Village Underground Travel Video duration – 5.47 minutes Gourmet Regional Hotel Griffou Travel Video NewYork, USA - I guess, in the sense that it’s, you know, in the village, it’s underground, there’s no sign outside, it just says 21, we, we really focus on it being a restaurant with great drinks, great service and great food. You know, that’s more, you know, getting away from the speakeasy idea I mean, I guess when you walk in, it has a certain feel of that.. - I think what you do is to give people an excellent experience every time they come. - Hotel Griffou is about rediscovering. So you know, the process you use in painting is the process you in the design of the whole restaurant. So you look at every corner of the canvas. There should be quiet spots and busy spots, just, you know, beauty. You know, so that’s the overall feel of the whole restaurant. You know, it’s all about details. - Johnny Swet, Owner, Hotel Griffou - Hotel Griffou comes from the 1870s, it used to be a French boarding house, where, you know, artists would hang out. It was a place for French expats to come to talk about art., because they didn’t know where to do it, you know. And the writers would come here because the artists were here. And then journalism started because they were writing about what the writers were talking about here. So, to reinvent that again, to have it really just be organic is kind of special. The amazing thing about this place is it had history already. With history, it had a bar, there was really, you know, no bar to be at in the 1870’s, I mean, very rebellious, and you know, lot of writers in here and free flowing thought and drinking and so we just went with that and that’s what dictated the rules. It wasn’t forced. - The working studio - Larry Poston, Owner, Hotel Griffou - - First thing to get you is like this tea rose pink stain room, which is the art studio and then, the other room, the salon, you know, we’re talking about this room being a little more masculine, that room being a little more feminine and more eclectic with the banquettes, the chairs, should feel like someone’s home, instead of a restaurant. So, gives it more a homely vibe and a more cozy vibe. - - Jonathan Hettinger, Owner, Hotel Griffou - - One of the rooms that we thought might be a little less popular which is the Palm Terrace, which is because it is little bit more out of the way, actually has ended up being one of the most popular rooms because it is , because it’s intimate, like the view of the garden. So, just goes to show that you can’t always predict which rooms are going to be popular. - You know, it’s “what do you feel tonight” if we had that open, that’s your room. Jason Giordano, Executive Chef, Hotel Griffou - The chef is Jason Giordano and he was chef de cuisine at Mia Dona, which is a midtown restaurant and before that he trained under two of the great chefs in this country – John George and Daniel. We are very excited about his food. He certainly grasps American cuisine, but he also has a international flair, having worked under some great French trained chefs. So he has created for us a very innovative menu which mixes some classic American dishes, some of which have French influences. Anne Thornton, Executive Pastry Chef, Hotel Griffou - Right here we have the salted caramel banana pudding pie, which is a layer of vanilla wafers the covered in salted caramel and banana vanilla pudding, then another layer of vanilla wafers, more vanilla pudding, more bananas and caramel, whipped cream and its beyond delicious, if I don’t mind saying so myself and I don’t. - And this is our milk chocolate four-layer cake... So, it is beautiful, custard frosting, set with traditional butter cream. Its milk chocolate, with valeron milk chocolate, so it’s the finest of the finest and just melts in your mouth – a super moist cake. - Eric Johannsen, Bartender, Hotel Griffou - The first one is the “Trophy Wife,” one of our most popular drinks, actually. It is cachaca, a passion fruit cool off for a minute. This is the cachaca and passion fruit puree that’s been cooling down. And now this is cava standard Spanish sparkling wine. - This is the “Writer’s Block” cocktail. This is linie, a Scandinavian spirit, fresh lemon juice, fresh pomegranate in house-made grenadier. - You know, you just want everyone to feel comfortable and part of New York cos that’s so much the reason why we all came to New York City – was to get away from whatever but to be around all that great energy of all those types of people. - And you say, when you open something, what was missing, what would we want if we owned something. Working for all these other people all these other years, it was like you get to learn from them, we also get to then say, when I open it up, this is what’s going to be, you know, this is like what I always thought was missing in New York. You know, that’s what we understand. That’s just the people that are in here. Just not artists, its New York, its art, fashion, it’s the young, it’s the old, it’s the eclectic. Here you keep catering to everybody. And it’s a place that you should be able to come to three to four nights a week. - People enjoy dining with us. See the restaurant business is…has a lot of details. But the way to be successful, you know, there one basic principle to that, which is, make everyone have an excellent experience.