This is a collection of the most creative restaurant designs in the world, from risky and modern to traditional and laid back. This compilation of vivid photographs and detailed layouts gives examples ...
The New Board Room: Clever use of space and seating maximizes the number of "No. 1" tables.
It's as common today to land business deals over Hawaiian blue prawns with lemon verbena as it is to hammer out contracts in the seclusion of a hallowed board room. And for some, being seen taking a meeting at a particular restaurant is just as-if not more-important as the content of that meeting itself. For the restaurants that cater to this power-lunch crowd, it's an interesting design negotiation: How do you facilitate conversation while maintaining a balance between the see-and-be-seens and more private suits? And how do you do so in a way that makes every guest feel like a VIP?
With its prime location in Century City, Chef Tom Colicchio's Craft Los Angeles, for example, is in VIP central. The neighborhood is as much about money as media. Tom Cruise and other stars have offices in nearby MGM Tower, but it's lawyers, financiers and corporate Hollywood that populate this western Wall Street.
In its review of the restaurant, the Los Angeles Times summed up how Craft's layout had turned it into the power-lunch-spot
du jour, with its "sleek cabanas in which junior agents and talent can sprawl and do business
at the same time, luxuriously roomy booths far enough away from the next table that only a word or two can be overheard, plus an open layout that lets everyone see and be seen."
That layout is the brainchild of Bentel and Bentel, the New York design firm. Partner Peter Bentel says the firm outfitted Craft with a variety of design elements to engender the right environment. The chainmail veils surrounding its booths, for example, allow some visibility while muffling sound. Similarly, the cabanas feature large L-shaped sofas that "are almost like four-poster beds, along with lower tables that encourage people to lean in, to get their faces closer together," says Bentel.
Business deals typically involve some sort of one-upmanship, so getting the best table can help seal the deal. While some restaurants have a single "über" table that's clearly the most desirable seat in the house, other restaurateurs seek layouts with "co-best" tables. One such establishment is the Strip House, operated by New York's Glazier Group. "The Strip House's dining room is a rectangle with a banquette in each corner," says Penny Glazier, the company's owner and director of communications. "That layout maximizes the number of No. 1 tables. The banquettes are in demand because they give diners a chance to look out over the room and were designed expressly for that purpose."
Many restaurants play up the prestige factor to lure in business lunchers. Example: Sixteen restaurant, which opened earlier this year on the 16th floor of the new Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. In addition to the obligatory celebrity chef (Frank Brunacci), Sixteen makes its play for deal-makers by offering up impressive views of such surrounding Second City landmarks as the Wrigley Clock Tower, the Chicago River and Lake Michigan via 30-foot, floor-to-ceiling windows.
Opulent features within the space-designed by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates (VDTA), Chicago, in collaboration with Ivanka Trump-include a French limestone floor, a four-tiered Swarovski chandelier and an amber glass ceiling. VDTA principal Randy Mattheis says the restaurant's window-front quartet of four-top tables was created with power players in mind. While they get the first-rate views of the Second City's skyline, other patrons get a first-rate view of them-since others have to "look across that seating if they want to see outside," Mattheis explains.
Not all lunches are about business affairs, of course-affairs of the heart are also the topic of conversation at some mid-day meals. In recognition of that reality, at San Francisco's Gascon-accented Fifth Floor restaurant, Puccini Group devised a J-shaped configuration as a way to cater to both wheeler-dealer types and more romantic tête-à-têtes. The latter can choose tables surrounded by low, curved chairs, while deal-makers are sheltered from scrutiny at more linear tables and chairs that could dress up a high-end board room. Either way, "the restaurant lends itself to hushed conversations," says Robert Puccini, chairman and ceo of the San Francisco-based restaurant design firm.