New York isn’t lacking in combined retail-hospitality spaces: Take the success of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s ABC restaurants with ABC Carpet & Home, or La Mercerie at Roman and Williams Guild. A new entrant in that space is hoping to build on what those locations have created, though.
The Bar at Quarters is a natural wine bar and café that opened Thursday at Quarters, an experiential space from Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung, the founders of In Common With. To bring the bar to life, the duo collaborated with Jennifer and Nicole Vitagliano on the opening food and drinks menu. The Vitagliano sisters are behind the Michelin-starred Musket Room and Raf’s, the former of which features In Common With lighting.
The lounge area
William Jess Laird
“Working with Jennifer and Nicole from Raf ’s feels like working with family,” Ozemba said in a statement. “They mirror our ideals about hospitality—creating spaces that are welcoming, warm, and full of energy. Together, we’ve brought the full vision of Quarters to life.”
During the day, the café will serve tea, coffee, beer, wine, and pastries. From 4 to 5 p.m., an aperitivo hour will offer house snacks. And in the evening, the bar will serve up both sweet and savory small plates. The menu includes dishes such as toast and tinned fish, pate de campagne with grainy mustard and cornichons, and Siberian caviar service with crème fraiche, chives, and potato chips. The wine list, meanwhile, is focused on women- and BIPOC-owned organic and biodynamic labels from across Europe, including Spain, Austria, and Italy.
The bathroom
William Jess Laird
Designed like a private residence, Quarters is meant to make you feel like any of these rooms could be your own. To that end, it’s not just the food and drinks that are on the menu at the bar. The entire space is shoppable, from the dinnerware and utensils to the lighting and furniture, even the tiles used in the bathroom. (The one piece not up for sale is the hand-painted fresco above the bar, courtesy of the Italian artist Claudio Bonuglia.) Even many of the ingredients utilized can be found in Quarters’s shoppable pantry.
If you’re someone who constantly admires a restaurant’s design, the Bar at Quarters may be your ideal spot. Because if you find yourself enamored with the plates or the glassware, you can indeed just take them home with you.
