It has been 40 years since Ed Schoenfeld helped open Uncle Tai’s Hunan Yuan, New York City’s first four-star Chinese restaurant. Working as a captain in the front of the house, he hosted an illustrious clientele that included Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and Andy Warhol, before going on to preside over the dining rooms of several other landmark eateries throughout the city. These days Mr. Schoenfeld, one of the country’s foremost experts on Chinese cuisine, is the proud co-owner of RedFarm, a popular dim sum restaurant in Manhattan’s West Village. A second RedFarm location is due to open on the Upper West Side next month, in addition to a new bar and dining room in the space downstairs from the original location. Last January, Mr. Schoenfeld and his wife, Elisa Herr, a financial editor, moved from Park Slope, Brooklyn, to the Forest Hill neighborhood of Newark, N.J. He spoke to us in the kitchen of the 1909 Georgian-style house that he and Ms. Herr share with their cat, Cocoa Chai Latte.
Wall Street Journal
Ed Schoenfeld of Uncle Tai’s Hunan Yuan on Domestic Bliss
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The New York Times
A Host For Others Gets His Own Party
Tuesday, January 8th, 2013
When Omar, a restaurant and private supper club opens next month at the former Hotel Griffou in Greenwich Village, many night-life veterans may ask, “Omar who?”
He would be Omar Hernandez, a behind-the-scenes fixture on the party circuit who is seeking the same, first-name-only recognition once reserved for legendary hot spots like Nell’s and Elaine’s.
“It’s not meant to be a vanity project,” Mr. Hernandez said the other day, as he whirled about the gutted space on West Ninth Street, pointing out the new décor and not-yet-arrived fixtures. “It’s about the spirit I want to convey.”
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/fashion/a-host-for-others-gets-his-own-party.html
Cool Hunting
Piramida: Sampled sounds from an Arctic ghost town comprise the unlikely music on Efterklang’s new album
Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
Perpetually in search of new possibilities in the realm of music, the trio behind the Danish band Efterklang set out on a sound-seeking mission last August to the remote island of Spitsbergen to create their fourth album, Piramida. Over the course of their nine-day expedition on the Arctic isle—one that required a year’s time to obtain permission to visit the territory and its abandoned structures—musicians Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg recorded more than 1,000 audio snapshots.
It was the island’s slow-decaying mining town, Piramida (or Pyramiden), which offered the band the most in terms of sounds and inspiration. Once an outpost for Russian miners, the site was abruptly abandoned in early 1998, lending a spooky landscape of life suddenly frozen. There, in a 400-seat concert hall, the threesome discovered the world’s northernmost grand piano, which can also be heard on the album.
The diversity of sounds generated from human objects and organic occurrences in nature, and the trio’s own voices interplaying with those elements, is astonishing in its sheer scope alone, but their later synthesis into orchestral-sounding notes to accompany Efterklang’s lyrics showcases the band’s talents both in and out of the production studio. Songs are melancholy and whispering at times, up-tempo and bright at others —but never would an unknowing listener suspect their actual musical origins. Band member Rasmus Stolberg wrote from Berlin to answer a few questions about the album and the planning that went into the expedition.
Design Bureau
A New Role For Ribisi
Thursday, June 28th, 2012
Giovanni Ribisi isn’t just another celebrity playing the role of a stand-in designer.
As the collaborator behind two newly debuted styles for eyewear label Barton Perreira, the aptly-named “Giovanni” and the “Ribisi,” the actor’s bona fides are a stellar combination of killer personal style and a formal training in the world of 3D animation. Granted, the latter was intended to land him in Hollywood’s expanding world of blue screens, but like any serious actor, Ribisi isn’t one for being typecast.
URL: http://www.wearedesignbureau.com/projects/giovanni-ribisi-interview/
Design Bureau
An American Design Couple in Paris
Thursday, June 7th, 2012
Construction paper and colored pencils have never been David Rager’s thing. In fifth grade, the designer traded up to the computer and launched his career with a custom cassette tape cover commissioned by a neighborhood band. Since then, he has dabbled in a little bit of everything, from album covers to furniture design, and he’s globe-hopped from Southern California to Europe.
Now Rager and his wife, jewelry and fashion designer Cheri Messerli, f ind themselves in Paris where they’ve been living for the past two years. As they’ve immersed themselves in the local design scene, new projects have taken them in new directions, including the design for Paris’ hippest Mexican restobar, Candelaria. Rager and Messerli let us inside to talk design, France, and of course, tacos.
Both of you are deeply involved in the design scene in America. Was it tough getting involved in the creative community in Paris?
DR: We had some free time and wanted to “make stuff,” and found that there’s a group of people here who feel the same way we did. Don’t get me wrong—French pessimism can be a very real thing, but I’ve found that the people here who want to forget about that way of thinking tend to be drawn towards each other. It’s funny, we never felt especially “American” before we lived here.
URL: http://www.wearedesignbureau.com/projects/an-american-design-couple-in-paris/
Food Republic
Will Torres Is Not a Fan of Liquid Diets
Friday, March 9th, 2012
Will Torres knows a thing or two about getting fit. As the powerhouse owner behind Willspace, the discreetly low-key personal training studio in NYC frequented by Bravo’s Andy Cohen, among many other stylish gents bearing jacked physiques under their fitted suits, workouts are his love and labor. But what we didn’t expect when we stopped by his newly opened 2,000-square-foot gym in the West Village, was to find someone who’s as equally passionate and knowledgeable about food as he is about total body conditioning. A self-professed Brussels sprouts lover and peanut butter addict, Torres gives us the rundown on his daily calorie intake, and explains his beef with juicing.
URL: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/03/09/will-torres-not-fan-liquid-diets
Food Republic
Alex Carleton Shares His Dress Code
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
Growing up, most of us either owned one of L.L.Bean’s hallmark backpacks, or knew someone who did. And while you have to hand it to the classic brand for enduring the test of time and continuing to do what it does so well (outdoor basics, backpacks, camping gear), the 100-year old company adopted a new look, so to speak, when it tapped designer and Rogues Gallery founder Alex Carleton to oversee the launch of its spin-off line L.L.Bean Signature. The label, which debuted nearly two years ago, offers the kind of effortless, everyday styles that guys can wear to meetings in the city as well as weekend jaunts out of town.
Carleton, a Cape Cod native with previous design stints at Abercrombie & Fitch and Ralph Lauren, is a natural fit for the job. He definitely knows a thing or two about all-American dressing — and some rules to live by. Currently based in Portland, Maine, Carleton takes every chance he gets to pounce on the area’s local produce and fresh seafood offerings. Clean living is something he constantly strives for, at home and afar (although he does come cop to a soft spot for gourmet marshmallows).
URL: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/02/23/alex-carleton-shares-his-dress-code
Food Republic
Meet The Man Behind Your New Bag
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
Forget whatever connotations of “man bag” may be lingering in your consciousness from the metrosexual era — that’s all about to change. Or rather, it’s all about returning to a time when men’s bags were defined by quality, simplicity and function, without all the fussy bells and whistles. Enter Ghurka, the American heritage label known for its classic luggage and leather goods, which recently relaunched and opened its first NYC-based flagship under the creative supervision of Steven LaGuardia.
A “dyed-in-the-wool Northeasterner,” and 21-year West Village resident, LaGuardia talks to us about his favorite places for eating out (because he can’t cook), dressing for adventure, and the label’s profession-targeted specialist bags — including one for cooks.
URL: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/01/25/meet-man-behind-your-new-bag