Welcome back to On the House. This week’s dispatch of Good Taste includes a chat with AD100 designer Christine Gachot, who says “90% (!) of a great restaurant has nothing to do with how it looks.” Also in today’s dispatch: The cast iron skillet to replace all skillets, It’s Just Cinema’s top five food movies, and John’s Burger Bash recap from the NYC Wine & Food Festival.
As I was sitting down to write today’s story, I came across an Instagram post from Abigail Sandler, an architect who also writes the design newsletter Price Upon Request here on Substack. It was a slideshow of dining rooms at spots like Spago in Beverly Hills and (the bygone) Ma and Pa in London with the caption: “On the next episode of When Did Architects Stop Designing Restaurants…”
That sentiment felt well timed, since this week I chatted with Christine Gachot, one of New York’s most beloved and in-demand interior designers + co-founder of Gachot Studios (which she opened in 2012 with her husband, John). Tldr: Their firm has earned all the biggest industry honors—AD100, Elle Decor A-List, Wallpaper* US400—and its team of 50 is responsible for building residential, commercial, and hospitality projects across the country, from Detroit’s Shinola Hotel to Izzy’s Steaks and Chops in San Francisco.
Pre-launch, Christine spent 20 years inside NYC’s exclusive hospitality scene, working between Bill Sofield and André Balazs. Despite how busy she is, I managed to pin down 15 minutes with her to find out what really makes a living or dining space truly enchanting and irresistible. And, guess what? “90% of it has nothing to do with how the room looks,” she told me.
On going from personal assistant to running the Soho Grand.
“I worked for Bill Sofield and Emma O’Neill for ten years, and was really given the privilege to be part of their inner circle. As Bill’s assistant, I wore every hat; I was reception, I was with him at Aero Studios. He told me, ‘Hey, you’re really good at this; you just need to learn to draft.’ Back then, architects used CAD and designers mostly didn’t, so I took classes at Parsons at night. By the time I left, I was running projects, including the Soho Grand.”
“I woke up one day and had a Legally Blonde moment. I was at dinner, and John and my best friend said, ‘Okay, what are you doing?’ And I said, ‘You know, I love hotels so much. I'm going into hotel development.’ They asked if I got a job. I hadn’t yet!”
On what working in hotel development taught her about design.
“I was introduced to André Balazs, and knew it was time to move on. I worked on so many projects for him, from Hotel QT in Times Square to The Standard High Line. Both Bill and André bet on potential rather than true experience. Their attitudes were, ‘Haven’t done it before? Of course you can.’
“Being in-house and on a development team broadened my language around design. I know a little bit about a lot, so I can talk about brand and operations, not just ‘Oh, I love this shade of black.’”
On the most important design detail guests don’t notice.
“Flow. How does the team circulate? How do you get a hamburger to a guest at the exact temperature they requested? How do drinks get from the service bar to the pool? Have you ever walked a football field? A basketball court? I also ask how long people should linger, how comfortable the seats should be, what the nightly turnover is, how many seatings there are, and what’s being served. Clients sometimes say, ‘Just do the design, we’ll pick an operator later.’ And I’m like, ‘The operator may need different equipment, so you should probably decide sooner!’”
On what happens the first week of a restaurant project.
“We have lunch, we talk, we get to know each other. At that point, nobody has a menu yet—they’re developing as we are—but they know the tone and the vibe [they want], and my job is to help make that physical. Then I make what I call a ‘telephone book of imagery’—a huge pile of references that everyone comments on. It becomes a visual narrative and a common language, but also works like a psych test. A client will say, ‘I love that lamp!’ and I’ll think, ‘I was looking at the ceiling, but good to know.’”
On how much the design impacts a restaurant’s success.
“Honestly? About 10%. Think of your favorite places. The bartender is awesome; the host always finds you a great table; the shrimp is amazing. It’s usually not about the physical space—it’s about the culture, the team, the lighting, and the food. The team is really what makes or breaks it.”
“I think hospitality is my sweet spot. I love it.”
On her toughest restaurant project.
“Jac’s on Bond was a challenge. It’s complicated when you have a beloved neighborhood establishment like The Smile, and [its owners], Matt [Kliegman] and Carlos [Quirarte], want to change it. I was designing it myself and thinking, ‘But where will I eat?!’ I lived on Bond Street for 25 years; I felt like I was ruining the block!
“I wanted [Jac’s] to be ‘90s downtown and not overdo it—to feel reminiscent of places like MercBar and Café Tabac, where their cool had less to do with the design than with the team, the vibe, and the curation of the crowd. Making a space desirable is very hard to do, and thank goodness the onus is not on me to do that. But I really wanted Jac’s to be desirable, and not just from an aesthetic standpoint.”
On the last-minute piece that changed everything.
“The design was basically done, and I thought, ‘We need a pool table.’ I knew they’d shoot it down, because a pool table means removing seats. I called Carlos first, since I go to him with the really whacked ideas, and Matt when it’s something practical. They said, ‘Great, do it.’ Anytime I’m there, it’s packed. Everyone’s playing pool and hanging out. It's like the old days when shit was just cool.”
On the best rooms she’s ever sat in (that she didn’t design).
“Everyone loves Raoul’s. It’s all vibe. It just never fucking gets old—and I don’t even eat meat. I went to a Khaite dinner there after their fashion show and was like, ‘The tarot card reader is still here!’ Shit does not change.”
“Indochine is another one. Again, it never gets old because of Jean-Marc [Houmard] and the team. My family and friends have a Christmas Eve tradition to have dinner there; there’s always about 15-20 of us, we dress over the top—I wore a gown last year—and the next day we go to Katz’s Deli.”
On the best seat in the house.
“The bar!”
On what hotels can learn from restaurants.
“The idea of special care, thoughtfulness—that there’s a person, place, and idea tied to it. It’s what André did really well. He showed up. He threw the party. They were his people. I just went to The Point on Saranac Lake in New York…a former Rockefeller estate. It was over-the-top hospitality in the most genuine way. The chef comes out and cooks for you, you dine with other people, anything/anywhere you need—and when I say anything/anywhere, I mean it—they’ll do it. It feels like you’re staying at someone’s home, much like Passalacqua on Lake Como. At the end of my visit, they gave me a picnic basket and said, ‘By the way, we topped off your tank so you don’t have to stop.’ I was like, Drop the mic!”
What’s next:
The Nora Hotel, West Palm Beach, with Sean MacPherson and Richard Born. It’s more Bowery Hotel than The Breakers. “I remember putting on this silk black-and-white Khaite dress while there for dinner one night. I looked at John and said, ‘So what do you think? Don't I look super Palm Beach?’ He’s like, ‘No, baby, you look like you're from New York!’ [The property’s] a different vibe [than expected], but I think that's going to be really nice.”
A private club in New York for JPMorgan Chase. 👀
A (hush-hush) restaurant project with Ignacio Mattos.
More we’re reading/buying/enjoying right now:
Joshua David Stein looked into America’s pizza renaissance for Food & Wine’s latest cover story. As much as we love new styles/trends, we’ll forever be Team Dollar Slice.
Erin’s thinking ahead to the cornbread she’ll be making for Thanksgiving and upgrading her cast iron skillet.
Film + food = YES. It’s Just Cinema shared its top five favorite movies about food. The list included Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels, which the British Film Institute voted the Greatest Film Ever Made in 2022.
A tale of steak frites and stolen $$$. Quel scandale!
(Friends supporting friends!) We’re getting a head start on the holidays with Christine’s first book, The Thought That Counts: A Guide to Gifting for Every Occasion.
John attended the NYCWFF and had fun (as usual) at Burger Bash (there’s a reason it’s one of the most popular and entertaining events of the week). Here’s what he had to say:
OTH x In The House at NYC Wine & Food Festival
Last week at Pier 17, the Burger Bash crowned two winners. The crowd went for Nowon, Jae Lee’s Korean spot in the East Village, and the judges picked Gotham Burger Social Club. Two great burgers and well deserved.
This is the 19th edition of the festival’s signature showdown, and the list of past winners reads like a map of how New York has been eating burgers since 2008. Katie Lee Biegel (formerly Joel) took the first-ever one with a patty melt. Then came Mercer Street Hospitality; it was exciting that our “Bash Burger” won People’s Choice six times: Lure Fishbar in 2009 and B&B (RIP) in 2011-2014 and 2020. Bobby’s Burger Palace got one in between. Black Tap is the only other repeat winner with three straight (2015-2017), plus two Judges’ Choice trophies after that. Then came the beer halls, the butcher shops, and the smash burgers: Clinton Hall, Pig Beach, Mister Dips, Mel’s Butcher Box, Capon’s, El Sazon RD, and now Nowon. All of these are exceptional burgers and worth trying if you haven’t yet.
See you next week. — John
LOVE this conversation so so much. Particularly the point she makes about FLOW...noted!