Photographer Danielle Levitt (who shot porn star-turned-Lindsay Lohan The Canyons co-star James Deen for GQ) and creative pals Christina Chin and Caroleyn Ng have opened the Bowery’s booming new hot spot: Wise Men. “We took the name from the restaurant that Christina’s family opened in the early 1970s in Chinatown. It was the first western-style steak house in the area,” Ms. Levitt tells us. The interior, by designer Andy Harman (who boasts Terry Richardson, Mario Testino, Jonathan Adler and Ellen von Unwerth as clients) mixes elements from the Memphis design era with the Brutalist architecture movement. There are dark mirrors, bright red banquettes, and our favorite: a trippy wall covering that is based on an abstracted pattern of Kobe beef fillets. Yummers! The crowd is a mix of hipsters and models born way after the 1970s and older fashion editors looking for some exotic booze cocktails and comfort food (think classic steak house favorites—more fries please) from chef Ryan Bartlow. “Inspired by the Wise Men before us, we wanted to create a local, old-school New York place,” Ms. Levitt added. Word to the wise: sex up your dress code. This is not La Grenouille.
Wise Men, 355 Bowery, no phone.
