Along with designer dresses, leather handbags and custom couches, some of the most renowned luxury brands now offer New Yorkers another luxury experience: dining.
From Polo Bar to La Mercerie, the designer-owned restaurant fad is a trend that continues to grow. In 1998, Giorgio Armani became one of the first luxury fashion designers to enter the restaurant world with Emporio Armani Café and Armani/Ristorante in Paris, and has since expanded to two dozen establishments throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America. Last year alone, three new designer-owned concepts launched throughout Manhattan, including Armani and Louis Vuitton’s first-ever New York restaurants and a new collaboration between Bergdorf Goodman and Ginori 1735.
“Dining is a primal human experience—whether gathering together to celebrate, or taking a pause to relax and nourish after a long day. In many ways, a restaurant is the apotheosis of design, a full sensory experience that unites objects, interiors and people. At a moment when we find that people prize experiences as the ultimate luxury, more brands and creators seem to be eager to expand from the realm of ‘things’ to play a role in shaping their clients’ memories,” Robin Standefer, founder of Roman and Williams Guild and La Mercerie, told Observer.
Selecting a destination based on shopping is one thing—are you looking for light fixtures or a spring coat? But deciding where to create a memory is another thing entirely, and when it comes to restaurants owned by designers or housed in luxury stores, how is one to choose? We scoured the classics and new contenders to curate a list of the restaurants that push the limits of design and go deeper with culinary art.
NYC Designer-Owned Restaurants
L’Avenue at Saks
8 E 50th St, New York, NY 10022
Partnering with the original L’Avenue in Paris, Saks Fifth Avenue brought the first and only L’Avenue expansion to the ninth floor of its Midtown flagship store in 2019. Guests enter the Philippe Starck-designed restaurant from the elevator through a dark corridor illuminated by a colorful stained glass wall. Inside, the soft yellow, earth-toned interior includes a large wrap-around bar space with ample lounge seating for those who want to pop in for a drink, plus a considerably sized dining room. Vitrines throughout the store change monthly to display statement pieces of fashion and décor. The March rotation, all in ivory, features designers such as Awake Mode, Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini, Khaite and Rohe Chloe.
Drawing from the cuisine served at the Parisian sister restaurant, L’Avenue at Saks offers a French fusion menu with Thai and Southeast Asian influences. The avocat thon épicé is bright and fresh, with plump pieces of raw tuna and avocado. Petit nems poulet basilic Thaï (chicken spring rolls), saumon miso gingembre sésame (miso salmon) and the bacon cheeseburger, made from scratch (from the bun to the condiments) over a 24-hour period, is served with skinny, crisp fries.
L’Avenue at Saks
Alex Stanisloff
La Mercerie
53 Howard St, New York, NY 10013
Located within the Roman Williams Guild from husband-and-wife team Stephen Alesch and Robin Standefer, La Mercerie showcases the intersection of dining and design. On the cobblestoned Howard Street entrance, the front of the dining room is distinctly restaurant-like, nestled along a bustling kitchen. As one walks further back, tables and an intimate five-seat bar float into the showroom overflowing with furniture, décor and fixtures—more than 95 percent crafted in collaboration with international artists. Guests unwind on blue velvet booths during an imaginative culinary experience served on Roman and Williams kitchenware, all of which is available for purchase on the spot. The candle holders are molded from hand-forged cast iron, as if from a medieval witch’s apothecary, the glassware is imported from Japan and the off-menu chocolate chip cookie is a melt-in-your-mouth must.
La Mercerie
Robert Wright
Armani/Ristorante
760 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10065
In fall 2024, Giorgio Armani opened a new building on Madison Avenue with his first New York restaurant, a flagship store, residences and his Casa boutique. Inside Armani/Ristorante, the shiny, cold-hued interior is sleek, but feels a bit sterile despite serving the types of dishes that beg to be in a warm Italian kitchen. Floor-to-ceiling mirrored walls are complemented by green lacquer accents. Baby blue shimmery vinyl seating surrounds white linen tablecloths that get steamed and ironed between the lunch and dinner service, and black marble stretches over the floors.
A prix-fixe (two, three or four courses) and à la carte menu focuses on north and central Italian fare. Some of the heartier dishes shine, such as the pappardelle with a luscious courtyard ragu and pecorino and a winter seasonal salad with satsuma dressing and pickled daikon radish, along with Italian staples like the trio of bread offerings with olive oil and an extra hot cappuccino. While presentation and service are excellent throughout, some dishes could be skipped, such as the Dover sole, which during a late winter lunch was tough and overpowered by wilted greens.
Armani/Ristorante
Danilo Scarpati for Beehive Studio
The Polo Bar
1 E 55th St, New York, NY 10022
The Polo Bar is not attached to the Ralph Lauren store, but still evocative of the designer’s style, from the rich, wood-paneling drenched in equestrian art to the saddle leather upholstery. At this midtown icon, elegant dress is expected whether sipping cocktails at the first-floor bar or savoring dinner downstairs. The American menu is inspired by Ralph Lauren’s favorites, including crab cakes, a corned beef sandwich and the famed burger. Since opening in 2015, The Polo Bar has earned itself a reputation as a New York classic—and a notoriously difficult reservation.
Polo Bar
Courtesy of Ralph Lauren
Blue Box Café by Daniel Boulud
727 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10022
Blue Box Café by Daniel Boulud does, indeed, offer guests the chance to enjoy breakfast at Tiffany’s, in addition to tea, lunch and dinner. Interiors saturated in the brand’s quintessential blue hue play host to long à la carte meals, with seasonal, French-influenced dishes. All-day highlights include lobster with black trumpet fricassée, puff pastry and bisque, a croque à la truffe (a play on a croque monsieur), veal stew and smaller bites like avocado-ricotta toast and caviar ossetra. The price is set for breakfast ($68 or $35 for the lighter “Holly’s Favorites” fare) and tea ($98), which includes a range of tea sandwiches like lobster rolls, quail egg toasts, chicken curry and cucumber-dill with cream cheese, as well as pastries, scones, cookies and a choice of Bellocq tea.
Adrian Gaut
Le Café at Louis Vuitton
6 E 57th St, New York, NY 10022
In fall of last year, Louis Vuitton debuted its first stateside sanctuary for design and gastronomy on the fourth floor of the 57th Street flagship store. A collaboration with Stephen Starr (of Pastis and Michelin-starred Le Coucou), the all-day, hard-to-reserve restaurant delivers a multisensory experience, from the Louis Vuitton monogrammed cakes to the wall-to-wall library that defines many LV spaces. Executive chef Christophe Bellanca and pastry chef Mary George pay insurmountable attention to each bite on the French-Mediterranean menu, which they refer to as “luxury snacking.” This comes through in playful takes on elegant classics, such as the crab Louis (in lieu of louie) and bite-sized lobster rolls branded with the Louis Vuitton logo.
Le Café at Louis Vuitton.
Courtesy Louis Vuitton
Café Ginori
754 5th Ave, New York, NY 10019
Bergdorf Goodman’s BG Restaurant, famed for its Gotham cobb salad and Central Park views, has long been a popular option for those indulging in a day of shopping at the store. Since its debut last summer, Café Ginori entered into the brand’s portfolio as a lavish Italian haunt drenched in Ginori 1735. Tucked into the beauty level and open only during store hours from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., every element of this dining experience is a celebration of the fine porcelain maison—from more obvious uses of Ginori 1735’s kitchenware, upholstery, lighting and wallpaper to more subtle ones. Throughout the meal, modern Italian dishes like eggplant parmigiana, beef carpaccio and veal ragù tagliatelle are artfully color-coordinated with dinnerware. The beetroot risotto, for example, is presented on a Ginori 1735 rose-print plate. Should something catch your eye, the Ginori 1735 shop on Bergdorf’s seventh floor is stocked with pieces used in the restaurant.
Café Ginori
Courtesy Angela Hau
The Dining Room at the Guest House
55 Gansevoort St., New York, 10014
Four years after the 2018 opening of the RH Rooftop restaurant at its 90,000-square foot flagship store, Restoration Hardware debuted a more intimate, focused experience with The Dining Room. Located around the corner, this sultry concept sits within RH’s boutique hotel, The Guest House. The design is drenched in Restoration Hardware, from the furnishings to the flatware, and is intended to make guests feel as though they’ve stepped into someone’s private dining room. The dishes are contemporary American with plenty of caviar to start and wood fire-grilled entrees, such as a whole branzino.
