Celebrities repeatedly sip and schmooze throughout the private nooks and crannies of New York Metropolis’s dreamy restaurant the Golden Swan.
Proprietor Matthew Abramcyk and customary supervisor Marquis James took Net web page Six on an distinctive tour of the fashionable spot tucked contained within the historic two-story West Village townhouse, the place notable regulars embrace Helena Christensen and Henrik Lundqvist.
“It’s practically like a Woody Allen kind of physique of New York,” Abramcyk, the restaurateur behind Tribeca’s Smith & Mills and Tiny’s & the Bar Upstairs, acknowledged of the hotspot’s ambiance.
“You merely have these conversations that, , relate to common points in settings which might be form of rarefied by their New York-ish-ness, which I imagine we’ve truly tried to do proper right here with some construction and menu and staff.”
Initially established in Greenwich Village all through the flip of the nineteenth century, the Golden Swan was frequented by artists and thieves alike, along with Hudson Dusters gang member Thomas Wallace. In 2023, a few years after the watering hole was knocked all the way in which right down to make method for the West 4th Highway subway station, Abramcyk re-opened the storied establishment throughout the developing as quickly as home to the shuttered Seen Pig.
The reimagined eatery’s lower-level bistro-style home, sentimentally named after Wallace, has been the backdrop for lots of of Christensen’s cocktail-infused women’ nights with fellow fashions like Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and Kaia Gerber.
The modern jet-black picket bar, illuminated by a inexperienced brick wall backing, encapsulates a Gatsby-era glamour infused with an old-money timelessness.
We’re knowledgeable the bartenders — recognized for his or her show-stopping rosemary-smoked quaint cocktail — stirred up fairly a number of extra-dirty martinis for Lorde and a pal one unfettered night time, whereas Crawford and her gaggle of catwalkers sipped on the eatery’s specific Golden Swan martinis. Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and his partner, Adelle Lutz, moreover beloved glasses of wine whereas seated on studded stools.
Propped beside the bar is a portrait of the boxer Gene Tunney painted by Interpol’s lead singer, Paul Banks.
“That’s an unimaginable painting. Of us come proper right here every night time time and admire it,” Abramcyk, a longtime buddy to Banks, acknowledged.
An extension of the first bar area, dubbed the Rear Wallace Room, is curtained off for VIP associates looking for a delicious meal with none prying eyes. Behind the velvet drapes, Sam Smith dined under the radar, Bradley Cooper ordered numerous mocktails and Jude Regulation teamed up with Jason Bateman for a boys’ night time time.
Italian architect and designer Carlo Scarpa impressed the marble Moroccan tile flooring, and hanging on the wall is a exact duplicate of Charles Demuth’s “The Golden Swan” painting, which as quickly as hung throughout the distinctive saloon.
“I like this room because of it relays the similar kind of bar design that we now have in our important bar room, nevertheless it’s kind of like a ‘Peaky Blinders’ small room off the aspect of the bar,” Abramcyk acknowledged.
Off the Rear Wallace Room is an unassuming door utilized by celebrities as a secret entrance to thwart followers and paparazzi. The door, marked with a “No Customer Entry” sign, leads to a grungy hallway with stairs to the first consuming room along with an escape path to the aspect highway.
Cooper and Jake Gyllenhaal are just a few notables to utilize the important thing once more door as an evasive maneuver.
The upstairs important consuming room — accessible from every the important thing staircase and the doorway flight of stairs — has mirror-lined partitions and large residence home windows allowing for pure light to stream in all through the day and charming views of downtown to be admired at night time time.
“We’ve obtained in all probability probably the most comfortable attainable setting for a dinner,” Abramcyk acknowledged of the consuming room. “We’ve obtained a lovely room with every kind of design accouterment meant to make the lighting and coloration and ambiance in proper right here actually really feel corresponding to you’re in a glowing — [a] snow globe kind of a very really feel.
“The rationale we’re known as the Golden Swan is as a result of golden light that’s accessible in at sunset, correct off the water proper right here,” he continued, referring to the Hudson River. “It’s in all probability probably the most pretty consuming experiences on the earth.”
The intimate 40-seat home was famously the setting of Shaun White’s shock proposal to Nina Dobrev in October 2024.
“For the engagement, we cleared out all the tables. Sean put up an enormous arch of flowers … roses lined the flooring, [we] candle-lit all the home,” Abramcyk acknowledged. “They cherished it.”
James added that the proposal was “very intimate [and] very private.”
Whereas each candlelit desk presents a comfortable however stylish sanctuary, Desk 76 might be probably the most sought-after setup and solely reserved for the restaurant’s VIP clientele.
“Numerous fabulous of us have dined proper right here at Desk 76,” Abramcyk acknowledged. “A number of individuals request the desk, nevertheless it’s merely not accessible [to everyone]. We’ve obtained various VIP requests for the desk, and we truly reserve it, and we preserve it to a extreme regular for all of our VIPs.”
Kate Hudson was as quickly as seated at Desk 76 collectively along with her mom, Goldie Hawn, and the “First Wives Membership” star’s longtime companion, Kurt Russell. We hear the group ate the eatery’s well-known Dover sole dish, which is prepared with a meunière sauce and capers.
Besties Sarah Jessica Parker and Andy Cohen moreover beloved an evening out on the town whereas seated at Desk 76.
“These two personalities, as soon as they’re collectively, it’s merely laughing all night time time, jokes all night time time,” James acknowledged.
We’re knowledgeable Naomi Watts, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lawrence, Glenn Shut and Meg Ryan have all graced the coveted gross sales area and indulged in authorities chef Doug Brixton’s eponymous burger with balsamic onions and Gruyère cheese on a ache au lait bun served with duck fat fries or his sticky toffee pudding with a aspect of crème fraîche ice cream topped with a cocoa feuilletine crumble.
Off the first consuming room is a semi-private alcove frequented by Naomi Campbell and Blake Energetic.
“[Stars] like consuming proper right here because of it’s a semi-private actually really feel,” James outlined. “You’re nonetheless throughout the restaurant, you’re nonetheless throughout the mix, nevertheless you even have the private entrance that they’ll take advantage of at their consolation to go in and out.”
Jill Biden was considered one of many elite shoppers to sit throughout the partly restricted area for a women’ dinner collectively along with her granddaughter Finnegan Biden.
“We see a bunch of Secret Service brokers pull up — they shut down the block. Jill Biden walks throughout the entrance door,” James remembered. “[Secret Service agents] have been wanding all people who obtained right here in, doing security checks. And likewise we had security stationed in numerous elements of the restaurant as successfully for our safety.”
We hear the earlier first lady “made it a level” to dine amongst most of the people because of she “wished to actually really feel [like] an on a regular basis purchaser” and “combine in and easily profit from the New York experience.”
A stone’s throw away is the ultra-private cosy hideaway known as the Swan Room. A black curtain conceals the room the place 15 of us could also be seated at engaging pink velvet banquets that appear to melt into the gold-textured partitions.
“Like good New York restaurant individuals, we bought a $200 roll of swan wallpaper on Amazon, and our good buddy Kevin McCormick painted this pretty room over the wallpaper,” Abramcyk shared. “It has lots patina, lots texture and depth. It’s the correct place for an intimate dinner for a number of of us.”
Contained within the Swan Room, we’re knowledgeable Suki Waterhouse threw Robert Pattinson a birthday celebration, and Jane Fonda shared a meal with Sally Self-discipline.
David and Victoria Beckham moreover used the mini oasis as a spot of reprieve whereas throwing a trip event within the main consuming room for her garments agency. When paparazzi flooded the streets to grab their exit, James obtained right here to the rescue and drove them home himself.
“Victoria and David Beckham have been wrapping up their night time time. It was time for them to depart. Sadly, they generated various paparazzi and curiosity outside,” James recalled. “So I escorted them by means of the once more entrance, by means of the private entrance into my vehicle.”
James acknowledged he drove the pair to their New York residence whereas their personal chauffeur steered their vehicle within the mistaken method to thwart the shutterbugs.
“Escape strategies shouldn’t an extreme quantity of for the Golden Swan to cope with,” Abramcyk added.
