MY Secret NY

Winter is coming

Let’s be honest, we were tempted to keep this one (jealously) to ourselves… it’s one of our favorite winter spots in New York. As the mercury plummets, you will be hunting for a hibernation spot. For after-ski enthusiasts, mulled wine addicts and those nostalgic for mountain hospitality, we found an alpine refuge in the heart of the city. In Manhattan, no mountain summits to climb but snow-capped skyscrapers. And it is in Chelsea that a wooden cabin opened last week on the rooftop of the McKittrick hotel – The…

Russian nights

If you thought Monday night was your one night to relax during your typical bacchanalian NY week – you were wrong. The best parties are on Monday, they are Russian, and they are named Mari Vanna. If you do not hum the Kalinka with a rabbit fur ushanka glued to your head, it could be difficult to penetrate Mari Vanna’s dacha. On Monday evenings doors close at 9pm. To enter, you have to ring and show your credentials or have your own set of keys…

Dinner with Woody Allen

One of NY’s small privileges is the opportunity to randomly bump into one of your favorite personalities while out wandering – whether you end up on the same ferry to Brooklyn as Leonardo DiCaprio, or at the table next to Sarah Jessica Parker in a Nolita restaurant. But if you do not want to rely on fate alone, we suggest you visit the Carlyle Hotel on Monday evenings to have dinner in the company of Woody Allen. We all have our favorite version of Woody Allen. Whether he plays an inveterate…

The new “Sleep No More”

How about spending your Halloween night with Lewis Caroll trapped within the confines of a former psychiatric hospital? For a horrifying night, you can’t do better than the English writer’s eerie universe. Forget about haunted houses full of ghosts; instead, you will find yourself in the setting of a hospital occupied by strangely familiar figures such as the Mad Hatter or the Queen of Hearts, over which lingers the shadow of the (very) controversial relationship between Lewis Caroll and his (very) young muse Alice.

Soho like you’ve never seen it before

Soho is known for its trendy boutiques and weekends spent slaloming in the midst of (almost unbearable) stream of tourists. A coffee at The Mercer Kitchen, dinner at Blue Ribbon – Soho is the place to see and be seen. But there’s more to Soho than that! Here’s two spaces that will make you love Soho differently: The Judd Foundation at 101 Spring Street. Donald Judd, a founding father of Minimalism, acquired this ramshackle-superb cast-iron building in the late 60s, at a time when the…

It’s Christmas before time

It’s one of the life’s little delights. It’s like securing the last piece of chocolate pie at Kayser, seeing the new Woody Allen movie or being smiled at in the street. This guilty pleasure is the discovery of Michelin’s selection of New York restaurants, which published its 2016 edition last week. Verdict: few changes and surprises compared to last year among the 2 and 3 stars – only The Modern got upgraded with the arrival of the Chef Abram Bissell and entered the very private club of double decorations….

My Top 3 “Farm to Table” restaurants

Left picture: The Fat Radish; Top right picture: Locusts-on-Hudson; bottom right picture: Blenheim In the homeland of McDonald’s, in the kingdom of industrial fast-food, where calories rise to the rank of national allegory, was born the dissident concept of “farm to table”. “Farm to table” restaurants advocate a return to the roots and simplification of the production chain: from the farm directly to your plate. The particularity of a “farm to table” restaurant is that they are supplied by local surrounding farms. Maybe you…

Autumn in New York

Announcement: we officially entered fall yesterday. Weekends lazing in the sun are over: put away your sandals and take out your trench coats! For all those nostalgic of afternoons chilling on terraces who dread the glacial period’s approach, we have decided to accept the challenge of proving you that autumn is one of the nicest seasons, especially in NY when the city and the surrounding countryside take on their velvet ceremonial of green and orange-ish hues. In October, one of the discoveries that will make…

Entrées, sides & concert

It is a dilemma that divides all music lovers in New York, a perpetual interrogation among socialites: shall one eat before or after a concert? Knowing that in NY most shows begin at 8pm, having dinner before is irrefutably too early (no way – even though US restaurants start to fill at 6pm). And eating after brings the risk of having bags under your eyes for the rest of week. Julia Villagra found the solution. This vivacious thirty-year-old, who graduated from Boston University with a degree in…

Homey feeling

It’s the kind of story we love. Freshly arrived in NY in 2011, Sofie and Sébastien embark on a crazy project: opening a restaurant. In New York: the city known as being the most difficult to conquer in the food industry. In Soho: the neighborhood where rents are known to be the most exorbitant. He is Basque, she is Flemish. The couple overcame all challenges and opened a restaurant in 2012 (four days before Sandy!) you probably know: Cocotte on Thompson Street. Muted atmosphere, South-West cuisine, tapas style. But…