vip in the city

High Line Open Studios

Through the 1990s, the main occupants of West Chelsea were gas stations, parking garages, and big-box warehouses. As the city’s real estate market heated up, art galleries priced out of SoHo began trickling in to the lower-rent spaces in this primarily industrial neighborhood, eventually forming a new gallery district in the far West 20s. Established galleries like Gagosian and Mary Boone shared the streets with smaller, emerging galleries and artists, all drawn to the large, lofty spaces with plenty of natural light. There are now a staggering 360 galleries in Chelsea, up from 124 just eight years ago.

(Such variety can be overwhelming. How to know what’s worth checking out on any given day? Our friend DB puts together a handy cribsheet of his recommendations.)

This weekend, High Line Open Studios presented the Chelsea High Line Open Studios Art Walk. For three days, the public had exclusive access to the private studios of artists and designers working within two adjoining warehouse buildings on West 26th Street — vertical “art malls,” where each floor was partitioned into several working studios and exhibition spaces.

Sunday afternoon, B and I picked up our maps at 508 West 26th street, and proceeded to the main building at 526 West 26th Street. An elevator operator ferried visitors between the floors where artists would announce their participation with event flyers posted in the hallway. Inside, the space had the feel of a converted office building, with long, fluorescent-lit corridors, cement floors and institutional grey-painted walls. The studios themselves varied widely in size and configuration, to say nothing about the artwork within: small and large-scale canvases, photographs, collages, sculptures, light installations, videos…

Over the course of the next couple of hours, we wandered through dozens of working studios, and had the opportunity to meet and talk with a few of the creators themselves, many of whom seemed both excited by all the attention, and rather unused to all the company.

Taste of Union Square

Today in Union Square, House & Garden was hosting free chef demonstrations as part of their week of “Design Happening” events.  (Curious timing:  two and a half weeks later, the magazine announced they would cease publication in December 2007.)  The website touted a promising midday lineup of neighborhood chefs: Liza Queen of The Queen’s Hideaway, Jonathan White of Bobolink Dairy and Bakeyard, Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern, Josh Dechellis of BarFry, and Jason Avery of Pera Mediterranean Brasserie.

The weather, though, looked significantly less promising. By morning rush hour, dark clouds hovered overhead; whether the forecast rains would hold off until after lunch remained to be seen.

Oh well. It’s just water. Mostly.

DeChellis was born in Bogota, Colombia, raised in Clinton, New Jersey, and is best known for his innovative fusion-style cooking, which he honed at now-closed Union Pacific (where he was sous-chef under Rocco DiSpirito.) I’ve been a fan of DeChellis’ since his days in the kitchen at Sumile in the West Village, so I was pleased that his cooking segment coincided with my midday break.

We arrived at the south end of the park just as he was beginning to demonstrate his “BarFry salad,” one of the few non-fried menu items served at his newly opened — and well–reviewed — tempura palace. Making full use of the Greenmarket’s beautiful produce, DeChellis employed a variety of lettuces and shaved vegetables — many of which were familiar to us from our weekly CSA shares from Stoneledge Farm. (Ah, great use for mizuna and celeriac!) Hewing closely to his signature flavor profiles, he also incorporated Asian pear and shiso; the minty plant (leaves of which he passed around for sampling) with its distinctive piney/licoricey aroma was the one salad ingredient not available at the Greenmarket.

DeChellis gamely talked us through the paces of creating and plating a perfect salad as he answered questions from the audience.

As he wrapped up his presentation, a server appeared with white waxy paper bags of DeChellis’ special recipe popcorn. Those who know me know of my deep fondness for kettle corn, and this was like a gourmet, Asian-spiced version of that: sugar, salt, toasted sesame seeds, crushed pumpkin seeds, nori powder, nori flakes and Korean chili powder. Outrageously addictive!

And voilà — the DeChellis BarFry salad:

Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams launch

A few weeks ago, I received in the mail an invitation to attend the opening of the new Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams flagship in SoHo. I’ve been anticipating the store’s arrival since I first learned of it earlier this year, and since I have an appreciation for the line’s “Comfortable Modern” aesthetic – heretofore only available locally at ABC Carpet & Home – I thought I’d stop in to take a peek. One RSVP plus one later and we were all set to go.

I admit I was curious, too, to see the inside of Andre Balazs’ 11-story tower, known as One Kenmare Square. To Balasz, anyway. Almost everyone else knows the building as 210 Lafayette. Richard Gluckman of Gluckman Mayner Architects designed the rippled glass façade, which was unveiled in January 2006 to somewhat less scorn than has been heaped upon the similarly curvy Astor Place’s Sculpture for Living. Balasz, whose other properties include New York’s Mercer Hotel, The Raleigh in South Beach and the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, originally had planned to build the first of his Standard Hotel chain on this site (originally a parking lot), but revised his concept when economic conditions changed after 9/11.

I guess I wasn’t really sure what to expect of what essentially amounted to an after-work ribbon cutting. Certainly not a velvet rope, swirling floodlights, a green carpet (it’s the new black! Er… red!), four women working the check-in table and black-blazered door security.

A long bar was set up along the back wall of the ground level space as a team of black-clad servers circulated through the crowd with multi-tiered trays of hors d’œuvres: mini-burgers – always a crowd pleaser – papers cones of pommes frites, vegetable dumplings, mini-lobster rolls… Most striking of all – aside from the novelty of a full blown party inside a furniture showroom – was the sheer beauty on display. Not only the furnishings — 12,000 square feet on 2 floors — but the attendees, men and women! (And I don’t think it was just the champagne goggles.)

I was sad to have to tear myself away for far less glamorous endeavors.