Impeccably chic
Bartolo, best spritzes, global media, a love letter to uni, Brown Harris Stevens, Hatsuhana, Stockholm, MORE
ASK FOUND
First, a handful of responses to our call for targeted Stockholm tips (keep ‘em coming):
Ett Hem (to stay); Svartsö Krog and Babette (to eat); Svenskt Tenn (to shop).
Two more PROMPTS for which we seek additional answers:
What’s your go-to NYC spot for oysters?
Which getaway hotel or destination have you booked for August?
Hit reply or email found@foundny.com with more answers or questions.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUNDLISTING
Gourmet meals, no planning required
CHEFS TO THE PEOPLE: Life is nonstop — big jobs, long workouts, full calendars, little kids. That’s why CookUnity brings chefs to the people. Skip the grocery runs, prep, and guesswork. Choose from 300+ rotating, heat-and-eat meals crafted by 150+ award-winning chefs and delivered fresh to your door. Whether you're powering through meetings or managing mealtime chaos, CookUnity offers effortless nourishment designed to fit your life. Enjoy restaurant-quality meals with a flexible meal plan catered to fit your needs.
→ Order: CookUnity • 50% off your first order. [spon]
GOODS & SERVICES LINKS: Soho is full, so luxury retailers are moving uptown • Warby Parker sunsetting try-on at home program • US wine exports to Canada have plummeted 97% • Heat check: billowing maxi skirts are back • Color of the moment: brown.
WORK • Modern Media
Growing up
Last week’s Eater layoffs — reportedly 15 people, approximately one-third of the brand’s union jobs, mostly at the city site level — are yet another reminder: media is hard and local media is harder. We knew it when we sold Eater (and Curbed and Racked) to Vox Media in 2013. But we were doing it, piece by piece, market by market.
Vox management never quite bought into the local approach, even as they grew the sites over the next decade (and even after they’d evolved from SB Nation, a network of local sports blogs). In the Vox venture capital era, everything was oriented around attracting a mass audience for big, national ad campaigns.
Eventually, Racked fell away, Curbed folded into NY Magazine, and now Eater looks vulnerable as it continues to pare back and zoom out.
Sometimes we reductively describe FOUND as a more grown-up version of Curbed, Eater, and Racked — upmarket, global, hopefully a little sharper. But we’re still building like we did in the 2000s, piece by piece, market by market. The goal: to fashion the next great global media company, sustainably.
We invite you to join us and bring your friends. Here’s how:
Writers and people of taste, pitch us ideas (found@foundny.com). Ex-Eater friends, we welcome you especially.
Brands, consider us an effective new way to reach discerning consumers of quality products, services, and experiences (sales@foundny.com).
New readers, subscribe today in NY, LA, SF, Miami, London, and Paris.
Loyal readers, upgrade to paid for best results!
Thanks for being with us for the early stages of FOUND. More soon. –Josh Albertson
BARS • The Nines
Spritzes
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of NYC’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundny.com.
Bar Pisellino (West Village), aperitivo institution, sprawling sidewalk terrace, some of city’s best people watching
Good Guy’s (Lower East Side), new LES spot from Attaboy team dedicated to wine, spritzes, snack-sized bites like potato chips and tinned fish
Bar Bianchi (East Village, above), new Avenue A aperitivo bar from Le Dive team
Rosemary’s (West Village & Stuytown & Midtown), micro-empire offers Summer of Spritz program, highlighting the classic plus four herbaceous variations
SERRA by Birreria (Flatiron), classic rooftop location at Eataly featuring traditional spritz, plus grapefruit-forward expression and zero-proof options
Saint Ambroeus (various locations), Italian institution highlighting different riffs on spritzes at each location
Dante (Greenwich Village & West Village), renowned cocktail bars serving serious spritz menu
Le Jardin Rooftop (Midtown), elegant rooftop space near Central Park crafting unique take on classic Spritz w/ Aperol, fresh passionfruit, lime, Champagne
Bar Blondeau (Williamsburg), classic Italian spritz plus twist w/ Basil Eau de Vie on central-Williamsburg rooftop
RESTAURANTS • The Ticket
Ace’s Pizza & Di an Di • Detroit-style pizza meets Vietnamese kitchen, ticket includes food and t-shirt • Ace’s Pizza (Williamsburg) • Fri 08/15 @ 4p, 5p, 6p entry, $34.95 per
Summer Sundays: Chef Rasika of Mythily • open-fire cooking w/ South Indian flavors and dry-aged fish, standing room w/ limited seating • Thea (Fort Greene) • Sun 08/24 @ 4p, $75 per
A Love Letter to Uni • 1-night Kaiseki experience w/ uni at the center, including return of beloved uni toast • Ikigai (Fort Greene) • Wed 08/27 @ 6p, $275 per
NYC RESTAURANT LINKS: With Olmsted set to close 08/17, is Vanderbilt Ave cursed? • Dishoom is finally coming to NYC • A look at the coming-soon Corner Bistro East Village outpost • The gnarly history of the Jersey Turnpike Shot.
WORK • Tuesday Routine
Property talk
MATTHEW LEONE • chief marketing officer • Brown Harris Stevens
Neighborhood you work in: Midtown East
Neighborhood you live in: New Rochelle
It’s Tuesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Tuesday mornings are busy at our office, with our team onsite and a steady stream of agents and executives coming through. Brown Harris Stevens is a hands-on, bespoke service company, readily available in person so agents can collaborate with us and our teams can work efficiently.
What’s on the agenda for today?
In the morning, we are shooting one of our 16 podcasts in our content studio, Studio 1873, where Vince Rocco will film his weekly podcast, the most widely watched in the residential real estate industry. I’ll then have our bi-monthly meeting with our strategists about new and upcoming launches, such as our new website and buyer’s collaboration tool launching in a few weeks. Later, I have a strategy meeting with our new recruit, Frederick Warburg Peters, to discuss enhancing his media exposure through his Forbes.com series, which we plan to turn into a webshow/podcast. I’ll end my day by heading home to join my wife and watch my son bat leadoff for his travel baseball team, and check in with my daughter about her first-ever job at a local racquet club.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
This Thursday, I have a work dinner at Hatsuhana in Midtown East, one of New York City’s longest-running sushi restaurants. It’s a classic with the freshest fish and most inventive omakase. This weekend, my goal is to arrive at either Burrata (Eastchester) or Maria (New Rochelle) for Italian, or go to another throwback restaurant with the best sushi in Westchester, Sushi Mike’s (Dobbs Ferry).
How about a little leisure or culture this week?
I’ll get a round of golf in at my home course, Pelham Country Club, then hopefully join family or friends for some pickleball or tennis. I’m really getting into racquet sports (again) since my wife started playing competitively (again). In the summer, Billy and Pete’s in Larchmont is a great spot for live music.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
A 100% waterproof outdoor television that allows us to watch Yankee games, movies, and tennis/golf on our new backyard deck.
What NYC store or service do you love to recommend?
I love supporting small businesses in NYC, and we recently launched a brand partnership with Old Yew Plant Shop, which in addition to performing great urban landscaping services also consults on plant design for the home, an incredible service when preparing a home for sale, or simply detoxifying your residence and improving the interior design immensely. Ask for August, he’s a good guy.
Where are you donating your time or money?
I donate a lot of my time to the Youth Baseball and Softball of New Rochelle, where I sit on the board, working to improve youth sports in one of the largest cities in New York.
WORK LINKS: To compete, NYC’s private schools are expanding real estate footprints • Is Gowanus the new Williamsburg? • NYC’s coworking space declines for first time • In defense of getting dressed for lunch • Inside the $10K job search • Carving out ‘golden time’ on vacation.
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Spanish soul
The Skinny: At the end of July, Bartolo, the long-anticipated follow-up to Lower East Side hit Basque canteen Ernesto’s, finally landed. Chef Ryan Bartlow’s compact West Village restaurant is an homage to the soulful, old-world tabernas of Madrid, serving simply plated Spanish classics and a sherry-forward wine list in an impeccably chic space.