PARK Magazine The Summer Issue 2022

Page 138

DINING

The iconic image from Indochine opening night in 1984 when Warhol led the charge with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jacqueline and Julian Schnabel and Kenny Scharf. PHOTO BY ROXANNE LOWIT

Julian Schnabel was still with his first wife Jacqueline, and Kenny Scharf looked crazier than Caddyshack Bill Murray in a florid patchwork red shirt, an equally garish paisley jacket and chartreuse green pants that clashed with the now-iconic Inodchine wallpaper that opening night. Almost 38 years to the date that Brian McNally and John Loeffler staged that unforgettable opening night party to debut Downtown’s then hot new restaurant across from The Public Theater,Indochine is still popping! And still at the height of being the coolest face-place in New York City. So, there was GW at the bar one breezy summer night a few weeks ago and quickly realized that I couldn’t have chosen a better night for reconnaissance. Yes, that was Calvin Klein dining with a group of three from Banquette #1. It was as if he hadn’t left since opening night! ‘’As soon as Indochine opened we made it our hangout,’’ he blithely quipped in the eponymous Rizzoli book ‘Indochine Stories: Shaken and Stirred (2009). And true to form, here was Calvin still causing the room to stir. The night before, another legend, Faye

‘‘THE ‘90S WERE ALL ABOUT NAOMI, LINDA, KATE, KARA, GAIL, CHRISTY AND STEPHANIE CAROUSING OVER BASKETS OF SUMMER ROLLS AND LYCHEE MARTINIS AT INDOCHINE.’’

Yet another iconic image- Grace Jones demanding attention at the Don’t Bungle The Jungle benefit, May 1989, hosted by Madonna and Kenny Scharf. PHOTO BY ROXANNE LOWIT

Dunaway drew admiring glances all night from Banquette #3. And two nights after that, Christie’s staged a fortuitous boisterous celebration the night before Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn portrait shot to fame as the most expensive 20th Century work of art ever sold at auction. It just seems that once again Indochine is the place to eat, drink and see and be seen. So, to say that Indochine remains the coolest restaurant hot spot in New York City, now 38 years on, would be a mere understatement. It also remains the definitive Downtown stomping ground now for two generations and counting. Pop Culture historians could do a doctoral thesis on NYC onThe Generation of Cool and not visit anywhere else. From that opening night in 1984 through their deaths in 1987/1988, the Warhol/Basquiat cabal practically ate and drank and made merry every night at Indochine. And where Andy went-- everyone else followed. ‘’It’s a fashionable restaurant that has never been subject to the vagaries of fashion.’’ Who else but Dame Anna Wintour to sum up the Indochine mystique. It was Anna and the original ‘supers’ (supermodels) who burnished the legend and the joie de vivre of dinner at Indochine all through the post-Warhol/Basquiat era. When Anna staged the 50th birthday party for her Vogue peer Grace Coddington she made sure that every supermodel in the world was at Indochine to kiss her ring. The ‘90s were all about Naomi, Linda, Kate, Kara, Gail, Christy and Stephanie carousing over baskets of Summer Rolls and Lychee Martinis at Indochine. The red-light district boudoir you feel on entry still sets the mood as you lift off from Astor Place and into that timeless decor and aesthete here, from the Martinique green ba-

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6/21/22 11:59 PM


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SAVE VENICE

1min
page 170

COURI

5min
pages 166-167

THE HAT LUNCHEON

1min
pages 168-169

BLOCKBOARD

1min
page 165

MOLLY DEVOSS

2min
page 164

ANDY SABIN

4min
pages 162-163

YOUR BEST SELF TV

7min
pages 158-161

PALM BEACH DESIGN MASTERS

1min
pages 152-153

LISA LIPPMAN

1min
pages 150-151

BERENICE ELECTROLYSIS

8min
pages 154-157

UNLIMITED EARTH CARE

2min
pages 146-147

A TREEHOUSE IN MANHATTAN

3min
pages 148-149

KLAR

2min
pages 144-145

SUSAN VANECH

3min
pages 142-143

YANKEE PREMIUM SUITES

2min
pages 132-133

GEORGE DURAN

2min
page 135

ANELLE GANDELMAN

4min
pages 138-141

NASALGUARD

2min
pages 136-137

YUMBLE

2min
page 134

ANKUSH PUNHANI

4min
pages 130-131

A PASTA BAR

2min
pages 128-129

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

6min
pages 124-127

SUDHIR GUPTA

4min
pages 110-111

HOTEL CALIFORNIAN

4min
pages 114-115

CHAGIT LEVIEV

7min
pages 104-107

WEMPE

4min
pages 108-109

SERGIO NICOLOSI

4min
pages 102-103

IL GATTOPARDO

9min
pages 118-123

MIRAVAL BERSKHIRES

2min
pages 116-117

INFLATION IS HERE

2min
pages 100-101

MARIA KREYN

3min
pages 86-87

VICTORIA GOLEMBIOVSKAYA

3min
pages 84-85

THE BEAUTY OF IMPERFECT

7min
pages 76-79

HAMPTONS ART FAIR

4min
pages 80-81

SHIRA GOLD

7min
pages 70-75

BILL RAU

5min
pages 82-83

MATTHEW BRUDERMAN

8min
pages 94-99

STRONG-CUEVAS

9min
pages 88-93
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