Cold plunge
Betty Jo's, Noho condos, Quarters, Opera House, 7 fishes, best caviar delivered, MORE
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three for-sale condos in Noho that came to market in the last 30 days.
→ 40 Bleecker St #6C (Noho) • 2BR/2BA, 1093 SF condo • Ask: $4.5M • redesigned unit in 2021 new dev (‘a more refined aesthetic than its peers’) • Days on market: 17 • Monthly cc: $2149 • Monthly tax: $2339 • Agents: Jeremy Stein & Kat Trappe, Sotheby’s.
→ 62 Cooper Sq #6A (Noho, above) • 2BR/3BA, 2538 SF condo • Ask: $4.8M • 70’ of frontage overlooking Cooper Square • Days on market: 22 • Monthly cc: $3470 • Monthly tax: $3090 • Agents: Maria Velazquez & Karen Ordonez, Corcoran.
→ 40 Bleecker St #7B (Noho) • 3BR/3.1BA, 1941 SF condo • Ask: $5.6M • another first turn at amenity-rich 40 Bleecker, this one on NW corner line • Days on market: 22 • Monthly cc: $4108 • Monthly tax: $4153 • Agents: Danielle Nazinitsky & Katie Johnson, Decode. Open house today, 12-1p, by appt only.
REAL ESTATE LINKS: All-cash buyers account for 60%+ of all real estate buyers in NYC • Limestone condo tower (RAMSA-designed, natch) approved for 800 Fifth Ave • Renderings revealed for office-to-residential conversion of 67 Irving Place… and for 27-story apartment tower above Fort Greene church • Five years of construction slated for resilience work at Battery Park City’s Rockefeller Park • What Robert A.M. Stern understood about NYC.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
Close Quarters
NICK OZEMBA • co-founder • In Common With, Quarters
Neighborhood you work in: Tribeca
Neighborhood you live in: Park Slope
It’s Friday afternoon. How are you rolling into the weekend?
I like to end the week cleanly: clear my inbox, reset my space, and make sure the team has what they need going into Monday. Running two interconnected worlds, In Common With and Quarters, can be a handful; creating some breathing room is crucial.
Currently, we’re deep in development for five (!) collections and will be expanding beyond lighting, into furniture and home accessories. It’s been exciting to shape the brand’s language and strategize its growth. In Common With is now seven and a half years old, and Quarters is one and a half. We’ve taken such intentional steps to grow the studio to this point, and are moving into a new stage for the next five years of both businesses.
Where are you drinking or dining this weekend?
This weekend, my husband and I are having an old-New York date: Monkey Bar for drinks and dinner at Le Veau D’Or. For our team holiday dinner, we booked Cove to celebrate.
How about a little leisure or culture?
If I need to decompress fully, I cook — something slow, preferably with too many steps. When I’m not at home, I look for spaces that have a quiet hospitality. You feel taken care of without being swaddled, and things naturally fall into place. Your glass doesn’t sit empty, and before you can think about what you need, it’s already taken care of.
The holidays can get loud, so we’re offering a softer way to be together at Quarters. The first weekend of December, we’ll be welcoming Ghia for a pop-up and bringing our bar back for the weekend. We’ve missed it. Then, the following weekend, we’re hosting Comme Si with their limited-edition gift boxes.
Any weekend getaways?
We purchased land in West Cornwall, CT, two years ago, and have been developing plans to build a house. My background is in interior design, so I’ve been drawing the plans by hand; it will be a long labor of love. Whenever possible, we enjoy spending long weekends exploring nearby towns around there. The area sits at the intersection of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, so there’s plenty to do and see. This past weekend, we were near Great Barrington; a few months ago, we spent time in Litchfield. Sometimes we drive up for the day, and recently went on a garden tour in the area. If you venture up on that side of the Hudson River, Stissing House is a must for dinner.
What was your last great vacation?
This summer, we spent some time in Costa Brava, Spain; there’s an ease there that’s hard to replicate. We went hiking along the coastline to small coves, ate paella on the beach, and drank delicious Catalan wine. I accidentally bought a ton of ceramics, too. It was a perfect trip and easy to get to from Barcelona. I could spend an entire summer there.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I just bought a new everyday bag from Lemaire. It’s small enough to bring with me everywhere and big enough to hold my laptop.
What store or service do you always recommend?
My facialist Rachel at Carrie Lindsey Beauty.
Where are you donating your time or money?
We’ve been partnering with the Ali Forney Center in a few meaningful ways. We donated lighting to all of the bedrooms in their new Harlem residence, and this past week we hosted a benefit at Quarters with Dasha Zhukova (Ray’s, Harlem), where artist Dylan Rose Rheingold painted a series of our fixtures, with proceeds going to the center.
Photo Credit: William Jess Laird
RESTAURANTS • Feast of the 7 Fishes
Raf’s (Noho), 6 courses incl. cavatelli with crab, confit tomato, and Calabrian chilies, 12/24, $150 per, reserve
Union Square Cafe (Gramercy), 4 courses incl. antipasti in abbondanza, 12/24, $195 per, reserve
The Otter (Soho), 5 courses incl. black cod bourride, 12/31 @ 7p, $150 per, reserve
CULTURE & LEISURE LINKS: New ice rink is open at Harlem Meer • Onna House Soho, offshoot of East Hampton gallery, opens on West Broadway • Brant Foundation in East Village plans Keith Haring exhibition in spring • Wellness brand Othership planning Upper East Side outpost • Could Bangkok be the next Miami? • How Gen X changed everything about culture.
BARS • First Round
Encore performance
The Skinny: A revamp of Chinese Tuxedo’s subterranean space, Opera House is that rare cocktail bar where you can actually have a proper late-night meal.
The Vibe: There used to be an actual Chinese theater here, and the experience pays homage to that history without veering into camp. While drinks carry names like The Flower Princess, a classic ’90s Cantonese opera, that’s about where the theming ends. The space is all dark wood paneling, amber light, and sumptuous black leather rolling chairs comfortable for leaning back and lingering.
The Food: I met my partner here for after-work drinks, but we both showed up starving. Often, when eating elevated dim sum, I find myself wishing I was at Jing Fong instead of spending $16 on dumplings. But Opera House delivers. We ordered roughly half the menu, starting with prawn crackers and cucumber salad before moving on to crispy sweet and sour eggplant, roast duck ham sui gok, and a yin yang-inspired take on spicy sesame noodles. There was, as there should be, a standout soup: a single shrimp and scallop wonton served in a gilded teacup of intensely oceanic broth. Small plates arrived at our table in pleasantly rapid succession, like they do at any great dim sum spot.
The Drinks: The food was so good I almost forgot we were at a cocktail bar — but the drinks here will do a solid job of reminding you as much. Every offering on the illustrated cocktail menu appealed to us, but the Drunken Beauty (a riff on a Naked & Famous with notes of Asian pear and chrysanthemum) and the Dream of the Red Chamber (a duck-fat-washed Boulevardier) won out. Both were balanced, visually interesting, and very drinkable.
The Verdict: As I stepped out onto Doyers just before midnight, I found myself making a mental list of people I wanted to bring when I come back to Opera House, a mark of a great bar. –Caroline Finn
→ Opera House (Chinatown) • 5 Doyers St • Daily 5p-130a • Reserve.
GETAWAYS LINKS: In the Hamptons, actual progress spotted at Springs General Store (best case reopening: 2027) • Renderings revealed for first JetBlue lounge, opening this month at JFK T5 • Get it: early season snow at New England ski mountains now 132% of normal.
FOUND GIFT GUIDE • The Nines
Caviar, delivered
The Nines are FOUND’s distilled lists of the best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundny.com.
The Caviar Co (above), Bay Area brand making caviar feel hip and accessible, $$$
Imperia, Los Angeles-based purveyor delivering smooth, rich Siberian and ossetra caviar, $$$
Regiis Ovis, founded by Thomas Keller, $$$
Marky’s, NYC-based, America’s only seller of ultra-premium banned Beluga, $$$
Tsar Nicoulai, incredible farmed American caviar served by three-Michelin-starred chefs, $$$
Bester, slightly more affordable option, $$
Petrossian, legacy Parisian caviar house famous for its high quality, wide selection, $$$
Kaviari, boutique Parisian producer celebrated for ultra-fresh, small-batch tins with modern, design-driven packaging, $$$
Caviar Russe, Michelin-starred NYC restaurant + caviar brand known for pristine, delicately cured eggs, $$$
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Larder
Holiday delight
Each month, viral pastry-inspired ice cream outfit Betty Jo’s releases a single ice cream flavor, and within hours, the roughly 900 classic dessert-inspired pints ($13-$16) sell out.
Typically, they make the announcement via their Instagram. This month, they’ve given FOUND the exclusive scoop on the new flavor. Are you sitting down?