Cocktails at Bergdorf’s, a Chelsea art exhibit to beat the heat, more NYC events

Each week, Alexa is rounding up the buzziest fashion drops, hotel openings, restaurant debuts and celeb-studded cultural happenings in NYC. It’s our curated guide to the very best things to see, shop, taste and experience around the city. 

What’s making our luxury list this week? A new eaterie at Bergdorf Goodman, a West Village store that’s all about local goods and a beloved Kiwi brand debuts in Flatiron. 

Bergdorf’s one-time lower level café has been transformed into a multi-layered homage to Ginori 1735, albeit one that also happens to serve food. Everything from the wallpaper to the fabric on the decorative pillows to the furniture and the tabletop was sourced from the age-old Italian heritage brand, who also has a dedicated shop on the 7th floor. The café is open for lunch and apertivo, with menus that, naturally, tend towards the Italian, whether the expected (focaccia, carpaccio, pastas) or not (an “Italian style taco”) and a plethora of refreshing cocktails to accompany all of the above. Italian-o-philes please note: unlike in Italy, the apertivo snacks here have a price tag attached.

BergdorfGoodman.com

Vija Celmins, Jack Pierson, Cindy Sherman, Ed Ruscha and Elmgreen & Dragset are just a handful of the artists with works on display in The Swimmer, an exhibition that opened earlier this month at FLAG Art Foundation in Chelsea. At a casual glance, it seems like an interesting and fun array for a summer-themed exhibition. But the story behind it is, of course, much more nuanced. A vastly simplified version: the exhibition was inspired by a 1964 John Cheever short story (of the same name, published in the New Yorker) featuring a protagonist who decides to alter his usual commute and swim home via his neighbors backyard pools. In addition to the aforementioned artists, the exhibition includes eleven new paintings by Katherine Bradford, created specifically for this show.

Through August 9, FLAGArtFoundation.org

There’s a lot of talk about shopping local but Locavore, a new shop on 6th Avenue in the West Village, takes it to the next level. The 600 square-foot storefront is filled with over 700 products made by 130 companies all located within 100 miles of New York City. It’s the brainchild of Caroline Weaver, who some may remember as the founder of the late great CW Pencil Enterprise (RIP, 2021). In the years since, she founded the Locavore Guide, a “yellow pages for independent retail,” which she compiled by literally walking the city — over 30,000 blocks in all five boroughs — to establish a detailed catalog of such retailers which is now available to all online. The offerings are her shop – health/beauty, gardening, travel, home goods and pantry items galore — are not. A visit is required. Shopping local, after all, takes effort.

434 Sixth Avenue, TheLocavore.com

Maribel Lieberman founded MarieBelle chocolates in 2000 and opened her SoHo flagship the very next year; today she has four store locations including her latest, at The Pierre Hotel. While diminutive in side it’s packed with all the things — from truffles to ganache to bars and some wedding themed options, all packaged in her signature boxes in a very optimistic shade of bright blue. Best yet: it’s all hand made by “passionate chocolate artisans” in Brooklyn.

MarieBelle.com

Given the name, one would expect Rodd & Gunn to stock all things hunting and fishing (they refer to their shops as “lodges,” after all). That said, the shops look nothing like any lodge we’ve ever seen and the contents within do not include sporting goods or gear. But the age-old New Zealand menswear brand’s second New York City shop (the first is in Dumbo) does include an assortment of ‘woven in Italy’ pure linen shirts and cotton-linen blend jackets, pure Australian cotton polos, leather accessories and footwear. They describe the mix as “evergreen” pieces designed for “the guy who is quietly confident.”

Rodd&Gunn.com