Noticed: Transforming Restaurant - Dwell Blog

Three weeks ago Suzanne blogged Rose and Radish, one of the small but growing number of stores that act like galleries, with a series of short-lived shows.

Is the same thing happening with restaurants? In June, Park Avenue Summer opened on 63rd Street in Manhattan for a three-month stand with a seasonal menu and décor to match. The restaurant was designed like a stage set by AvroKO, a New York architecture firm, with snap-on upholstery and changeable wall panels within steel wall frames, so that the dining room can transform every three months, with a minimum of downtime. Even the graphics and staff uniforms change with the calendar.

For the next month, towering reeds divide the space and walls and ceiling are covered in yellow lacquered panels and whitewashed wood from a coastal town. The chef wears seersucker.

In early September the restaurant will go on hiatus and reopen as Park Avenue Autumn. In New York, it seems, nothing sells like constant newness.

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Posted by: Michael Cannell on Aug 2, 07 at 12:00 AM PDT