Have you seen any gaily bonneted women accompanied by young men with exposed biceps and wearing straw boaters strolling toward 25 Cleveland Place in SoHo lately?
Could be these New Yorkers were headed to the pop up restaurant/arts project What Happens When, which bills itself as a "restaurant installation".
What Happens When's creators describe their enterprise thus: "What Happens When is a playground for food. It is a temporary restaurant installation that transforms every 30 days for 9 months, offering guests an ever-changing culinary, visual and sound experience. This delicious exhibition is a result of the collaboration between one chef, two designers, a photographer and a composer."
The current exhibition/feast, through April 25, is inspired by one of Galison's perennially favorite paintings: Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. Renoir’s oil on canvas was painted in 1880-81 and is now in the Phillips Collection in Washington.
Here's a detail of the painting from Galison's Luncheon of the Boating Party keepsake box of note cards:
Luncheon of the Boating Party shows Pierre-Auguste's friends on an outing at the Maison Fornaise, a small hotel overlooking the Seine in the town of Chatou, a weekend getaway west of Paris. They are lounging on a canopied terrace with sailboats on the river visible beyond the landscaping. All are flirting and dining and apparently drinking lots of wine.
And here are Galison note cards that show other details:
John Fraser of the Upper West Side restaurant Dovetail and the creative team at What Happens When call their Renoir-inspired menu and mise-en-scène "Movement 3", and they have used a 25 foot awning, string lighting, and other elements to suggest a garden party. Have a look at their prix-fixe menu!
Seafood salad with fennel, vegetable bouillabaisse..I'd head down there as fast as you can say "haricots verts"!!!!!
In addition to popular boxed note cards, Galison has used the painting for a Luncheon of the Boating Party jigsaw puzzle. Why not feast, drink lots of wine, and see how many of the 1000 pieces you can asssemble!
Santé!
~Susan
P.S. Anyone for punting down the Hudson?












