PHILANTHROPY

HautePARTNERS

Bringing Flair to The Lone Star State

Haute Living chatted with the Villa Azur founders to talk about the Dallas location, the success of the brand and their pillars of success.

BY MARY GIBSON

VILLA AZUR IS A MIAMI BEACH RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE KNOWN FOR ITS EXQUISITE cuisine, dancing and cocktails. Started in 2011 by longtime friends and restaurateurs Jean-Philippe Bernard, Paul Breuza and Michael Martin, Villa Azur was created to bring the French Riviera and sparkling Mediterranean lifestyle to Miami Beach. This fine dining restaurant combines music, dining, entertainment and art and is especially known for its Thursday night dinner party — the most glamorous party on the beach! Full of well-dressed servers, live music and impeccable bites, Villa Azur is the place to be when in Miami.

The business has been rapidly growing in the past decade, leading to successful venues worldwide. The locations include Mexico City, as well as beach versions of Villa Azur in both Bodrum, Turkey, and Saint-Tropez, France, that are only open during the summer. Most recently, Villa Azur has expanded to the W Hotel in Dallas and is set to open this fall.

Haute Living: What has contributed to the success of the Villa Azur brand?

Villa Azur: Villa Azur is a place to celebrate — whether it is a new job, an exciting achievement, a birthday or just life in general. The core mission of Villa Azur is to wake up every morning ready to celebrate life and make it contagious. Every morning, each of us should wake up and affirm: “I am grateful for my life and my health. Today, I am celebrating life, walking out my door and inspiring everybody around me.”

HL: What makes the restaurant and hospitality brand different?

VA: We have a fresh and flirty vibe with a touch of whimsy. We transform a high-end dinner service into a vibrant atmosphere for patrons to socialize and celebrate the night away.

HL: Why was Dallas selected as the next place to expand Villa Azur?

VA: When it comes to cities on track for continued global business success, Dallas is at the head of the class. Attracting multicultural interests daily, it’s among the country’s fastest-growing cities and ranks as one of the best places to live in America. Villa Azur in Dallas was simply an evident choice for an exciting and successful brand expansion. Texans are irresistibly friendly and down-to-earth, and we have been tremendously charmed by the diversity and the energetic, modern lifestyle the city has to offer.

HL: How will this destination be unique from the others?

VA: While the Miami location currently operates for dinner only, Villa Azur Dallas, located uptown at the W HotelVictory, will be open for dinner as well as breakfast and lunch. The location will also serve brunch on Saturdays and Sundays in a lively atmosphere, true to Villa Azur’s glamorous vibe, offering guests a full fine dining experience.

HL: Will there be any specialty nights at the Dallas location?

VA: Villa Azur Dallas will surely bring the Miami extravaganza with late-night entertainment, glamorous greeters, live DJs and fancy handcrafted cocktails. Our Thursday night dinner party will add a sexy, European touch to the vibrant Dallas nightlife. Whether it’s a date night or a get-together with friends, be ready for fabulous weekends and unforgettable memories!

HL: Will the chef be creating some specialty dishes unique to the Dallas location?

VA: Dallas has a unique culinary identity, and we want to ensure we meet all of our future patrons’ expectations. Texans are notorious meat lovers, and as such, Villa Azur will be offering large cuts of meat, such as a 42-ounce tomahawk steak, braised short rib on the bone, and a 16-ounce prime New York steak, to name a few.

The menu will also reflect the restaurant’s identity by offering many of Miami’s signature dishes, such as seared octopus, king crab, artichoke salad, truffle burrata, pates a la meule Cognac flambé, Dover sole meuniere, chateaubriand au poivre, whole roasted chicken and the best Nutella mousse you’ll ever have.

Additionally, our executive chef, Carlos Torres, will be creating seasonal inspired specialty dishes with bold flavors to pair with our excellent selection of Perrier-Jouet champagne, Opus wines and a hard-to-resist cocktails list. For more information, visit villaazurhospitality.com.

THE CHARITABLE GAME

PHILANTHROPIST JAMIE TISCH ON CO-CHAIRING THE ASPEN ART MUSEUM’S VIRTUAL ARTCRUSH BENEFIT — AND WHY SHE’S DRIVEN TO GIVE BACK.

BY LAURA SCHREFFLER

PHILANTHROPY IS IN JAMIE TISCH’S DNA. THE COFOUNDER of the entertainment industry’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) sat down with Haute Living to discuss her involvement with the Sotheby’s-presented ArtCrush 2021 (an auction, online this year, that benefitted the Aspen Art Museum, with a curated selection of over 45 works by some exciting modern artists), her love of Aspen and why she decided to open her concept gallery Pitkin Projects there, and why, most of all, she’s driven to give back.

Haute Living: Tell us about your involvement with ArtCrush and what you hoped the event would achieve.

Jamie Tisch: This year’s ArtCrush was a huge success, raising more money than ever before! I’m always excited to help raise money for the Aspen Art Museum. Outside of incredible museum programming, the institution has wonderful programing for schools in a 250-mile radius that would otherwise not have access to art.

HL: Were there any specific pieces you had your eye on from this year’s live auction?

JT: I am sad to say I was outbid on the Vaugh Spann, the Rita Ackerman and the Mary Weatherford. I have to up my game next year!

HL: Tell us about the vision behind Pitkin Projects and what shoppers can expect.

JT: [When I co-chaired the benefit], I was inspired and knew it was time to take on a new project. I reached out to Lisa Eisner, [Edie Parker founder] Brett Heyman, David Netto, Gregory Parkinson, Salon 94 Design, Meredith Darrow, Friedman Benda and many more incredible talents with the goal of fostering a collaborative design-concept gallery environment. The doors opened in July 2020 with a plan to continue through Labor Day. We were overwhelmed by the reception! By the end of August, I decided that the concept deserved to live on as its own entity.

HL: With travel on pause during the pandemic, how were you able to curate the global pieces for the shop?

JT: Travel has been on pause, but artists’ work has not. I have worked via FaceTime with most of them, abroad and in the States. I am able to walk them through to show them how their work would live organically in our space. I have also been able to do many virtual studio visits, which has worked well.

HL: Why do you give back? Why is it so personally important to you?

JT: Giving back is extremely important to me and has been for decades. I cofounded the Women’s Cancer Research Fund, which is a program of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The WCRF mobilizes the influential entertainment community to raise critical funds. I am working on something new for WCRF that several Pitkin Projects vendors have said they would like to participate in. It’s still in the early stages, but I’m excited to have a way to combine two things that I care deeply about.

HL: When did you start collecting art, and why?

JT: I started collecting contemporary art when I moved to Los Angeles. It’s there where I met with some amazing artists who inspired me. Each showed me a different perspective on how to look at things and perceive art, everything ranging from my upbringing in the South to today’s current events.

HL: What to you is the greatest luxury in life, and why?

JT: The greatest gift in life is being able to travel and spend time with my family.