New York classics
No Work Allowed, Lenox Hill listings, Dolores, Bong, 567 Framing, fall theater openings, Tourists, best decade-old restaurants, MORE
BARS • First Round
Off day
No Work Allowed is not a speakeasy. Yes, the slim, brick-encased Thai-Japanese restaurant successfully presenting as a jazz bar is located down a sideways staircase in Midtown, with a street-level sign that’s easy to miss. And at least on a recent Friday, it was kind of a pain to (almost not even) get a table. But it all conspires to make No Work Allowed seem like an incidental pleasure, rather than a studied hospitality project. It’s all just way more fun — and more convincing, as a pseudo-secret — than any New York City spot in the contrived speakeasy category, even as popular as the infant operation is.
Brilliantly located a few doors down from Tomi Jazz, No Work Allowed must collect some of the stragglers who can’t abide the long lines that gather outside of the older, social media fan favorite. That might account for No Work Allowed’s idiosyncratic-but-earnest reservation schema. It can’t be found on any of the typical platforms, someone answering their public phone number might direct you to a different line to text, which could result in relegation to a waitlist before narrowly being turned away at the door (or ultimately, somehow, winning one of a few dozen tables).
Back underground, servers somehow catch spoken orders of small plates like crispy chicken karaage and bright somtum over boisterous three-piece bands. Larger items, like the crying tiger, mingle pleasantly expected low heat and near-sweetness throughout the thinly sliced beef, and the crab fried rice similarly stays on book with plenty of liberated shellfish. Sake is also available by the bottle (the list tops out at $75 per), plus beer and wine, mostly by the glass, and shochu-based cocktails.
Is it a hassle? Undoubtedly. But in the New York City of 2025, the uncontrived, legitimately cool-in-its-bones establishment that hasn’t yet been entirely blown up by influencers might be worth a little bit of trouble. –Amber Sutherland-Namako
→ No Work Allowed (Midtown) • 235 E 53rd St, basement • Jazz hours Sun-Thu, 730-1030p, Fri 730-1130p, Sat 545-1130p • Try (212) 371-2947 to reserve.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
There was a lot of action last quarter on the Upper East Side, where sales were up 16% over Q2 overall, and co-ops were up 20%, per Compass. The average price on those sold co-ops jumped 16% over last year (20% for condos). “The Upper East Side is getting younger and getting ‘deeper’ — with people more willing to move further East,” says Compass agent Ian Slater.
Here, three for-sale pre-war co-ops in the East 70s that came to market this week. They don’t exactly scream youth, but that’s why you’re hiring that en vogue Brooklyn designer.
→ 956 5th Avenue 3A (Lenox Hill) • 3BR/2.1BA NA SF co-op • Ask: $4.195M • across from Central Park with private elevator • Days on market: 7 • Monthly maint: $8471 • Agent: Shirley Hackel, Compass.
→ 130 East 75th St 10A (Lenox Hill) • 4BR/3BA, NA SF co-op • Ask: $4.85M • gut-renovated with oversized windows • Days on market: 3 • Monthly maint: $6249 • Agents: Kirsten Jordan & Amy Solomon, Corcoran.
→ 910 5th Avenue 15A (Lenox Hill, above) • 4BR/4.1BA, NA SF two-family • Ask: $6.5M • Park views with 3 exposures • Days on market: 4 • Monthly maint: $10,109 • Agents: Wendy Greenbaum & Maria Carreras Kourepenos, Coldwell Banker Warburg.
REAL ESTATE LINKS: Supertall 350 Park Ave, designed by Foster + Partners, will be Midtown’s tallest tower • Renderings revealed for 831-837 Madison Ave on Upper East Side • In Park Slope, the upstairs-downstairs townhouse shuffle.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
Friend of the family
CRESSIDA GREENING & EMIR DUPEYRON • co-owners • Dolores & Winona’s
Neighborhood you work & live in: Bed-Stuy
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
Since we usually spend weekends with our daughter, Fridays are usually spent back and forth between our two restaurants, attempting to tie up any loose ends from the week and making sure everything is good to go and everyone is on point, ready for the weekend. Luckily, our teams are pros and can be trusted to execute everything without us.
Once we have everything ready to go, we pick our daughter up from school together and will hit the playground circuit. We’ll usually try and do a family dinner, probably at somewhere like Bamonte’s or Pastis. We love a New York classic.
Where are you drinking or dining this weekend?
We can’t wait to get back to Bong in Crown Heights. I just love what they have going on there and have so much respect for Cha and the team. It is a true labor of love, and the food is insanely delicious. We’ll also stop by at some point and see our friend Felipe over at Cerveceria Havemeyer in Williamsburg — lowkey some of the best Mexican food in the city and just a very chill vibe.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Weekends for us are family affairs. Whenever we can both get away from the restaurants, in the summer we will go somewhere like Jacob Riis or down to Coney Island, stopping at Mtskheta Cafe on the way home for some Georgian food. In the winter, we usually head into the city and hit up the Met or the Natural History Museum, then head down to Koreatown for some K-BBQ or drive over to Little Pepper in Flushing for the best Szechuan food.
Any weekend getaways?
Our close friends moved Upstate to Livingston Manor a few years ago, and have cultivated the most beautiful home and community up there. We love visiting them to scratch that nature itch, although after a few days, I inevitably find a renewed conviction that I am still very much a city person. But it’s fun to cosplay country for a long weekend.
What was your last great vacation?
Earlier this year, we went to Mexico and took a mini road trip from the south of Mexico City, stopping in Cuernavaca and Tepoztlan. This was by no means our first time in and around Mexico City, since it’s where Emir grew up, but it was really special to go this time around with the lens of sourcing for Dolores — both art and also ideas, recipes, and other inspiration.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
After over a decade of being a devotee and evangelist of classical pilates, I finally bit the bullet and ordered some Gratz equipment to fit out the classical pilates home studio of my dreams.
What store or service do you always recommend?
567 Framing in Bushwick is our go to spot for framing all our art both for home and our restaurants. I have been to a lot of framers in the past, but now only work with these guys. Their work is impeccable and they just get it. Going back to Pilates, I can’t recommend Summer at LAB Pilates enough — she’s my girl.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Theater
Openings, fall season
→ Waiting for Godot • starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter • Hudson (Times Square) • 09/28-01/04 • from $120 per
→ Liberation • new play on second-wave feminism and its legacy • James Earl Jones (Times Square) • 10/28-01/11 • from $58 per
→ Little Bear Ridge Road • Samuel D. Hunter family drama set in rural Idaho • Booth (Times Square) • 10/30-02/08 • from $75 per
→ Oedipus • Robert Icke’s modern political take on Sophocles • Studio 54 (Midtown) • 10/30-02/08 • from $82 per
→ Chess • star-studded revival of the Cold War musical scored by ABBA songwriters • Imperial (Times Square) • 11/16-03/15 • from $84 per
CULTURE & LEISURE LINKS: Under Alamo Drafthouse near Wall Street, Kim’s Video DVD and VHS collection available for free rental • The year’s most terrifying show is at David Zwirner • Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world • The 25 most influential magazine covers of all-time • Is a bad economy good for art?
GETAWAYS • The Berkshires
Hotel hearth
The Skinny: Wilco bassist John Stirratt and his friends converted an old motor lodge into a cozy hotel named Tourists. It feels cool and trendy without trying too hard. I told all of my friends about it after spending a weekend there last winter, and somehow, by summer, I was still talking about it.
The Scene: Laidback energy that resembles summer camp in warmer months and a cozy log cabin in the colder months. The lodge is the heart of the hotel, sucking you in with wood paneling, dim lighting, music, a bar and a fireplace that evokes the most nature-oriented parts of the Berkshires, even as the hotel is located off a double-yellow-lined street.
The Rooms: Simple but well appointed, with a window nook perfect for reading or breakfast. I curled up in the nook for a solid 30 minutes and did a little creative writing. It’s an easy place to feel inspired. The music that plays in the lodge magically carries into the room on a little radio. There’s a little field guide and postcards to take home, as from a field trip.
The Amenities: Bathroom floors are heated, a luxurious delight, especially during colder months. The lodge is a great gathering space, and there’s often live music. The hotel’s staff hosts complimentary hikes and nature scavenger hunts, a very Berkshires touch. There’s also a pool on the property. I wasn’t expecting much out of the hotel’s restaurant, The Airport Rooms, but was pleasantly surprised by my first dinner there, and bummed to find out it was fully booked when I wanted to switch my dinner plans and eat there on my second night.
Why It’s FOUND: I’ve stayed in hundreds of hotels, and Tourists is one I can’t stop thinking or talking about. –Alexis Benveniste
→ Tourists (North Adams, MA) • 915 State Rd • Fall rooms from $309/night.
GETAWAYS LINKS: First look at One&Only’s forthcoming Hudson Valley homes • United launching Starlink service on first mainline jet from EWR on 10/15 • New Four Seasons Resort and Residences Puerto Rico accepting bookings for stays starting 11/20 • Bally’s shares plans for 35-acre resort complex around new Las Vegas ballpark.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
10 years in
The Nines are FOUND’s distilled lists of the best of NYC and surrounds. Here, our favorite decade-old spots in the city. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundny.com.
Cosme (Flatiron), Enrique Olvera’s first stateside spot set new standard for Mexican fine dining