EDITION 01 / NYC
Meet the most Parisian of New Yorkers
Since we’re unable to travel, we asked our friend Anna, a Frenchy based in New York, to share her favorite places with us.
After working for the gastronomic neo-guide Le Fooding for almost ten years, she founded MP Shift, the first holistic agency for gastronomy. Five years later, Anna created Polonsky & Friends, a strategy and design agency specialized in food.
Meet a woman who combines the French art de vivre with the American way of life.
Anna's place
Here I am in my living room in Brooklyn, catching up on the media before going to work. My husband Fefo, who runs the eponymous design line fefo studio, designed the funky S shelf above me and the stone tables. We are both lovers of food and craft and, the past couple of years, we were lucky enough to build and design our house together in every single detail. It's an immense luxury to have personal space in NYC; we don't take this lightly, enjoying slow mornings there and hosting as much as possible.
OSTUDIO
Fefo also created Ostudio, this creative co-working space that will soon also host a café and wine bar. It's a 15 min walk from where we live and my studio Polonsky & Friends is located there. It's really inspiring to be surrounded by ceramicists, painters, fabric dyers, writers... My team and I do strategy, branding and design for clients in the hospitality and food industries who really care. A typical day can include pantone and paper reviews, logo development, stoneyard visits, client brainstormings... As they say: "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work one day in your life".
Ostudio: 366 Stockton St #1B, Brooklyn, NY 11206
ESSEX MARKET
On my way to or back from meetings in the city, I always like to stop at Essex Market, which features a diverse mix of old-school food vendors and new, young cooks and makers. I like many businesses there, from James Lee's deli for everyday staples to the luxurious Alimentari Flaneur for crudités that look like art or Peoples for an incredible natural wine selection. No matter what, I never visit the market without stopping at Saad Bourkadi's spice shop. He is a solar personality from Morocco and will happily improvise a tasting of his favorite olive oils (including his family farm's one) or make you discover spices you didn't know you needed.
Essex Market: 88 Essex St, New York, NY 10002
LODI
Ignacio Mattos, one of my favorite chefs (also behind Estela and Altro Paradiso), just opened Lodi, an Italian caffè and bar at the newly redeveloped Rockefeller Center and a much welcome addition to Midtown, where it is hard to find that level of quality and thoughtfulness. I haven't yet experienced the full sit down menu but their bread and baked goods program is out of this world. Don't sleep on the Farro Piccolo brioche loaf, polenta cake or the little lodi apple biscuits.
Lodi: 1 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020
BERVERLY’S
my good friend Beverly Nguyen, fashion stylist and host extraordinaire with a discerning eye, launched her first home goods pop-up store 6 months ago in the Lower East Side, with the aim of supporting and gathering her community in the midst of COVID. It was so popular that she opened a second pop-up at Rockefeller a few months back and just launched a permanent location inside of the new Nordstrom Home. Architect Louis Rambert and her have created stylish and welcoming stores, with subtle references to her Vietnamese heritage and a lot of open shelving to feature creations from the people she loves, from her parents' handmade linen to Piaule's razor thin crystal glassware, Sohn John irresistible chenille pillows or occasional sourdough bagels from Julian Paik.
Beverly’s: 225 W 57th St, New York, NY 10019
Follow Anna Polonsky
@annapolons
@polonskyandfriends
The Deli newsletter
Photo credit: Andy Jackson
@anndyjackson