Bites from the Big Apple: Stripes, stems and Soho suppers for spring

Have La Mercerie on me

New Yorkers love a Gallic influence and currently gathering steam is an authentic downtown spot, La Mercerie. The café is located in Roman and Williams Guild, the Howard Street store packed with glamorous homewares by interior design’s top duo Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch.

A list of their projects reads like a going-out guide to NYC, including Le Coucou (voted Food & Wine’s best restaurant in 2017), the Boom Boom Room and The Ace Hotel, each a unique version of the duo’s Boardwalk-Empire-meets-Uptown-luxe style. La Mercerie is open from 9am until 10pm.

Soho types pick up breakfast of crispy croissants and pastries, then return later for a simple supper of local produce and of course, excellent wine.

The right stripes

Ask a local fashion insider where her shirt is from and “La Ligne” will frequently be the reply. The company is an online homage to the stripe - everything features this simple detail.

A couple of years ago, founders Meredith Melling and Valerie Macaulay (both ex-Voguers) teamed up with former Rag & Bone product development star Molly Howard to create a luxe concept that works regardless of seasons or trends.

La Ligne striped wool and cashmere-blend sweater, ￡295, Net-A-Porter

Fans include Olivia Wilde, Nicole Richie and Argentinian art directing woman-about-town Sofia Sanchez de Betak, all featured on the La Ligne website, showing off their signature stripes of course.  

Art that rocks

For rocker John Mellencamp (forget the 'Cougar'), visual art is where his heart is right now. “I admire anybody that is making art,”  he told the Telegraph. “Visual art, prose, poetry… anyone who is creating something out of their imagination.”

On his forthcoming exhibition Life, Death, Love, Freedom - his second at Chelsea’s ACA Galleries - Mellencamp offered; “I paint and make things that surprise me I’ve always done that.”  

A dark portrait of James Dean embedded with nails is particularly grisly. “If it seems more visceral, it’s nothing that I’ve planned. What’s out there in the world is mine to be explored.” Establishment critics and dealers alike now welcome this art outsider who once suffered the slings and arrows common to rockers who try to break out of their genre.

Mellencamp famously couldn’t care less, quietly building up a respected spot in the American modern art tradition. Sculptural elements of the artist’s new work are similar in folkish feel to that of Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist.  Both bring Americana to life with a complex love-and-hate vibe.

“Art is close to heaven,” added Mellencamp.  “Being the highest form that we humans can achieve.  No matter if the work is good or not so good, the experience of creation is what matters.”

Stems and the City

If you need to impress a contact or thank a host with flowers in NYC try Urban Stems, the instant delivery service everyone but everyone uses. For a royal wedding flourish with British flair, try the aptly named Windsor or Meghan bouquets - $70 each including delivery.

Or, stick with the locals and order a Double The Jackie ($105). Bouquets come in glamorous keepsake bronze or pewter vases instead of the usual boring glass shapes.

The Urban Stems pot plants - the Lincoln in particular - would take pride of place on the shelves of even the most difficult to impress corporate acquaintance.