Neighborhood notion
WORK • Tuesday Routine
JOHN MEADOW • president & founder • LDV Hospitality
Neighborhood you work in: Flatiron
Neighborhood you live in: Upper West Side
It’s Tuesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Short for La Dolce Vita, with 20 restaurants and bars across 10 cities and five countries, LDV Hospitality is based in New York, with Scarpetta as our flagship. On Tuesday mornings only a portion of our restaurants in New York serve breakfast, Lele’s Roman at the Ace Brooklyn and La Tazza D’oro by Union Square. However, our Flatiron office is humming.
What’s on the agenda for today?
After bringing the kids to the bus and walking my Havanese, Benny, in Central Park, I head to Scarpetta for a morning coffee. There, I sit in the main dining room; it’s closed and quite peaceful. I read the reports from the night prior of all the restaurants. I then walk through Madison Square Park, admiring its extraordinary horticulture and art installations, to our LDV office in the Flatiron district above Barlume.
Every Tuesday we meet with all of the directors of the company to discuss initiatives, performance, and the team. Today, for lunch, we’ll do a tasting for our summer menu at Lele’s Roman. After that we have our kick off design meeting for American Cut in Washington, DC, that’ll open later this year at the Studio Tre workshop. Then, I’ll drive to East Hampton for dinner at LDV at the Maidstone and spend the night at the hotel to meet at Barlume Beach in Montauk for a construction meeting early Wednesday morning. Opening is a lot of work, pressure, and excitement, but somehow it always comes together. [Opened last weekend! -ed.]
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
The weekend is my time to go out to other spots and try new places with my family. My daughter Grace’s favorite restaurant is Indochine (something I’m very proud of). My wife Karin loves Chez Fifi, and my youngest Cecile just wants Gentile ice cream, every single day.
How about a little leisure or culture this week?
This weekend I am going to see La Bohème at the Met. I like the opera and I love everything about the experience at Lincoln Center: the Phillip Johnson design, dining at the Grand Tier before the show and dessert at intermission. It represents the best of New York, public and civic grandeur, while at the same time the gorgeous travertine everywhere gives me a whiff of Roman decadence, which is my rocketfuel.
What’s a recent big ticket purchase you love?
My dear friend and tailor Nicola Radano was in town last week from Naples, so I did a few custom summer suits, jackets, and polos with him. Working with tailors to create artisanal, unique pieces is a true joy for me, but most of all because of the human connection and really knowing where and how the garments are created.
What NYC store or service do you always recommend?
Leather Spa in Midtown is the best leather and shoe repair on earth. Raggedy Threads in Williamsburg is my favorite vintage clothing shop, and they offer a tailoring service to repair vintage pieces. I collect military pieces from the 1960s, so the repair work is critical to preserving the garments and the history. I go to Barberino’s in Midtown every Friday at 3p for either a shave or haircut with Luigi. It’s an old school escape with modern finesse.
Where are you donating your time or money?
I’m on the board of Madison Square Park Conservancy and the Food Education Fund. These are the two charities that I focus on, and they’re near and dear to my heart both personally and professionally, and to New York City as a whole.