Each week, Alexa is rounding up the buzziest fashion drops, hotel openings, restaurant debuts and celeb-studded cultural happenings in NYC. It’s our curated guide to the very best things to see, shop, taste and experience around the city.
What’s making our luxury list this week? Casa Tua lands on the UES, Kara Walker has a solo show and the Four Seasons Hotel has finally reopened.
Tribeca now has another semi-hidden watering hole in a super-stylish spot. It’s The Bar at Quarters, located inside Quarters, a beautiful, 8,000-square-foot home furnishings shop from the duo behind design studio and lighting brand In Common With. The bar’s offerings are divided into sections by time of day – Daytime, Apero Hour, and Evening — with menus created by Nicole and Jennifer Vitigliano of Raf’s and The Musket Room. The beverage program, also created by the Vitiglianos, includes a wine list highlighting women and BIPOC-owned organic and biodynamic producers from Europe. Reservations are available through Resy. Pro tip: the shop (and bar) are not on street level. ShopQuarters.com
Kara Walker’s solo show, “The High and Soft Laughter of the N***er Wenches at Night, in the Colorless Light of Day,” debuted recently at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in Chelsea. It features a new body of watercolor and ink collages and works on paper, as well as a series of bronze busts. “Through collage, drawing, sculpture, and installation, Kara Walker has consistently interrogated the legacy of American myth-making as it manifests through systems of race, sexuality, and violence. Her work leverages satire and archetypes to needle at the dominant narratives and prevailing dissonances of the United States’ own self- conception,” reads part of a statement from the gallery about the show. Through December 14, SikkemaJenkins.com
There’s no shortage of high-end furnishings showrooms and galleries in NYC, but that doesn’t stop those who see a potential white space to be filled. In the case of Etēline, that space is: French designers. Earlier this year, co-founder (with Nicole Scott) Olivier Gautschoux told Business of Home that “Nicole and I already knew there was so much talent in France, and we saw all these people who had never been shown in the States…we felt like: ‘Let’s create the bridge between France and America and let’s make them visible in the U.S.’” Both Gautschoux and Scott are alumni of Holly Hunt, and they describe Etēline as a “collective of talents,” with about two dozen designers, artists and artisans represented. Their first free-standing showroom, dubbed “The Skyline at Etēline” is now open to the public in the Starrett-Lehigh Building. Those who prefer to pre-shop can do so on their website where, refreshingly, prices are actually listed. Etēline.com
Today is the day an iconic New York City hotel awakens after an extended slumber. The Four Seasons Hotel, housed in an iconic, 52-storey I.M. Pei-designed building is back and, as they say, better than ever. While the famed Billionaire’s Row property has had a facelift of sorts, the work was excellent, and the lobby layout will feel familiar to those who used to frequent the bar after a long day of — fill in the blank — work, power shopping, museum tours. The soaring lobby is flanked by a bar on one side (the Ty Bar, named after owner Ty Warner) and a restaurant (The Garden) on the other. Coming in 2025: extended stay accommodations and an updated fitness center and spa. FourSeasons.com
Miky and Leticia Grendene created Casa Tua over 20 years ago in Miami. Today the couple’s culinary empire includes outposts in Aspen, Paris, and, at last, in New York City. Their choice of an Upper East Side location may surprise some, but Miky noted in an interview earlier this year that he felt the area needed “new blood, new things, new energy.” Voila. Casa Tua’s New York iteration has a ground-floor restaurant (with a Mediterranean-focused menu) and lounge, both designed by Michele Bonan, as well as a private, members-only space on the second floor to “create a home away from home for its nearly 3,000 members.” CasaTuaLife.com
