Body & Soul - Food and Drink in Artful Settings

Ruby's

219 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012

Only the Room is Small… Ruby’s may be housed in a classic NYC “hole-in-the-wall" at 219 Mulberry Street, but it’s hard to miss. Numerous aficionados spread to the sidewalk benches and, on our last visit, a passerby stopped to explain to her friend, “THAT is Ruby’s. It’s fantastic!” But it wasn’t the substantial and savory salads and sandwiches that first lured us inside, nor the coffees and blended drinks more compelling than anything served up by the $tar-crowned siren. Ruby’s may be tiny, but the taste in art is not, and currently the most visible wall is hung with an impressive large-scale triptych of canvases depicting a bovine figure, which the proprietor informed us is shaped “like Australia,” where Ruby’s founders have their roots. hint – Ruby’s Brother Randy caters, too. 219 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012

King Cole Room

Oh there’s none so rare as can compare…” with the inimitable Maxfield Parrish, and on East 55th Street there resides, in the eponymous room at the St. Regis Hotel, his mural rendering “Old King Cole.” It was in the King Cole room that the Bloody Mary, here dubbed a “Red Snapper,” made it’s American debut. Perfect place to treat your eyes with a truly wonderful and subtly humorous painting, your taste buds with a cocktail and some exceptional bar munchies, and your psyche with the feeling that your are touching a bit of NYC history.

2 E 55th St, New York, NY 11203

Murals 54

If you have worked up your appetite cruising the nearby MoMA, you may want to cross the street to Murals 54. The historical Dean Cornwell works for which the restaurant is named were commissioned in the 1930’s by William Randolph Hearst for the Raleigh Room of his Warwick Hotel. At completion a dispute over compensation resulted in Cornwell adding images to the work that were at the time considered obscene. Even when a settlement was reached, only some were painted out. Searching for the rest may be the perfect diversion while enjoying the versatile and moderately-priced Continental menu and enticing selection of wines by the glass, in the fresh, modern setting.
65 W 54th St, New York, NY 10019

Bemelmans Bar

Uptown at the Carlyle Hotel, another bar features the work of Ludwig Bemelmans, impressionist painter and illustrator best know for his work in the series of “Madeline” books for children. In the aptly named Bemelmans’ Bar, that whimsical style is visible at eye level literally anywhere in the room, the murals on all the walls, panels on the columns, decorating the tiny lampshades at each table, even reflected in the mirror behind the bar. A gracious, hospitable and elegant place to end an evening, with fine live music. In addition to his art, Mr. Bemelmans had a noteworthy career in the restaurant business – which reminds us, we are getting hungry…76th and Madison

Body and Soul by Mark Wiener & Linda DiGusta courtesy and (c)Resolve40.com