Inside a Holiday Dinner Party at a Manhattan Home
From white-jacketed waiters to a buffet table laden with porcelain and flowers, a holiday dinner at designer Alex Papachristidis’s elegant New York apartment is all about swanking it up.
Alex Papachristidis confesses, “I’m old school, always have been.” The designer, a vivacious host and native New Yorker, has an affinity for entertaining with echoes of the formality and frivolity of times past. He does not disappoint at the dinner parties for 30 that he and his partner, Scott Nelson, host at their jaw-dropping Upper East Side apartment. “I’ll run into friends weeks later and they’ll say, ‘Oh my gosh, it was just heaven! I wish more people would entertain at home.’”
From the impressive yet warm ambience to the savory cuisine and skilled waitstaff, Papachristidis embraces all things extravagant and luxurious. “Everything should smell delicious, look beautiful, and feel yummy,” he notes. “And dim the lighting - it shouldn’t feel like McDonald’s!” The couple’s guests are immediately greeted with a generous pour of rosé Champagne in an overscale glass with a single giant ice cube - a personal touch that has become something of a party signature for the pair. After helping themselves to a buffet of warm curried chicken with coconut milk and rice (a beloved dish of Papachristidis’s), friends meander throughout the apartment. Some perch with plates on velvet-covered sofas in the library, while others lounge in Nelson’s dressing room - which the gentlemen heartily encourage with a plush daybed and tiny tables and chairs.
Make no mistake: It’s wonderfully posh. But Papachristidis never forgets the importance of levity. “We always play disco music in the background to put a smile on everyone’s face. I’ll never recover from Studio 54!” he says, laughing.
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This story originally appeared in the December/January 2018 issue of House Beautiful.
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