Good afternoon, everyone.
Today’s newsletter includes: A Feed Me party for paid readers this month, an exclusive on a Substack consulting agency from two former Substack employees, a Poconos hotel with heart-shaped tubs is for sale, WSJ’s new style columnist, the pop star recording her next album at WSA, Blank Street’s co-founder on that big raise, and I’m curious about The Marlton Hotel’s new chef.
Blank Street raised $105 million in fresh cash to focus on their West Coast expansion. Blank Street now has more than 100 stores, mostly in London and New York, and, says the FT, the company plans to open new branches in “wealthy California enclaves, including Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Malibu, according to co-founder Issam Freiha.” I texted Issam this morning for a comment about the new investment: “We’re still so early in the Blank Street journey, and this investment gives us the opportunity to keep raising the bar across our spaces, products and hospitality experience, while bringing Blank Street to new cities around the world.”
Chez Nous, the restaurant at The Marlton Hotel, has a new Executive Chef. Sean Froedtert cooked at Buvette, Via Carota, and Manuela before joining the Greenwich Village restaurant owned by star literary agent, David Kuhn. The Marlton is one of the great late-night bars and places to co-work when you don’t know where else to go in the city, and I haven’t spent enough time at Chez Nous, or with the Cecily Brown mural painted directly onto the wall in the back room. Looking forward to trying Chef Froedtert’s New York Strip for Two with “requisite” steakhouse sides.