A hidden tasting menu in NYC’s first Japanese-owned hotel, the Ferragamo family’s Florence hotel, and a conversation with Christina Tosi of Milk Bar.

On our radar this week: NYC

• OASES (Opening): OASES is a wellness collective located in Chelsea, New York that opened its café on August 16. The menu focuses on Ayurvedic cuisine, featuring dishes like Ube Pancakes and Himalayan Shakshuka for breakfast, as well as curry bowls and sandwiches for lunch. In addition to the café, a full dining room and bar will open in mid-September. Shop a selection of pantry, home items, clean beauty & body care products at their Wellness Bazaar. 

• Realmuto (Opening): Realmuto, opening on September 12 in the West Village, marks the first sit-down restaurant from the Realmuto Hospitality Group in two decades. Inspired by Italian pasticcerias, it offers an all-day dining experience with a menu featuring fresh pastries by Pastry Chef Giuseppe Zito, alongside traditional Italian snacks like panini and arancini. 

• LDV at The Maidstone x Sans Pareil Cigars (8/20): Join LDV at The Maidstone for a four-course menu by Scarpetta Chef Jorge Espinoza, followed by a cigar tasting and rum pairing, featuring Bacardi 8-Year Reserva Ocho. Purchase your tickets here.  

• The Nines' Supper Club Series (8/26): The Nines' Supper Club Series presents Hailee Kaleem Wright, renowned for her leading roles in Moulin Rouge and SIX. Hailee will perform a Broadway inspired musical cabaret alongside The Nines' very own Hunter Lamar on piano. The Nines' signature dinner menu of French fare, burgers, and caviar will be served alongside classic cocktails throughout the evening’s performances.

In case you missed it

We shared an inside look at the Inns of Aurora, a collection of historic homes restored by the founder of American Girl, located in the Finger Lakes, a new wine bar, and more on our Instagram.

A postcard from

Office Hours

Christina Tosi is the award-winning chef and founder of Milk Bar, whose inventive and nostalgic treats have fueled a national dessert empire - 12 bakeries and growing, a DTC business and cookies in the grocery store nationwide. A formally trained pastry chef yet guided by classic American desserts with a creative twist, Tosi is the creator of iconic treats like Cereal Milk, the Compost Cookie, and Birthday Cake with unfrosted sides. Tosi is a two-time James Beard award winner, a Ted speaker, a New York Times bestselling author of seven cookbooks (with one more on the way in November 2024) and invites bakers into her home kitchen weekly on Bake Club.

@christinatosi @milkbarstore | www.milkbarstore.com www.bakeclub.com

Q+A

Tell us about yourself!

Hi! I’m Christina Tosi, the Chef and Owner behind Milk Bar, the quirky American style bakery founded in NYC. I love to explore the world by indulging my curiosity around food. You may know me from judging on Fox's Masterchef Junior, hosting Netflix's Bake Squad, or my episode of the Netflix docu-series Chef's Table: Pastry. Or maybe you’ve baked along with one or New York Times Bestselling cookbooks. I have two James Beard Awards and have spent 16 years building Milk Bar, with bakery locations across the country, an online care package business, and products in the aisles of the grocery store.

What inspires you to uncover more?

I am a total wanderlust– travel ignites my imagination, the infinite possibility, watching people’s faces in an airport, at a gas station, on a train…living, existing in a different place for even just a night. Waking with the sun, eating the food, doing the thing (I love walking/running around to really get a lay of the land) are some of my most favorite ways to feel inspired and keep my creative gas tank full.

Where is your go-to spot when in NYC?

I love the micro neighborhoods, the East village and the LES - they’re gritty and imperfect and soulful. I also love to walk over the Williamsburg bridge and marvel and how big yet how small it all is- it’s a ball of energy and ideas and passion like no other.

Is there a secret, local-only spot you can share?

The drive in movie theatre in Olmstead Falls, Ohio- brownie points if you play putt putt before the sun goes down and grab a few Galley Boys and blueberry shakes from Swenson’s along the way.

Where is your bucket-list destination? What makes you excited about visiting?

A road trip, a camping trip, a hiking trip – Camino de Santiago is next on my slow down and travel list– it gives you the opportunity to do things at a different pace, with a different purview, to redefine what the “sites” are, how you interact with yourself and the people and things around you, maybe you even leave your phone somewhere else/ on in a very hard to reach pouch. Maybe you don’t even know where you’re going to sleep or eat tonight. Heck maybe you purposefully go somewhere you know you can’t get service and figure any of it out. That’s my kind of slow down and travel trip. One where you get to see life through a lens you normally miss.