Peek Inside Liquid Art House, Aiming to Open May 6

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• [Photos: Rachel Leah Blumenthal]

Here's a peek inside Liquid Art House, the ambitious 10,000-square-foot restaurant/gallery hybrid that's now shooting for a May 6 opening. There are surfaces aplenty for art installations ranging from paintings to digital art and everything in between, and the art will change regularly like a typical gallery, with art up for sale. In fact, the "liquid" in the name of the restaurant refers not just to fluidity but also to the idea of artists making money from their work, as in "liquid assets."

The highlight of the limestone-columned space is the massive central room, featuring a circular bar underneath a giant chandelier. The room is flanked by dining rooms on both sides, one of which looks into the open kitchen. Rachel Klein, formerly of the Mandarin Oriental, is heading up the culinary program, and Ensan Wong (formerly at Le Meurice in Paris) is chef de cuisine. Klein is excited to get started with a shiny red French rotisserie they're calling Lulu. (The chandelier, meanwhile, is called Lu — it is a LU Murano chandelier made by Fabio Fornasier.)

There will be a special rotisserie table where groups can dine family-style on whole animal roasts, which must be reserved in advance. Klein notes that Liquid Art House aims to provide two-tier dining: There are fancy, expensive options like the roasts, but there will be options at a lower price point as well. The opening menu also includes complimentary bar bites like chili-caramel popcorn and marinated olives, small plates like crab tacos and sea bass crudo, and a variety of handmade dumplings.

· All coverage of Liquid Art House on Eater [~EBOS~]