House style
Favorite hairdressers, Sushidokoro Mekumi, Senti Senti, The Public Theater, Kalye, Brooklyn PDRs, MORE
ASK FOUND • Hairdressers
A bounty of subscriber responses to the prompt, “Who’s your favorite hairdresser?”:
→ Gabby Fishman is the best. Started going to her when she was a senior stylist at Takamichi on Bowery, and she is now with Arté Salon on Elizabeth on the same block as Raf's and Tom and Jerry's.
→ Marshall Lin!
→ My fave hairdresser for wavy hair is Maryanne at Foster Glorioso.
→ City Curl Studio in Staten Island. Melissa and Rachel are such talented curly hair artists. They started at Devacurl and moved out on their own over a decade ago. Rachel is the only person who has colored my hair for the past 20 years and I receive compliments daily. It can be challenging to find a salon that can handle textured and curly hair. No matter what pattern you have, they are here for you and everyone comes out looking consistently phenomenal.
→ Giovanna Berardi at Clove in the East Village — a cozy, low-key spot on Ave B, in the former Parlor space. All Aveda. No glam. I've been seeing her for at least 12 years and won't trust anyone else.
→ David Bullen.
→ Toka Salon at 601 Madison Ave. Eiji Yamane was manager of the now defunct John Sahag salon in NYC, the only place to get Sahag’s truly amazing, long lasting, and super precise dry haircut that takes at least an hour and a half.
After owning and running his own salon in a small space on Madison Ave. and then a much larger space on Madison Ave, he brought many of his personally trained employees to Toka. In addition to doing any shows that Issey Miyake has in NYC, as well as Tadashi Shoji, Eiji and his staff have a plethora of well-known clients
Eiji’s protege Kenjiro Maruyama has been with him since 1995ish I think and in addition to the dry cut — watching him cut each hair is a work of art — he also does Japanese hair straightening. Kenjiro also works on shows.
For color Myriam Legal has been with Eiji for years as well. She’s brilliant in balayage (among other techniques).
For extensions, as well as haircuts and styling, Jiset is the woman to go to — she started out with Eiji as an assistant, has been to Japan to train hairstylists in the dry technique too many times to count, and in addition to her work in the salon, travels often with clients who won’t get in their private planes without her.
Two more PROMPTS for which we seek your intelligence:
What’s your favorite nail salon?
Which fall restaurant opening are you most looking forward to?
Hit reply or email found@foundny.com with more answers or questions.
RESTAURANTS • Kodawari
Welcome back to Kodawari, in which we profile sushi counters practicing that very art — the uncompromising, relentless pursuit of perfection.
Umami obsessive
The Skinny: Despite its somewhat remote location in the Japanese city of Kanazawa, Sushidokoro Mekumi is the kind of elite destination counter to which dining enthusiasts from around the world trek. Its nonconformist chef Takayoshi Yamaguchi is known for his obsessive approach to sourcing fish. He studies how a fish’s diet affects the fatty acids in its flesh, which he uses to determine how long an ingredient should rest for peak deliciousness.
This fall, Yamaguchi brings his unique approach to Hudson Square, where he’ll launch a 16-course omakase, expected to be priced around $400 per person. Last month, FOUND attended an early preview meal. Here’s our report: