Spa day special
Nine best NYC hotel spas, new airport lounges, Westchester listings, Swoony's, untouched Greece, America's finest orchestra, MORE
THE ASK • FOUND SF
Here’s a scoop: FOUND is launching in San Francisco later this year. It’s never too early to get on the list. We’re also looking for Bay Area-based contributors. If that’s you, hit reply or email found@foundny.com with FOUND SF in the subject line and we’ll chat.
GETAWAYS • Airports
Upping the game at LGA
LGA: On Tuesday, Chase opened its new Chase Sapphire Lounge in LaGuardia’s Terminal B — right next door to the Amex Centurion Lounge. With 21,000 square feet over two floors, the new lounge is instantly “the best lounge in the entire airport,” per The Points Guy. Highlights include a 360-degree bar (above), a family area with kids’ playroom, a hidden retro arcade, and complimentary mini-facials by Face Haus. Chase partnered with restaurateur Gabe Stulman for some of the menu items (drawing menu inspiration from his Village favorite Joseph Leonard), and Parcelle and Apotheke for wine and drinks.
The ticket: Access is free for holders of the Sapphire Reserve, J.P. Morgan Reserve, and the Ritz-Carlton Credit Card cards; more access details here. The lounge also includes three Reserve Suites — with showers, concierge, and food — bookable in three-hour increments for $2200-$3000 per, depending on suite size.
JFK: This coming Tuesday, the former Etihad Airways Lounge in JFK’s Terminal 4 (shuttered since pandemic) is reopening as another new Chase Sapphire Lounge, this one jointly run by Chase and Etihad. It will be located right through security on the mezzanine level, adjacent to the Amex Centurion Lounge.
The ticket: Same access rules as the new LGA Chase Sapphire Lounge, presumably with access for select Etihad customers too.
LGA: More welcome airport dining news: NYC chef Dale Talde has opened Talde Noodle Bar in LaGuardia’s Terminal B. The modern Asian tapas offerings include crispy chicken noodles, ramen, and fried rice, as well as beer and cocktails. The terminal’s other food offerings include Bar Veloce, Hill Country BBQ, Dos Toros, and Shake Shack.
GETAWAYS LINKS: What’s the latest on Clear identity checks? • Routing updates: Etihad bringing top-tier ‘First Apartment’ offering back to some JFK routes • Cathay Pacific reviving first class for JFK-HKG route • JetBlue launching daily JFK-Tulum nonstop in June ‘24 • Delta plans to drop LGA flights to LAS and SLC.
REAL ESTATE • Westchester Report
Listings desert
It’s harder than ever to find a house in Westchester. Inventory across the county dropped to an all-time low of 1,176 listings in Q4, per the latest Elliman report. Luxury homes (the top 10% of sales, or $1.8M and up) are even more scarce, with only 155 online during that period, also an all-time low.
It’s not a market for the weak of heart, as properties that do list are subject to bidding wars and elevated prices — particularly in the Sound Shore (Blind Brook, Harrison, Mamaroneck, Port Chester, Rye City, Rye Neck) and Lower (Bronxville, Eastchester, Edgemont, Scarsdale, Tuckahoe) districts.
The good news for hopeful buyers is that most of these deals were done before rates topped. The bad news is that it might take more than a point or two to shake entrenched inventory free. In the meantime, three new listings for the brave:
→ 11 Hazel Ln. (Larchmont) • 6BR/5.5BA, 4012 SF • Ask: $2.95M • Colonial, blocks from Manor Park and the Sound • Days on market: 3 • Agent: Allison Doern, Houlihan Lawrence.
→ 40 Cushman Rd. (Scarsdale, above) • 5BR/4.5BA, 4658 SF • Ask: $3.35M • One acre, with English garden and pool • Days on market: 3 • Agent: Julia B. Fee, Sotheby’s.
→ 65 Wendover Rd. (Rye) • 5BR/4.5BA, 5287 SF • Ask: $3.295M • Custom-rebuilt in Park Ridge neighborhood • Days on market: 13 • Agent: Maria Skamangas, William Raveis.
NYC REAL ESTATE LINKS: What does the future hold for Pier 76 in Hudson Yards/Hell’s Kitchen? • Maison Hudson completes construction on West St. in West Village • Someone is finally buying Joan Didion’s former UES apartment • To sell his Amagansett house, Alec Baldwin takes matters into his own hands.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
High praise
VERENA VON PFETTEN • co-founder • Gossamer
Neighborhood you live in: Red Hook
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
I start most of my weekdays with a yoga class at Practice, the local studio in Red Hook. At Gossamer, we’re writing, editing, and prepping our weekly High Praise newsletter, which goes out Saturday mornings. (Sign up if you like good things.)
After work, I have two Friday modes: Option one is takeout on the couch and a movie. We tend to cycle through burritos from Purépecha on Smith St. (an absolute sleeper spot), Popeyes (an ideal Friday meal so that I can eat leftover cold fried chicken tenders through the rest of the weekend), Authentic Szechuan Tofu of Fifth, where we’ve dialed in an absolutely perfect order (my DMs are open), and pizza from F&F (one Partanna pie, one Hot Sausage & Brown Butter Sage; leftovers get frozen for a freezer treat). Option two is an early bird, multi-martini dinner with friends at Swoony’s, Cafe Spaghetti, or Red Hook Tavern.
Any restaurant plans this weekend?
This weekend, my best friend is in town visiting from LA, staying at the Ace Brooklyn, so we’ll do a lobby drink, and then hit up a private karaoke room at Insa after wherever we end up for dinner, maybe with a casual post-dinner drink at Docky’s to kill time before our Insa res. Winter weekends are for dim sum, so we’ll take a run at East Harbour Seafood Palace on Sunday, and if I’m feeling antsy in the afternoon, I love meeting friends at Strong Rope Brewery down by Valentino Pier for an early evening hang. You can’t beat the views, and while Red Hook is almost like a seasonal town, I love the sleepy, locals-only vibe that happens in winter.
How about a little leisure or culture?
My friend and I are considering tickets to Merrily We Roll Along for Saturday night, if we can stomach the cost. Regardless, I’ll probably smoke some weed with my Saturday morning coffee and stay in bed for a while to catch up with my other friends (a.k.a. the casts of Southern Charm, Below Deck: Mediterranean, and The Challenge.) Does that count as culture?
Any weekend getaways?
I feel very fortunate to have friends who are more diligent with their finances than I’ve ever been and who let me take advantage of their real estate decisions on weekends upstate and in Connecticut. Roscoe, Coxsackie, and Madison, CT, are all in regular rotation. If you’re going to any, please swing by Corners in Livingston Manor, Unquiet Upstate and Ravish Liquors (above) in Coxsackie, and Bar Bouche for dinner and Stony Creek Market for sandwiches in Madison (technically Branford, but close enough).
What was your last great vacation?
I’ve had two incredible trips in 2023 — the first to Kéa in Greece to celebrate my best friend’s birthday, a place so magical I’m reticent to include it. Stay at Ydor and enjoy the sunsets. The second was to Italy in late November. The best meal I had was at La Tana Del Rosso in Roccacasale, a tiny mountain town in the Abruzzo a few hours outside of Rome. Sit outside and say yes to the fresh mozzarella delivery that shows up early afternoon, still warm from a neighboring farm.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Ohio Strings
The Cleveland Orchestra (“America’s finest,” per NYT), Carnegie Hall (Midtown West), Sat @ 8p, first tier, $130 per
Darrell Hammond - Cray, Minetta Lane Theatre (Greenwich Village), Sat @ 7p, orchestra, $91 per
Black Pumas & Digable Planets, Radio City Music Hall (Midtown West), Fri @ 8p, orchestra, $102 per
CULTURE LINKS: NYC’s first public observatory is coming to the Bronx • Museum of Chinese America in Chinatown buys its home • 1 Ludlow on Dimes Square is the antidote to big-box galleries • Elton John trove heads to Christie’s • People hated Pitchfork because it mattered.
LOST & FOUND • Behind the Paywall
A beauty of a Nines below (this was a week made for hotel spas). But first a handful of favorite NYC restaurants from new subscribers:
→ The Four Horsemen (Williamsburg) • Raf's (Noho) • Atomix (Flatiron) • The Modern (Midtown West) • Nobu (Tribeca/Midtown West) • Jean-Georges (Columbus Circle) • Meduza (Meatpacking) • Beauty & Essex (Lower East Side) • Jeffrey's Grocery (West Village) • Polo Bar (Midtown East).
CULTURE & LEISURE • The Nines
Spas, hotel
The Spa at Four Seasons Downtown (Wall Street), posh services, 75-foot pool reserved for hotel guests and spa membership club only
Shibui Spa at Greenwich Hotel (Tribeca, above), one hour access to steam, pool, and lounge pre- or post-treatment
The Spa at Equinox Hotel (Hudson Yards), dry sauna complimentary with spa treatments, infrared sauna bookable separately
Spa de la Mer at Baccarat Hotel (Midtown), one hour access to steam, pool, and pool cabanas pre- or post-treatment
Guerlain Spa at The Plaza (Midtown), Parisian spa pioneer, treatment bookings come with steam room and lounge access
Aman Spa New York (Midtown), banya and hammam spa experiences bookable for half days
Valmont Spa at the Carlyle (Upper East Side), many treatments, but showers and steam room currently closed for renovation
The Spa at Mandarin Oriental (Upper West Side), spa thermal experiences available pre-treatment only
Bamford Wellness Spa (Brooklyn Heights), at 1Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, treatments come with steam room and lounge access
All of the above bookable by non-hotel guests. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@foundny.com.