1 John St #9C (Dumbo) • 2BR/2BA, 1489 SF condo • Ask: $3.1M • two bedrooms directly fronting the East River • Days on market: 11 • Monthly taxes: $2050; Monthly cc: $1834 • Agent: Karen Heyman, Sotheby’s.
→ 30 Main St #11G (Dumbo, above) • 3BR/2.1BA, 2474 SF condo • Ask: $4.195M • two bedroom loft in the Sweeney Building • Days on market: 2 • Monthly taxes: $3559; Monthly cc: $4367 • Agent: Victoria Zelepukin, R New York.
→ 51 Jay St #PHE (Dumbo) • 4BR/4.1BA, 3016 SF condo • Ask: $5.8M • duplex penthouse with two terraces and deeded parking space • Days on market: 25 • Monthly taxes: $4613; Monthly cc: $4829 • Agent: Joshua Wesoky, Compass.
REAL ESTATE LINKS: New renderings revealed for 13-story 525 Sixth Ave in Greenwich Village • In Midtown, Friars Club building heading to foreclosure sale • Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten partnering on new 48-story residential tower in Miami • Indecision on buying or selling a place? Blame the election.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
Mercy!
EDDIE JOYCE • novelist & small business investor
Neighborhood you work and live in: Brooklyn Heights
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
Once upon a time, I was a big Friday night guy: hit happy hour, grab dinner, stay out late, sleep in on Saturday. But with three teenage daughters and a wife who has a high stress, demanding job, Fridays have turned into a come home and crash night. In order to tamp down my end-of-the-week energy, I do a late afternoon workout at Form Fitness in Brooklyn Heights. My trainer, Francine, is fantastic and knows how to kick my ass so I'm exhausted but not sore all weekend. Afterwards, I go home and make dinner for the family, something simple, like roast chicken and potatoes, or turkey chili. Then, the five of us watch a TV show together. By 10, everybody's in bed.
Where are you drinking or dining this weekend?
Saturday night is date night. Sometimes my wife and I go into the City. (I was born and raised on Staten Island so Manhattan was and will forever be "the City" to me.) More often than not, though, we end up at Ingas Bar, a short walk from our place. It's just a lovely place to spend an evening. The food is amazing, and the menu changes often. I like to try whatever's new, but the cheeseburger is pretty hard to resist.
Sunday meals are for the whole family. My father owned a bar in Bay Ridge for forty years and on Sundays, my mom made trays of food for the regulars to eat while watching the Jets and Giants. My daughters don't like football but they love football food, so during the season, I'll make one of the dishes my mom used to make — sausage, peppers, and potatoes, or roast pork with sauerkraut. If I don't feel like cooking, we all go to Noodle Pudding, an institution here in Brooklyn Heights. I start with an ice cold martini; it feels like giving Monday morning the middle finger. Then either the tagliata or the cacio e pepe.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Having three kids with different interests means I spent a lot of the weekend driving them around to various activities, but we try to squeeze in a little culture when we can. I'm on the board of the Brooklyn Public Library, and there's always something fun or interesting happening at one of the branches. Sometimes, we take a quick trip over to The Brooklyn Museum. Or even just swing by Books Are Magic on Montague Street. Once or twice a year, we actually plan ahead and get tickets to a Broadway show.
Any weekend getaways?
Not exactly a traditional getaway, but every six weeks or so, I feel compelled to drive across the Verrazano and get pizza at Denino's. I love the pizza, of course, but just being there centers me. I've been eating there for over 40 years. My grandmother used to live in an apartment complex down the street. We went there after our high school basketball games. I've introduced college friends to it. I took my wife there on our third date. I was already falling for her, but if she didn't appreciate Denino's, it might not have worked out. Thankfully, she loved it.
What was your last great vacation?
One of my daughters plays soccer for Brooklyn City FC (BCFC). Last spring, they took a few teams, including hers, to Italy. I tagged along as a chaperone. It wasn't quite relaxing enough to be a vacation, but it was still an amazing trip: a mix of soccer and cultural experiences. We went to Rome, Florence, and Perugia. I had been to the first two places before but didn't know anything about Perugia, a hilltop city in Umbria. I was blown away. Beautiful city, excellent food, particularly the porchetta.
At this one restaurant, Altromondo da Claudia, after I ordered something, the waitress gave me the once over, shook her head, and told me to get the gnocchi in truffle sauce. I'm not a big gnocchi fan and don't particularly like truffles, but when someone is that confident, you go with it. One of the best dishes I've ever had, though I did slip into a brief coma afterwards.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I'm not a particularly stylish person, but I do have a strong sweater game. I recently bought a turtleneck from Inis Meain Knitting Co., a clothing company based in the Aran Islands, a remote archipelago off the west coast of Ireland. They do modern riffs on traditional Irish sweaters and garb. Gorgeous.
What store or service do you always recommend?
I love, love, love Brooklyn Circus, a menswear company that fuses old school sensibilities with contemporary flair. I'm not cool enough to wear their clothes, but I do anyway. Their store on Nevins Street is an oasis of chill.
CULTURE & LEISURE LINKS: That crane in Madison Square Park is a 1969 Link-Belt from Tennessee • Gowanus Open Studios returns a year after record floods • Gallery watch: pioneering metal furniture designer Maria Pergay at Demisch Danant in Union Square • Severed hands are haunting contemporary art.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Fall Classic
Yankees v Dodgers • World Series game 3 • Yankee Stadium (Bronx) • Mon @ 808p • section 113, $3197 per
André 3000 • BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (Fort Greene) • Sat @ 730p • orchestra, $280 per
MJ Lenderman & The Wind • Music Hall of Williamsburg (Williamsburg) • Sat @ 8p • preferred mezzanine, $150 per
GETAWAYS LINKS: Four NYC bars on new World’s 50 Best Bars list • Makeover of EWR continues: all-new Terminal B, and sooner, three new lounges • New NYC Four Seasons accepting reservations from Nov 15 • Faena New York now targeting spring 2025 opening in Chelsea • YOLO drops latest London Black Book.
GETAWAYS • The Nines
Fall getaway, Florida Keys
Nine hotels for a weekend away this season.
Bungalows Key Largo (Key Largo, mile marker 99), Florida Keys’ only all-inclusive resort, adults-only, $1369