Beauty and Essex with Jack and Rich

We were treated to the most wonderful evening by Jack Donahue (pictured) and Rich Carson who let us in on one of Manhattan's best kept secrets.

Beauty and Essex (from the team who gave you the hugely successful Stanton Social) has only been open since December so I suspect we were very lucky to get in before it becomes THE hottest spot in town. Mind you, we very nearly missed the place altogether. Designers AvroKO have outfitted the former M. Katz & Sons furniture store with a pawn shop façade complete with vintage guitars and other rock-and-roll memorabilia. It certainly fooled us because we walked right past it..

The ruby slippers in the window should have been the giveaway. Once inside, we found ourselves inside a Cedric Gibbons MGM set as we passed a spiral staircase encircling a full-story-long pearl chandelier.

 In the back dining room, where we were seated, there hung a peacock tapestry and peacock feathers in vases on the tables, with an oval shaped skylight surrounded by indoor plants above us. There is a filigree golden vine mounted on the wall in the middle bar area and a massive pearl chandelier.

There are four dining rooms, two bars, and a  ladies' lounge complete with sofa and champagne service (so we're told). Chris Santos’s delicious menu includes a raw bar, a selection of “jewels on toast” (chicken liver mousse was a smasheroo),  “accessories” ( spring rolls,  lobster tacos, Parmigiano-Reggiano fritters),  entrées such as spaghettini, poached salmon and chicken meatballs, plus a selection of steaks and burgers served with duck-fat fries. Desserts were decadent in the extreme and included a BOX of multi flavoured donuts which Jack ordered and then sneakily foisted on us to take home for breakfast. The service could not have been lovelier and everyone we encountered was charm itself. As for our hosts, they could not have been more delightful or generous and I look forward to returning the favour when they come to see our little concert at the Palace.