A mix of upscale restaurant and private club welcomes New York's crème de la crème: Casa Cruz is officially the Big Apple's most expensive restaurant, with annual "subscriptions" ranging from 240,000 to 475,000 euros.
The news
If you thought eating at a MICHELIN starred restaurant was expensive, then you haven't yet heard of Casa Cruz. It was 2004 when founder Juan Santa Cruz, 51, originally from Santiago, Chile, opened the first Casa Cruz in Buenos Aires. A decade later, in 2015, it was London and now the Big Apple, where in order to be a member and have free access to the restaurant for both lunch and dinner on certain occasions throughout the year, you must shell out between 240,000 and 475,000 euros.
The idea of opening a place that was a mix between a super-exclusive private club and a fine dining restaurant came to Cruz in 2002, after a degree in Finance and Economics in Boston, five years spent on Wall Street, and another couple of years spent working in a hedge fund in Buenos Aires. "In 2002, when the economic crisis broke out in Argentina, I took a sabbatical to think about what I wanted to do with my life. I was 29 and I said to myself, ´Why don't I invent a job that doesn´t look like a job?’ I like nice places, interesting people, delicious food, and good wines. A restaurant has all that, so I decided to go into hospitality," he confides.
Cruz seems to be very familiar with the needs and desires of the wealthy, probably because he is one of them; in fact, his father was a Chilean landowner, his great-grandfather and great-uncle served as ambassadors to the United Kingdom, and his aunt Lucía Santa Cruz was a longtime friend of the current King Carlos III. So, after the success of Casa Cruz in Argentina, in London, the venue became a hotspot for celebrities such as Elton John, Mick Jagger, and Prince Harry.
Casa Cruz London
Recently, the New York location officially opened its doors, literally driving the City's rich people crazy. Six years ago, the first Casa Cruz pop-up in TriBeCa had opened: it was supposed to last only 16 days but ended up staying open for three months. "After the pop-up experience, everyone was telling me that I should open a location in Lower Manhattan, but I was a little reluctant, so I started looking uptown where there wasn´t much to do in terms of entertainment," he explains. So, for Casa Cruz New York Juan chose an early 20th-century Beaux Arts-style building designed by CPH Gilbert on 61st Street between Park Avenue and Madison. Here, in the 66-cover restaurant, a Positano-inspired menu meets Pampas ingredients, including among the main dishes’ pastas with sought-after fish, wagyu, and picanha toppings, all served beneath a Keith Haring painting.
Casa Cruz New York
Works by David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Louise Giovanelli, and Fernando Botero also abound in the main restaurant and other reserved rooms. Not only one-of-a-kind pieces, but also a décor designed in every detail by Santa Cruz and his partner Charlotte Santo Domingo, daughter of the Duke of Wellington. When you enter Casa Cruz, you are greeted by staff in designer Emilia Wickstead clothes; for the interiors, Juan and Charlotte chose green velvet, gilded metals, and curved Brazilian cherry trees. Windows are highlighted by curtains inspired by Chinese textiles, and the rooftop terrace is covered by a colorful curtain designed by Johanna Ortiz. At the same time, a nod to Santa Cruz´s Chilean heritage does not go unnoticed: custom de Gournay murals of different South American landscapes adorn the bathroom walls.
"I want to satisfy all my customers, whether they want to dance, dine or just enjoy a beautiful location-I simply want them to have a good time. Those who come for lunch can sit in one of the lounges humming new-age jazz; at night they can sip a Pisco Sour in one of the two bars until the evening service ends and beyond. New York is constantly evolving, but it is still the same. It continues to be the most important city in the most important country in the world. A very prominent businessman warned me: ´Never bet against New York, because New York always wins." Santa Cruz concludes.
Source: elpais.com
Find the reference article here
Photo: @Casa Cruz
