Ha’s new bistro is even better than the snack bar.
"This was just a preview, I’m probably not even supposed to write about it."
Good morning. My heart is with Brown University and the Jewish community after the shootings this weekend. I’m so sorry and sad for the fear so many people are feeling today.
I spent the weekend being hosted at holiday parties in my friends’ homes. Yesterday, I worked on a few projects in the library at FIT before doing some Christmas shopping in SoHo (it made me happy to bump into some of you) and getting udon at Raku.
Today’s newsletter is stacked: J Lee reviewed Bistrot Ha (J Lee heads rejoice), Soho House’s plans for a spa and fourth location in New York, Danny Meyer is opening a Manhattan hotel restaurant, a New York Times-Meta duo bought an embroidery store, and Olivia Nuzzi is going on The Adam Friedland Show.
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Expense Account is a series on Feed Me by semi-anonymous restaurant critic J Lee. In this column, you’ll be reading about Business Guy Restaurants — the bistros, sushi spots and lounges that are best rationalized with the involvement of a corporate card. In his last column, he wrote about an $150 burger.
Bistrot Ha, LES.
“This weekend I got to preview Bistrot Ha, the follow-up to the absurdly popular and delicious Ha’s Snack Bar. It’s at 137 Eldridge, right around the corner from the snack bar. I didn’t think it was possible, but the bistro is better than the snack bar in every conceivable way. I’m here to report that: oops, they did it again. They nailed it. They’re going back to back. The space is bigger, it’s the perfect size, the room is warm and alive, in a way that feels distinctly European. There are beautiful tiles and they nailed the lighting. They have a coat check. The service is on point and the team is amazing, even during the preview this weekend. Everything felt seamless and natural. Their new linens feel so good in your hands. They also have a big wine list stocked full of my favorite wines, plus a full liquor license so now you can get a martini or a lychee cosmo, like I did.
“I’m wondering if it’ll get to the point where the line for the snack bar and the line for the bistro will meet and kiss, halfway around the block. Maybe they’ll form a mutant double line that’ll extend to Time Again, and then go all the way to Dimes Square and back.”
For those of you who have eaten at Ha’s Snack bar, this is going to be hard for you to believe, but the food at the bistro is better. Somehow they’ve managed to make it work with basically just a hot plate and an oven over at the snack bar, but at the bistro they finally have a real kitchen, and their full potential is about to be unleashed. Scary hours are upon us. They can finally grill a steak, and they’ve got a deep fryer churning out truly perfect french fries. It is so hard to pick a favorite dish of the evening, but I loved the fried yuba stuffed with crab, an absurdly light spiced boudin noir that tastes like Christmas in the best way, leeks with fermented mussels, and the new Ha’s Salad (maybe my favorite salad of all time). Also dessert, always dessert.
This was just a preview, I’m probably not even supposed to write about it, but I want to be the first to report that there’s going to be a problem on Eldridge Street. There’s going to be a situation that we haven’t seen since the early days of Via Carota (or The Corner Store, haha). I’m wondering if it’ll get to the point where the line for the snack bar and the line for the bistro will meet and kiss, halfway around the block. Maybe they’ll form a mutant double line that’ll extend to Time Again, and then go all the way to Dimes Square and back. I don’t have an opening date for you, but one day, very soon, it’ll just be open, and it’ll be off to the races. Ladies and gentlemen, get your Resy fingers ready. May the odds be ever in your favor.”
This concludes Expense Account by Feed Me’s semi-anonymous restaurant critic, J Lee.
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Glossy included me on their Glossy 50 list, alongside ShopMy co-founder Tiffany Lopinsky, Oura CEO Tom Hale, and J.Crew’s CMO Julia Collier.
Mediaite included me on their list of list of the Most Influential in News Media. “Finance people want to be in media, tech folks want to be in fashion, media folks want to be rich. She now offers a buzzy destination for all of them to learn, and dream.” Dream a little dream, everyone.
On today’s episode of Expense Account, J Lee interviewed Paul Carmichael (chef at Momofuku’s Kabawa) and Marguerite Zabar Mariscal (CEO of Momofuku Group). It’s an excellent conversation for anyone interested about the inner workings of the one-of-a-kind restaurant empire.
I’ve been following Luísa, a Portugal-based artist who goes by @Luisas_files on Instagram, for the last year. She works with paper and craft supplies to create these unique analog-feeling videos of paper goods for fashion campaigns. She also does a bunch of stuff on spec, tagging brands like Loewe and Paloma Wool and pitching them on the kind of work they could do if they worked together. Over the weekend, Luísa posted that Australian-based fashion brand With Jéan has been directly copying her work. For example: Luísa posted this in October, and With Jéan posted this in November. Luísa posted this in September, and With Jéan posted this in November. “Seeing a well-known and resourced brand like With Jéan copy my work without credit is frustrating and disappointing,” she told me. “It reminds me how uneven the playing field can be tbh, some of us create with limited time and resources, while others can experiment freely, yet they choose to copy.” Earlier this year, Forbes reported that With Jéan “has a valuation to date of up to $70mm based on annual sales figures and comparable multiples.” I reached out to them and haven’t heard back yet.
Sag Harbor’s 50-year-old Corner Bar has apparently been sold.
High schoolers may not be reading whole books anymore, but every high-end hotel suddenly wants to be in the ‘books’ business. The Carlyle put on a book club, The Henson held “a weekend-long reading retreat,” and Scribner’s Catskill Lodge launched a “quarterly reading series.” Right now, Design Hotels and Miami’s newly-revamped Shelborne By Proper are hosting a monthlong pop-up of the cult Mexico City art bookstore Casa Bosques, which they launched during Miami Art Week. Someone from Design Hotels told us they might be bringing the pop-up to Mexico City Art Week in February next. (Their new Designed To Stay coffee table book, featuring distinctive properties around the world, would probably be a good gift for the globetrotting, aesthetic lit girl in your life). Would love to know what Nadine @ The Stanza has to say about this…
