Food and art could be my two favourite things and when they are combined all together, my heart stops and there is nothing else than a valse of good energy floating in the air and the sensation to be part of something greater than just going to the restaurant. It is also true that beyond this magic atmosphere that art brings to a space, we can say it is an essential element that helps build a name, sharing the identity and story of the place to its customers and we love this.
In a city like New York, where everything change constantly, we’ve been hunting for the perfect culinary experience in the most beloved restaurants of Manhattan.
Upper West Side’s legendary brunch place for nearly a 100 years, there is always a long waiting list on weekends at Barney Greengrass and we know why, the food and atmosphere is incredible. Inside, the restaurant has remained virtually unchanged since 1929. We can still find the original 1970’s brown-and-yellow mural depicting an old Victorian-era of New Orleans.
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The Monkey Bar is an iconic retro restaurant with the large wrap-around mural in the main dining room. It’s been painted by the renowned artist Ed Sorel, whose work frequently appears in the New Yorker or Vanity Fair. The mural features the village’s most influential Jazz Age icons, from musicians Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington to writers like Dorothy Parker and Langston Hughes.
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Get ready to be charmed by the distinct NYC style and large scale murals of the notorious Bemelmans Bar named after the artist, Ludwig Bemelman who was the famous illustrator of Madeline series for children. The dull yellow of the walls has been animated-like by elephants, rabbits and other animals enjoying the surroundings of Central Park, all painted in Bemelman’s trademark style. Madeline and her friends can also be spotted alongside of other typical park scenes. Today, the Carlyle hotel has recently partnered with another NYC artist Tug Rice to illustrate their communication keeping the same cartoon style from Bemelmans.
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The Palm’s legendary tradition of caricatures originated in the 1920’s, when some of it first owners, talented cartoonists, virtually paid their dinner in original art on the walls of the Palm’s first restaurant. Enjoyed by many, artists would be call to draw lively scenes of the restaurant’s clientele.
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More than an institution, Keens has the largest collection of churchwarden pipes in the world, you can see them in all the different rooms of the restaurant lining the entire ceiling. It is like entering a museum where the food is scandalously delicious and the atmosphere from another time.
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Located in the legendary Hôtel des Artistes, in Upper West Side, the chic restaurant featured nine hand-painted panels. The first of which was completed in 1935. A treasure place to contemplate Homard Chandler Christy’s work, an American artist best known for his painting “the Singing of the Constitution of the United State”, hanging in the US Capitol.
