Scouting: Chobani SoHo

For all my New York visitors Chobani SoHo is a required stop. Not only because of my affection for the company (Upstate NY pride!), but because the café is really a cool place and truly unique to the city.

Image: Laura Messersmith

Personal experience and a quick look at UrbanSpoon, Yelp, and FourSquare tell the tale: the café is awesome and super popular. So it’s good news that after closing briefly for construction Chobani SoHo re-opened last week with more space, new menu offerings, and a coffee bar brewing a special blend by La Colombe.

I had a chance to attend the opening and have a sneak peek of the new menu. I’m still dreaming of the Turkish Red Lentil Soup and the Simit Sandwich with Smoked Salmon and Herbed Labne was so, so good. I also love efficiency and now I can get a great latte with my delicious snack. Two birds, one stone.

If you haven’t been yet here’s the scoop: Chobani’s chef and the café staff have developed a menu of special creations using greek yogurt and carefully selected fresh toppings. The creations span the full spectrum of flavors from sweet to savory – my favorite sweet creation is the Toasted Coconut + Pineapple and my favorite savory creation is the Mango + Avocado.

Here are a few pics from the celebration to whet your appetite and a strong recommendation to check this place out!

All Images: Laura Messersmith

Scouting: Chagall

I took a walk across the park and along the Jackie Onassis Reservoir earlier this week to check out an exhibit of Marc Chagall’s paintings called “Love, War and Exile” at the Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side. My familiarity with Chagall before I went was minimal – like, “Hey wasn’t there a plot point in Notting Hill about Chagall?” level minimal. But, after I missed the Dutch Masters at the Frick earlier this year I refused to miss this one too. I mean, it’s New York! I should be seeing great art, not spending my time catching up on Scandal! (not that there's anything wrong with that…)

The show was titled “Love, War and Exile”, so I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I wasn’t really prepared for the emotion in Chagall’s work – tenderness, despair, urgency. His experience as a Russian-born, Jewish man who fled to the United States from Paris during World War II is very clear in his paintings and the allegorical scenes portraying the danger Jewish people were in during that terrible time are powerful and dark.

Perhaps no surprise, but I gravitated toward the lighter pieces depicting Chagall’s relationship with his first wife, Bella. No photos allowed in the gallery, but thanks to the magic of the internet I was able to find images so you can see my favorites. The first two are from the 1930s – more than 15 years after they married! - and the second two were painted in the years following her passing in 1944. The colors are gorgeous and I’m not an art historian by any means, but I see so much intimacy and tenderness in the closeness of the figures. Amazing and definitely worth checking out before the show closes this weekend, assuming that you already know what Olivia Pope and Associates are up to.

Marc Chagall, Lovers Among Lilacs, 1930; Source

Marc Chagall, The Lovers, 1937; Source

Marc Chagall, The Wedding Candles, 1945; Source

Marc Chagall, Anniversary Flowers, 1947; Source

Scouting: Chip Hooper

Yesterday I made a trip to a Chelsea contemporary art gallery to see an exhibit of Chip Hooper’s Surf Series at the Robert Mann Gallery on W. 26th Street. One of my resolutions in 2014 is to graduate from point-and-shoot or iphone photos and actually learn something about photography. But, I have to be honest: my new camera is a little intimidating – multiple lenses, a variety of settings, where to start? So, this little excursion was part inspiration, part encouragement and wow was it worth the trip.

Chip Hooper Surf #1082, 2003; Image: Laura Messersmith

Chip Hooper Surf #2010, 2012; Image: Laura Messersmith

The gallery has a group of 8 large-scale black and white photographs that fill up the relatively small space. As the name of the series more than implies, the subject matter is the ocean – specifically detail shots of waves and water in motion off the coast of Northern California and New Zealand. Unlike a traditional seascape that might include a glimpse of shore or sky these images are so up close and personal that they appear abstract. Beautiful.

Chip Hooper Surf #1176, 2003; Image: Laura Messersmith

Chip Hooper Surf #2000, 2012; Image Laura Messersmith

While I was there one of the gallery assistants told me that Chip Hooper made these images over the years in between shots of what he was really there to photograph. That essentially this body of work came about somewhat unintentionally and eventually evolved into being the actual subject. That blew me away. If these are his one-offs, then I have some serious work to do...

All in all - I am definitely glad I made the trek to the other side of the High Line and I have a feeling I’ll be keeping closer tabs on the Chelsea gallery scene from now on!