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Flank, a new 240-seat steakhouse inspired by the century-old beefsteak meal where hundreds of men would consume massive quantities of meat with their bare hands, opened in Waltham, Mass., earlier this month. Whole House group, a hospitality company led by managing partner Greg Hill, owns and operates this restaurant.

In opening its fifth location, STACKED: Food Well Built, enhanced its design to feature more industrial-urban chic elements and include more wood treatments that underscore the “stacked” nature of the brand.

Acclaimed hospitality designer Paul Basile of BASILE Studio (Ironside Fish & Oyster, UnderBelly, Craft & Commerce) teamed with up-and-coming restaurateur Kory Stetina to open KINDRED, a San Diego-based cocktail bar and vegan restaurant concept. The operation features a creative design interplay of dark and light, masculine and feminine and ornate flourishes coupled with rebellious illustrations.

Acclaimed restaurateur Stephen Starr (Morimoto, Upland, The Continental) teamed up with Shawn Hausman Design (Chateau Marmont, The Standard) to open Le Zoo, a 200-seat French brasserie in Miami. This represents Starr's fourth restaurant in South Florida.

Diners visiting Manhattan’s City Winery get transported to a time and place in which grape vines line rolling fields and the day comes to an end with a sun-kissed adieu. While it’s not quite Napa Valley, owner Michael Dorf has gone to painstaking lengths to create a little bit of wine country amidst sprawling high-rise buildings, stop-and-go traffic and busy sidewalks.

"Great food and service, but the place was so loud we had to shout over dinner. Not cool.” Comments like this are all too common in reviews of restaurants, where acoustics often take a back seat to other aspects of ambiance.

Two concepts under the same roof bring design challenges and serendipitous advantages

Adaptive reuse projects breathe new life into old, vacant buildings — but they’re not for the faint of heart.