To anyone paying attention, a tectonic shift is taking place at Rockefeller Center. It started when Ignacio Mattos debuted Lodi, a Milanese-style aperitivo bar and cafe at the New York landmark in September 2021. Opening a new restaurant is always notable for a chef of his caliber, but the fact that it was Mattos—a bellwether of downtown culture who dates the chef-turned-designer Laila Gohar and whose culinary prowess draws everyone from Chloë Sevigny to the fashion designer Emily Adams Bode Aujla to his restaurants—meant something big was happening.

Soon after Lodi opened, word spread of new restaurants from the chefs behind Atomix (a winner of two Michelin stars), King, and Olmsted. By early 2022, the New York Times had deemed Lodi “too good” for Rockefeller Center: an oasis of expertly pulled espresso and Italian pastry during the mornings, with a considered edit of lunch and dinner entrées and infallible martini service. In May, the nomadic Mexican gallery MASA Galeria made its U.S. debut as the kickoff to NYCxDesign, luring a crop of discerning aesthetes to the shuttered federal post office near the skating rink.

Then, as late July rolled around, Le Rock, a swanky Workstead-designed spot from Frenchette’s Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson, threw open its doors across the plaza from Lodi and a McNally Jackson flagship, complete with a Goods for the Study stationary shop, was planned for somewhere between the two. Also nearby: cult-favorite record store Rough Trade, which migrated to the city from Williamsburg; Girl Knew York, a gallery and shop from artist Mira Mariah who has inked the likes of Ariana Grande with her signature style of tattoo line art; and Lingua Franca, the West Village’s cashmere purveyor of choice.

To anyone who has visited Rockefeller Center over the past decade, the confluence of destination restaurants and tasteful, independently owned shops at the tourist hotspot seems unexpected. But the openings—which include the INC-designed farm-to-table newcomer Five Acres and Italian hotspot Jupiter, also by Workstead—are part of a broader effort to convince New Yorkers to spend more time in Midtown.

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“Boia De is a slang term from Tuscany that means ‘oh my god,’” says co-chef and owner Alex Meyer. “We want people to feel that level of surprise.” Anyone familiar with the intimate 27-seat restaurant tucked inside an unassuming strip mall in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood will attest to the name’s legitimacy. In tandem with co-chef and owner Luciana Giangrandi, the duo subverted the hoity-toity world of fine dining, fashioning one of the Magic City’s most original culinary concepts by pairing luxurious ingredients and haute techniques with Memphis Milano design accents and low-key vibes.

The eclectic menu marries American and Italian influences. For instance, the hand-cut steak tartare, a play on the veal dish Vitello Tonnato, is served with a crunchy beef tendon chip that takes a day and a half to prepare. In Meyer and Giangrandi’s hands, a rendition of the humble bar snack, crispy potato skins, opens up a new realm of possibilities for the starchy vegetable thanks to toppings such as stracciatella cheese, hard egg yolk, and a generous portion of sturgeon caviar. The wines are natural and low-intervention, with some esoteric varietals imported from unexpected regions in places like Georgia and Lebanon. On the soundtrack: Everything from Madonna and jazz to LCD Soundsystem.

Take a peek inside Boia De in this installment of Designing Delicious, produced in partnership with Dorsia.

The art and music worlds converged at the Miami Beach Edition last week for a vinyl record-signing party thrown by Nazy Nazhand and Carl Craig. The evening celebrated the release of Craig’s LP, Party/After-Party, which debuted in 2020 as a sound installation at Dia Beacon and marked the techno DJ and producer’s first-ever institutional commission. An exclusive few from the Miami Art Week crowd mingled over spicy margaritas at the Edition and were treated to signed copies of the record.

When was it? Dec. 1

Where was it? The Miami Beach Edition

Who was there? Daniel Lee, Miles Greenberg, Camille Sojit Pejcha, Hagi Craig, Kudzai King, and Fritz Von Eric.

When: Until Feb. 5

Where: Gallery All, Shanghai

What: Spanning never-before-seen tapestries and the continuing series of Beast and Zoidberg, the imaginative design duo’s latest body of work aims to transport viewers to the place of serene and humorous fantasy captured in French composer Claude Debussy’s piano piece that inspired the title. The Drippy Ghost series, which embodies spirits captured in bronze and is loosely inspired by Mondoshawan from The Fifth Element, is quintessential Haas, while a group of wool tapestries depicting animated images and steeped in nostalgia lends depth to the act of childhood expression.

Making an icon requires the right combination of time and timelessness. It’s an equation mastered by Bulgari, the Roman luxury house known for its jewelry, timepieces, and leather goods. Decades after its inception, Serpenti—whose snake motif has become a distinct signifier of the brand, and celebrates its 75th anniversary this year—remains one of its most recognizable collections.

“The history of Serpenti is very unique. It’s something that you can find in different cultures in different centuries.” says Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, creative director of timepieces. As for Bulgari’s interpretation, “it’s made with very pure shapes,” he says. “It’s part of the Italian design rules to play with pure shapes and generate new aesthetics.” The serpent first appeared in Bulgari’s jewelry collection in the late 1940s in the form of a yellow-gold watch, distinguishable by its hand-coiled precious metal—or tubogas—bracelet.

In their 20-year career, Los Angeles cheer purveyors Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III of FriendsWithYou have made Coachella kawaii via candy-colored stage sets for J. Balvin. They joined forces with Pharrell to build Netflix the animated blockbuster True and the Rainbow Kingdom, and populated the metaverse with the fRiENDSiES web3 community. They even achieved Peanuts levels of populism with Little Cloud, their 30-foot float in this year’s Macy’s Day Parade. “Culture has a way of materializing what we need, and what we need is uplifting and optimistic,” Sandoval once told the New York Times.

Now, they’ve aimed even higher. At this year’s Miami Art Week, Starchild landed in Henry Liebman Square. The city of Miami Beach commissioned the 50-foot steel sculpture, which looks sort of like if Alexander Girard had designed a Wicker Man. But Starchild is no pagan harbinger of destruction. With its bright orange outstretched arms and radiating head, the “warrior of fire” Starchild transforms with an atmospheric kiss Earth as we know it into OCEAN, a whole new world of peace, joy, and a kinder cast of characters than the ones currently running things.

Bend Goods is a Los Angeles–based furniture company committed to designing innovative and playful products. Founded in 2010 by Gaurav Nanda, Bend was derived from Nanda’s passion for making functional yet sculptural objects. Inspired by the midcentury era, the line includes pieces made of wire, upholstery, and wood.

Surface Says: We love how Bend Goods taps serious historical references to inspire their vibrant, colorful collection. We can’t help but admire the personality that permeates their wide array of pieces.

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