On the Town

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 9/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Thomas Juul-Hansen

It's pennies from heaven at Centro Vinoteca as sequins of glass and stainless steel rain down from the Hervé Descottes chandelier above the boomerang bar on the ground level of this 2,000-square-foot duplex space. Also look out for 1960's Murano glass lighting, all selected by the same designer responsible for Jean-Georges Vongerichten's nearby Perry St.

Zeff Design

Borough Food & Drink is restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow's third outing at this 3,500-square-foot location. Mark Zeff's modernized interpretation of the five boroughs' pre-Prohibition eateries features an envelope of reclaimed wood, a selection of vintage industrial furnishings, and a mural of salvaged subway signs. The deep-red pool room adds a sultry note.

Stephanie Goto Design Group

Chinoiserie scenes painted on theatrical scrims, a screen of clear acrylic tubes, and vivid red murals depicting playful primates establish the newly Easternized dining room at the Hotel Elysée's Monkey Bar. Regulars of the 1920's establishment will be relieved to find that Stephanie Goto's 4,000-square-foot redesign spared the barroom's iron monkey sconces, cast in Paris.

Coffinier Ku Design

The name FR.OG is derived from the words French and origin. And just as the menu incorporates Moroccan flavors, so does Etienne Coffinier and Ed Ku's concept for this 3,500-square-foot two-level space. Glass mosaic tiles surface the base of the bar, Moroccan photos are heat-fused onto glass partitions, and modular wall art mimics desert sand.

AvroKO

The former Park Avenue Café is now four restaurants in one—consecutively, not simultaneously. Thanks to steel frames installed around the perimeter of the 4,500-square-foot restaurant, panels can be changed out to facilitate seasonal transformations. Park Avenue Summer's yellow-lacquered MDF is giving way to the mirror-striped burl of Park Avenue Autumn.