Spring 2011: Read about the current restaurant favorites of the Indagare staff

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In fall, New Yorkers love to explore what’s new in the city—and this season is no exception. Here is an edited list of places—culinary, cultural, escapist—not to miss this season.

Restaurant Newcomers:

New York’s newest starlets of the food scene have one thing in common: Italy. Formerly Thomas Keller’s trusted head chef at Per Se, Jonathan Benno opens the modern Italian uptown hotspot Lincoln, a $20 million 165-seat restaurant at the Lincoln Center. Forty-two blocks south, Mario Batali and partners have answered the demands of fussy New Yorkers disgruntled with tiny grocery stores and limited selections in the shape of Eataly, a 42,500-square-foot amusement park of Italian food, which includes six restaurants and a soon-to-open year-round beer garden. In the buzzing Lower East Side, chef Emma Hearst has been quietly serving Piedmontese small plates at Sorella for nearly two years and now expands with the opening of a next-door café and quality gelateria, Stellina.

Shopping Newcomers:

This Fall, New York’s style mavens will be spoiled for choice with new openings, renovations and expansions uptown and a chic European arrival downtown. On Madison Avenue, Ralph Lauren’s famed Rhinelander Mansion reopens as the company’s first dedicated men’s-only boutique (the women’s fashion and homewares store has moved across the street to a new Beaux Arts mansion), Hermès (691 Madison Ave, 212-751-3181) extends its flagship boutique to include a 2,000-sqaure-foot floor dedicated to leather goods, Carolina Herrera opens lifestyle boutique CH Carolina Herrera and the new luxury brand from Coach’s creative director, Reed Krakoff has unveiled its women’s fashions, shoes and handbags in a sleek, design-focused store. Next month, jewelry connoisseurs will be stopping into the elegant new gallery F.D. (Opened by the sister of Indagare founder, Melissa Biggs Bradley) for timeless one-of-a-kind pieces. Brit-favorites Rag & Bone (68 Columbus Ave) are bringing their hip and unfussy collections to a new boutique near Columbus Circle. While in Soho, legendary Italian outerwear specialists Moncler opens a 2,400-square-foot flagship store, guaranteed to become a neighborhood favorite.

What to See: Visual Arts:

The big shows not to miss this season are the Edward Hopper retrospective at the “Whitney Museum”: (opens on October 28); Abstract Expressionism New York (opens October 3) at the Museum of Modern Art and Miro: The Dutch Interiors (opens October 5)., at the Met which was organized in collaboration with the Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. Other notable shows this fall include a survey of women Pop artists (at the Brooklyn Museum of Art; opens Oct. 15) and the first stateside exhibition of German-Austrian sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (at the Neue Galerie opens Sept. 16). Some fifty of Gerhard Richter’s raphite, watercolor, and ink on paper drawings are on view at the Drawing Center (now open), and a massive show called The Africa Project, which examines contemporary African art, design, and craft worldwide (at Museum of Art & Design opens Nov. 17). And last chance: the fascinating Big Bambu installation on the rooftop of the Met ends on October 31 (tickets must be purchased in advance to walk among the forest of bamboo).

What to See: Performing Arts:

The opera world has been buzzing ever since it was announced that Ropert Lepage would take on Wagner’s Ring at the Metropolitan Opera this fall. The Rheingold debuts in September, followed by Die Walküre in spring 2011. Other new productions debuting this fall: Boris Godunov, Don Carlo and La Traviata. Across the Met plaza, New York City Ballet kicks into gear with an ambitious fall program that includes premieres by Benjamin Millepied, Peter Martins and Susan Stroman, plus lots of George Balanchine, of course. Modern dance lovers will flock to Brooklyn to catch Pina Bausch Dance Troupe’s return to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (their first performances stateside since the pioneering choreographer’s death in 2009). Also on stage at BAM will be film actress Julia Stiles performing in a high-tech version of Persephone; veteran actress Cherry Jones, meanwhile, tackles Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession (at the American Airlines Theatre), and Al Pacino resumes the role of Shylock from this summer’s acclaimed production of The Merchant of Venice (the show has moved over to the Broadhurst Theatre).

Where to Escape:

Ask a New Yorker his or her favorite time of year, and many will profess to loving the fall. But as wonderful as the city can be in September and October, it’s also prime time to explore nearby New England, and this fall some exciting newcomers are generating buzz. Daytrippers should plan an excursion to Ninety Acres the new restaurant and culinary center on the Richard Branson–backed Natirar estate in rural New Jersey, while spa aficionados will love the newly unveiled, $10-million spa at the esteemed Woodstock Inn (the facilities are LEED-certified to boot). And while not brand-new, Kennebunkport’s Hidden Pond Cottages, a collection of two-bedroom cottages, are set in one of Maine’s most charming coastal towns and on-property facilities include a tented spa and organic farm. Best of all, all three places are within driving distance from Manhattan.

The Carlyle recently started a tea service for children age twelve and under. Served in Bemelman’s Bar, the so-called Madeline Tea Party includes Eiffel Tower hot fudge sundae, singalongs accompanied by piano and story time. $40 per person.

To read about the New Museum of Contemporary Art on the Bowery, click here.

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It’s safe to say that in recent years the formerly steadfast line between haute- and low-brow fashion has been seriously blurred—with Comme des Garçon designing for H&M, Kate Moss’ line creating a frenzy at U.K.’s Topshop and rumors of Alexander McQueen soon collaborating with Target. These cross-overs will only heat up in the fall with a rash of anticipated boutique openings and established brands like the Gap and J.Crew discovering their creative sides.

For one month, the Gap will host an installation-cum-outpost boutique of Colette, the Parisian emporium. Gap x Colette opens on September 6 and will hold court on Fifth Avenue, adjacent to the Gap’s flagship. JCrew, too, is expanding in unexpected directions. For its exciting new Liquor Store, the label collaborated with Andy Spade, of Jack Spade fame, to create an innovative men’s store (a women’s concept store is in the works on the Upper East Side).

Also new this fall: Target plans on opening four “pop up” stores that will carry the lines of more than twenty designers, including Sigerson Morrison, Jonathan Saunders and Anya Hindmarch, whose fashion and accessories will be on sale at the Target shops a month before they are available elsewhere. They will open on September 12, the end of fashion week. The so-called Bullseye Bodegas are located at: 101 West 57th Street; 813 Broadway; 489 Broome Street; 325 Bowery.

Other recent debuts on New York’s fashion scene that are worth getting excited about: the first free-standing boutique of Danish-born designer Camille Staerk, Adam, a line by Oscar de la Renta’s former creative director, the first U.S. outpost of funky Acne Studio from Sweden; and, for haute labels, Edit, Aloha Rag and Rick Owens. Plus, slated for September, the anticipated openings of Iceland’s ultra-chic Kisan and Parisian jeweler Mauboussin. Bargain hunters, meanwhile, will be excited to know that Topshop is—finally—arriving in SoHo (in October).

Read about the recently reopened Museum of Arts & Design.

Read about a new chef’s table, where Tom Colicchio will be preparing multi-course tasting menus for an intimate group of diners.

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Some of our favorite new discoveries:

WHERE TO STAY

HIP: Guests of Robert de Niro’s brand-new Greenwich Hotel enjoy instant insider status: they are the only ones who have access to the pretty courtyard, the spa and the romantic subterranean pool. Everyone else needs an invitation.

BUSINESS: Gild Hall, the latest offering from the Thompson Hotel Group (think 60 Thompson and the Gaige House in Sonoma) is centrally located in the heart of the financial district. Stay posted for Todd English new gastro-pub adjacent to Gild Hall.

GRAND: The much anticipated overhaul of the Plaza is complete but our editor is less than charmed by the outcome.

WHERE TO EAT

BIG NIGHT OUT: With Alain Ducasse decamped to the St. Regis with Adour, the Essex House opened South Gate, a modern and refined place helmed by a former chef of Eleven Madison Park and designed by the masterful Tony Chi, who also created Spoon in Hong Kong.

GLOBAL CUISINE: Alain Ducasse has brought Paris’s legendary Benoit bistro to town. Its private dining room is the one to take over for a party.

GLOBAL CUISINE: Perfect for a pre-performance nibble, Bar Boulud, located near Lincoln Center, serves up a menu of French classics and the city’s best charcuterie (Boulud brought over legendary French charcuterie chef Sylvain Gasdon for his newest venture).

RELAXED AND REFINED: Robert De Niro has brought Ago, the Tuscan eatery that has long been a favorite in L.A. and Miami to Tribeca. More than 200 reservations are being turned down a day.

WHERE TO SHOP

BEAUTY: The new U.S. flagship boutique in SoHo of London’s Space NK a simple-chic lay-out, with products neatly assembled on white tables and well-lit glass shelves, but it’s the knowledgeable aestheticians who provide customized skin and makeup solutions.

BOOKS & PAPER: Design aficionados mourned the loss of Archivia, when it closed its doors on Madison Avenue a few years ago. A new, sleeker version sells a seductive selection of new and vintage titles and hosts fun author events.

FASHION & ACCESSORIES: In search of that perfect bikini and beach cover-up? Head to new Upper East Side boutique Inca, where in-store seamstress are ready to take your measurements and create custom suits if you can’t find a flattering fit in the inspired collection (Salma Hayek and Halle Berry are fans).

MARKETS: Newly opened and already a huge success, Brooklyn Flea, the largest outdoor flea market in New York City, is drawing crowds of antiques and bargain hunters who are—gasp– willing to leave the island and head to Fort Greene on Sundays.

WHAT TO KNOW

GUIDES & TOUR OPERATORS: Even die-hard New York insiders can learn more about the city on the fascinating, scholar-led walks offered by Context Travel. Programs, many of which are geared towards kids, include an insider look at Chelsea’s art galleries, a path walk through Jackson Heights and an exploration of lower Manhattan’s archeology.