cuisine art
...fondant cake
That means there is plenty of time to take in
Parisian interior designer Andrée Putman’s vibrant,
edited decor, a complete makeover of the
prior Bastide. The main dining room features her
signature checkerboard carpets and Crescent
Moon sofas under an Ingo Maurer chandelier,
hinting at the coming meal’s own contemporary
renderings. The new design “breaks up the
formality of the original concept,” says Pytka, who
added a few touches of his own, like the garden
room’s tree sculptures topped with Russian objects,
and 15 portraits of Mao, part of Jim Riswold’s series
of ironic images of fascists. “What they represent is
the trashing of icons, which is what the restaurant
represents,” Pytka explains. “It sounds a little
pretentious but it’s conceptual. There’s a reason
for these things. We’re trying to break down the
traditions of the pretentiousness of fine dining in
other places, making it accessible to people and
making it more casual.” That, and maybe giving
people a nice glass of wine they don’t have to
think too hard about n Bastide, 8475 Melrose Place,
