Going Once, Going Twice, Going Somewhere New

I’ve accidentally developed an auction beat at Caper. I reported on the Tribeca Grill auction, and Leon & Son, the wine shop that debuted a digital auction house to help restaurants sell off inventory. Auctions tell not just the story of a business, but its afterlife too, as new restaurants become like an exquisite corpse drawing built from old restaurants’ past parts (when I reported on Tribeca Grill’s, Annie Shi told me she spent $4,000 for a number of items for Dean’s, including a champagne bucket). And now, I have two more auctions for you.

Earlier this week, Ilis, the fine dining restaurant in Greenpoint from Mads Refslund (he was a co-chef, along with René Redzepi, when Noma debuted in 2003) hosted an auction for its remaining contents. At the time of the closing announcement in May, Refslund stated that the building was sold and they lost their lease. I got invited into Ilis when it first opened for a press meal: I can’t say I’m surprised it struggled in Greenpoint; its austere, Nordic influence (a feeling he helped cultivate and refine for a generation of chefs) struck me as a bit dated (though the broth served in a clam shell was a creative touch), and decidedly felt like it should have been a Manhattan venture. I’m sure the one-star New York Times review didn’t help.

In any event, I do think it’s fascinating seeing not only how much the restaurant is reselling its items for, but how much it spent in the first place as it attempts to recoup some costs on some of its furniture and equipment. (The rest, I’m told, will remain in storage; some may make their way into Refslund’s next venture). I’m no expert to comment on whether this furniture—much of it custom—is worth it. But damn, if I had been managing the restaurant’s interior design budget I would’ve questioned the cost of the $25K sectional and the $40K dining table (now going for $14K and $13.5K, respectively). Interested parties can reach out through the contact information listed on the auction list, which has everything from lighting, furniture, and a dwarf pine plant for $750.

Speaking of closed restaurants, Barbetta, the 120-old crown jewel of the Theater District’s Restaurant Row, closed in February after its owner and longtime caretaker, Laura Maioglio, passed away. I’ve been waiting for news on what will become of its museum-like dining rooms.

Now you can take a piece of its history home: Zachys—one of the biggest players in wine—is hosting an auction of Barbetta’s incredible wine cellar, which at its peak once held 20,000 bottles. Charles Antin, Zachys global head of wine auction sales, told me, “In the country, but certainly, New York City, you don’t see that much Italian wine coming into the market. It’s not just a laundry list of the most collectible wines, you can tell she had a personal relationship with the [winemakers]—the collection has a lot of character.”

The live-streamed auction launched today for bidding (lot numbers 1080-1311). It then closes on June 25th with a live-streamed sale. According to the Zachys announcement, “At a time when only a single Barolo was imported into America, Barbetta helped introduce an entire generation to the great wines of Piedmont. For many years, the restaurant was the sole importer of Barbaresco and Gattinara in the United States.”  

As for other parts of Barbetta: Gabrielle Lamontagne, a creative director (formerly at Chobani), with an impressive vintage menu collection, had me over to her apartment the other day to show me the Barbetta menus she begged the restaurant to give her in its final stretch. She first celebrated a New York anniversary there, and then subsequently visited around 20 times over the years. She was able to amass a collection of ephemera given to her by employees, including menus mostly from the 1980s. “The menus had the date a dish was introduced,” says Lamontagne. 

She’s weighing whether to keep them all for herself or donate some to a place like the New York Public Library, which has a menu collection. In the meantime, they’ll be inspiration for a future project. More on that soon.