Caper’s Max Tcheyan and Human Ventures’ Joe Marchese. (All photos by Eric Vitale Photography.)
On Monday night, we threw our second Host the Hosts event, an ongoing series bringing together the people who actually keep the hospitality industry humming—the operators, chefs, investors, and behind-the-scenes talent who are usually the hosts themselves.
Bon Appétit’s Kate Kassin and Catch Hospitality’s Rebecca Kent.
The first Host the Hosts was held over the summer, underground, in Jeff Bell’s West Village basement speakeasy Kees, spotlighting the specific kind of intimacy you only get from a room with no windows.
Essential Herbs’ Russell Markus.
This time we went the opposite direction entirely: Up. Seven stories up to be exact, as we were hosted ourselves on the patio of Christie and Joe Marchese’s SoHo apartment on one of the first genuinely cool nights of the fall.
Caper’s Annie Armstrong and Baer Faxt’s Isabella Chow.
If the first event was about proximity, everyone crammed together, shoulder to shoulder, the way a good speakeasy demands, this one was about air, space to actually talk, a breeze that made you grateful you’d worn a jacket.
Human Ventures’ Danielle McLaughlin (right).
Food came from Russell Markus of Essential Herbs, who set the tone with tuna tostadas, oysters from Aquabest, and koginut squash and sunchokes on sourdough from ACQ Bread Co.—unfussy, seasonal, the kind of food you could eat with one hand while holding a glass of Casa Komos, Sotol Romo, or Doladira in the other.
Neko Health’s Tony Abrams.
The guest list, as always, skewed toward people who build things rather than people who just talk about them: Sasha Zabar, founder of Glace; Alex Hartman, better known to a certain corner of downtown as @nolitadirtbag; Elyssa Heller, owner and operator of Edith’s Sandwich Counter; Amir Korangy, founder and publisher of The Real Deal; Jimmy Rizvi, co-founder of Bungalow Hospitality; and Jenny Goodman, co-founder and CEO of Tilit.
Brandt Gassman, Chef Ryan Bartlow, Edith’s Sandwich Counter’s Elyssa Heller, and Mona Creative’s Carly Gulotta.
Also on hand: Richard Betts, co-CEO of CKBG; Alex Suarez, COO of Gracious Hospitality; Sebastien Silvestri, CEO of Dinex; Dana Fraser and Natasha Miller from Resy; Tony Abrams, senior advisor at Neko Health; Harold Dieterle, the original Top Chef winner; Human Ventures’ and Caper investor Joe Marchese and his wife, Christie; and Caper Chef-in-Residence Ryan Bartlow.
Joe Marchese, Alex Hartman (a.k.a. Nolita Dirtbag), and Caper’s Priya Gandhi.
The idea behind Host the Hosts hasn’t changed since the first one: Give the people who spend their entire professional lives making sure everyone else has a good time an actual night off from that job, in a room full of the other people who understand exactly what that job costs. Whether that room has four walls and no windows or is seven stories high with an open sky, apparently, doesn’t much matter.
Resy’s Dana Fraser and Natasha Miller with Caper’s Daniel Tsinis and Max Tcheyan.
