Vanity Project

Radar
b e au t y
scents and
sensibility
chantecaille
kalimantan
ysl paris
eau de parfum
Inspiration Borneo
Inspiration Paris
Fragrance notes
Thyme, rosemary,
vanilla, agarwood,
and cedar
Fragrance notes
Violet, rose, iris,
and orange blossom
What Burr says
“A beautiful patinaed
wood, like an
Indonesian house
that has stood
for generations in
the heat.”
dolce & gabbana
light blue
pour homme
What Burr says
“Glamour with an
abstract floral
concept of rose and
violet—a more
contemporary Paris.”
Fragrance notes
Sicilian mandarin,
grapefruit
peel, juniper, and
bergamot
What Burr says
“The aroma of the
eternal sun-washed
Mediterranean
wrapped in clean
21st-century form.”
un jardin sur le
nil, hermès
Fragrance notes
Green mango, lotus,
vegetal rush,
sycamore wood, and
frankincense
What Burr says
“The breathtakingly
lovely scent of the
sun radiating from
the tangy green peel
of an unripe mango
on the upper Nile.”
see buyer ’s guide, page 184
44
n o v e m b e r 2 01 2
reboot
Vanity Project
Graydon Carter, the Vanity Fair editor-in-chief who moonlights as a
restaurateur, has a Midas touch when it comes to reviving classic
New York spots. He brought the Waverly Inn back to life in 2006, and
Monkey Bar shortly thereafter. His latest transformation, with partners
Emil Varda and Brett Rasinski: the West Village’s Beatrice Inn
(285 W. 12th St.; thebeatriceinn.com; $$$$), a 1950’s-era Italian restaurant
turned nightclub turned chophouse. Here, Carter dishes on what
it takes to succeed, the perfect sound track for eating steak, and more.
Inspiration Egypt
Inspiration Italy
Graydon Carter (left) and business partner Emil Varda at
their latest New York restaurant, the Beatrice Inn.
t r a v e l+ l e i s u r e
What to expect at the Beatrice
Inn This is downtown, so we don’t
serve traditional huge steaks. Brian
Nasworthy, a former Per Se sous-chef,
runs the kitchen. There are a lot
of salads—my wife demanded that.
Favorite New York chophouse
Keens Steakhouse (72 W. 36th St.;
keens.com; $$$). It was the hot place in
the 1930’s and 40’s, and it is still packed.
The food is wonderful, and the drinks are
hearty. I have the roast beef twice a year.
Secret to a restaurant’s rebirth
You do one thing, even just one thing,
very well, and you can be very
successful. For example, the hotel
bar at Dukes (35 St. James’s Place;
dukeshotel.com), in London, was very
quiet for a long while, and then they
started serving the best martini
anywhere. Now you can barely get in.
Favorite meals abroad Riva
(169 Church Rd.; 44-20/8748-0434; $$$),
in southwest London, serves the best
Italian food I’ve tasted outside of Italy.
We also like a little French restaurant in
London on the corner of Pimlico Road
called La Poule au Pot (231 Ebury St.;
pouleaupot.co.uk; $$$). In Paris, I love
Chez Francis (7 Place de l’Alma, Eighth
Arr.; chezfrancis-restaurant.com; $$$$).
Great oysters and steak tartare.
Ideal porterhouse-song pairing
Anything by Cole Porter.
Future projects? Oh, no. Three is
plenty. —howie k ahn
C l o c k w i s e f r o m t o p r i g h t: m a r k m a h a n e y; c o u r t e s y o f h e r m è s ; c o u r t e s y o f d o l c e & g a b b a n a ; c o u r t e s y o f c h a n t e c a i l l e ; c o u r t e s y o f y v e s s a i n t l a u r e n t b e a u t e
A picture may be worth a thousand words,
but nothing evokes the memory of a place like
an aroma. We asked Chandler Burr, who
organized “The Art of Scent, 1889-2012”—
opening this month at New York’s Museum
of Arts & Design (madmuseum.org)—to
describe his favorite destination-inspired
fragrances, as only a curator of olfactory arts
can. —nate storey