The Ultimate DIY Restaurant? Navy in SoHo, New York - Remodelista
Photography by Nicole Franzen for Navy. Navy is not just another trendy SoHo seafood restaurant. When owners Matt Abramcyk and Akiva Elstein of Smith & Mills in Tribeca came up with a maritime concept for their second restaurant, they wisely hired Stockholm-based interior designer Jeanette Dalrot as their collaborator and fellow conceptionalist. The exterior of Navy is finished in a high- gloss black paint. At the front, a raw bar serves fresh oysters, clams, and sea urchin for uni toast. Above L: Camille Becerra, former owner of Paloma (a restaurant housed in converted Greenpoint parking garage), is head chef at Navy. Navy and white square and triangular tiles pattern the raw bar in a subtly nautical design. The staff’s indigo jackets (worn by chef Becerra above) were designed by Lady and Butler and modeled after vintage workwear. Panels of distressed copper meet walls upholstered in indigo- and pale-yellow-dyed linen and canvas. The ceiling and the exposed walls are treated with plaster tinted in a terra-cotta-colored paint. Elstein found the bowling alley benches at Brimfield; they were then cut and custom fit into benches and booths. Becerra focuses the menu on vegetables sourced from the Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op and seafood. Above L: Antique WWII semaphore flags found on eBay divide the front booth from the bar (and also line the walls of the bathroom). Leather works well with indigo denim and canvas: a row of barstools are fitted with vegetable-tanned leather seats. The restaurant has two antique fold-up train sinks purchased on eBay; the one in the raw bar is shown here. Leather pockets affixed to the wall are filled with menus, and, in the front, magazines are held in place by belt-sized straps on the wall.