are shown in revolving exhibitions,
which have included Joan Miró, Andy
Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and
Richard Anuszkiewicz. What isn’t on
permanent display gets changed seasonally and is on consignment. Von
Bidder works closely with John Woodward of the John Woodward Gallery to
plan the exhibits.
“He has a particular eye,” von Bidder
says of Woodward. “In fact, he is a for-
mer employee and he knows all about
the room.”
Occasionally, pieces are even com-
missioned for the space. In the late 1970s
von Bidder felt a large piece was needed
for the Pool Room, which is a dining
room anchored by a white marble pool
and live trees.
ALLA SPINA: MARK HAVENS PHO TOGRAPH Y
Points of View
These artistically notable restaurants have a different perspective, but offer
ambience so artfully appealing that it’s a testimony to their confidence
about their food and service. Each offers such dramatic surroundings that
it wouldn’t matter what they serve, but in the end their menus are as dazzling as their atmospheres.
Sam’s
At Sam’s in Boston, the stunning
ocean view is the artwork. The
starkly dramatic, Tim Button-designed building houses floor-to-ceiling windows working as a
frame for the canvas that is Boston Harbor. Manager Esti Parsons
muses, “It doesn’t matter what the
season is ... there is always someone out on the water, even in the
dead of winter—we are hearty New
Englanders.” 617-295-0191;
samsatlouis.com
LAMILL Coffee
One of the most dramatic tributes
to Baltimore’s favorite sons, Edgar
Allan Poe and Francis Scott Key,
comes by way of LAMILL Coffee,
a cafe within the Four Seasons
hotel. A huge Poe mural consists
of 16 portrait variations of the same
image, a daguerreotype. The central image references The Raven,
written in Poe’s own handwriting.
The composer of our nation’s
anthem, Key, gets his nod via historic photos of the flag of 1812 and
his handwriting of the “The Star
Spangled Banner.” Chef Michael
Mina is the man behind the cafe, as
well as the hotel’s main restaurant,
Wit & Wisdom. 410-576-5800;
fourseasons.com/baltimore
Alla Spina
Chef Marc Vetri is a fixture on the
Philadelphia and national cook-
ing scene with his sophisticated
Italian-centric cuisine. His fourth
venue, Alla Spina, celebrates its
home in the former service garage
of a Buick dealership converted
by Michael Gruber Design. Gruber
replaced the original garage doors
with three 12-by-12-foot glass aircraft
hangar doors and used recycled
glass from beer bottles to set the
tone of this gastropub with a focus
on handcrafted beers, including
hard-to-find Italian selections. To
further underscore the industrial
origins of the space and fit into the
vibe of the Fairmont neighborhood,
Alla Spina
Vetri and Gruber commissioned
graffiti artist Distort to paint the
interior. 215-600-0017;
allaspinaphilly.com
Charlie Palmer Steak
Charlie Palmer wowed us a while
back at the Vegas outpost of his
restaurant Aureole with his flying
“wine angels” manning a four-story
wine tower housing 10,000 bottles.
His most recent restaurant, Charlie
Palmer Steak, in D.C., is already the
stage for power lunches and deal-making dinners, and dramatically
emphasizes his affection for wine.
Architect Martin Vahtra executed
a 35-foot-long cantilevered “wine
cube,” which holds 3,500 bottles
of American wine that appear to
hang over a reflecting pool. And
the dramatic ninth-story perch
offers a panoramic view of our
nation’s capital clear to the Washington Monument. 202-547-8100;
charliepalmer.com/
