How a New York City Classic Reinvented Itself as One of the Hottest Restaurants in Town

Few restaurants have the storied history of New York’s Café des Artistes. Housed in the Hotel Des Artistes, one of the city’s illustrious “studio” buildings known for its creative residents, the cafe was the communal restaurant (the apartments did not have kitchens) for tenants such as dancer Isadora Duncan, playwright Noel Coward, writers Fannie Hurst and Alexander Woollcott, and painter Norman Rockwell. One accomplished habitué, Howard Chandler Christy, a distinguished illustrator and society portraitist in the 1920s and ’30s, painted the signature and now landmarked murals—”Fantasy Scenes with Naked Beauties”—that provide the backdrop for this elegant New York institution. From… Read Full Article