“I don’t get the whole burger thing,” says Tom Colicchio, half-laughing.
The acclaimed cook and Top Chef judge is at one end of the long, marble-topped bar in the lounge area of his soon-to-open restaurant Fowler & Wells, standing next to a handsome green leather stool. It’s an inviting view that makes you want to pull up a seat and order a classic-styled cocktail. Alongside, you could get superb clams casino or a skirt-steak salad with horseradish, but as of yet, no burger.
We are inside the just-opened Beekman hotel in Manhattan’s Financial District. The bar is part of the show-stopping renovation of an 1890s building that you might not have noticed if you were walking by. Now the place has captured New York’s attention, especially since pictures of the towering, nine-story atrium began blowing up Instagram a few months ago.
It can be boring to hear people go on about a grand space you haven’t visited—like listening to someone talk in detail about their convoluted dream—so I'll spare you much more except to say that the new Beekman beats all the descriptions. Underneath a giant skylight are floors accented with gleaming ornate railings, glowing lights, and arched doorways. It could be the most magnificent doll house hotel, on a giant scale.
