IN REFASHION: Stulman made a medicine cabinet into a liquor cabinet and a liquor cabinet into a changing table. (Lorenzo Ciniglio)
The liquor cabinet. (Lorenzo Ciniglio)
The changing table (Lorenzo Ciniglio)
Dexter the deer, which stayed the same. (Lorenzo Ciniglio)
Like Rick in “Casablanca,” Gabriel and Gina Stulman are keeping alive the old tradition of the saloon-keeper who lives above the bar.
The saloon and eatery in question is Fedora, a casual West Village spot — one of a half-dozen restaurants in the Village and Chelsea that Stulman opened since 2009 — with a handsome wood bar and dim lighting. It looks a little more like a speakeasy than a certain bar in Morocco. (Plus, the Stulmans have an addition that Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman never had: an 11-month-old named Simon.)
The Stulmans moved into the place about a year ago, after they had taken over the bar space, when the matriarch of the building (a woman named Fedora who had lived in the apartment for decades) passed away.
But as the landlord (Fedora’s son) got ready to renovate, Gabriel made him an offer: “We said, ‘Tell me how much you’re going to spend, and give me the money you were going to spend and I’ll renovate it.’ ” Gabriel would move in and bring in his own architect and electrician that he used on his restaurants and design the place as he wanted it.
The result is a cozy two-bedroom that doesn’t look unexpected from this tycoon of hip and casual — one part Greenwich Village townhouse, one part Parisian flat, one-part vintage curiosity shop. The Stulmans took a break from their ever-sprawling dining empire and getting ready for Saturday’s Bon Appetit Grub Crawl (see sidebar) to show us their favorite things.
MEDICINE CABINET AS LIQUOR CABINET
The liquor cabinet in the living room is eye-catching for its spirits: It is stocked with brands like Whistle Pig Straight Rye and Boodles British Gin. It’s also eye-catching because it doesn’t look anything like a liquor cabinet.
“Jonathan Mannion” — the hip-hop photographer — “knew I was into vintage things,” says Gabriel. Mannion suggested repurposing this gray antique medicine cabinet as a place to store the family booze.
DEXTER THE DEER
Even more intriguing than the booze in the cabinet are the white bust of a beautiful woman sitting next to the hooch — “The bust is a gift from one of Gina’s former bosses,” says Gabriel — and the stuffed deer head hanging from the wall above. They got the deer at the Chelsea Flea Market. “We named him ‘Dexter,’ ” says Gina. “We love the show.”
THE SICILIAN FIG TREE
Living in a West Village townhouse wouldn’t be as lovely without outdoor space. Luckily, the Stulmans have it — in the back of Fedora. The backyard is fairly modest (maybe 300 or so square feet) but this hasn’t stopped customers from pleading to use it to carouse or rent out for parties. (The Stulmans have kept it for themselves; the restaurant is not licensed for outdoor space.)
The kitchen has a spectacular view of the fig tree which — according to the legend that Gabriel heard — was “planted in 1919 and brought over from Sicily.”
A MAP AND A PLACE FOR THE NAPPIES
The back of the Stulmans’ apartment is separated in two; off to the left is Gabriel and Gina’s bedroom, and through their bedroom is Simon’s smaller room. Up on the wall in Simon’s room is an old Rand McNally map of the world. “I bought it in college when I was 19,” says Gabriel.
We can understand why he would attach sentimental value to it; the University of Wisconsin in Madison was where Gabriel first dipped a toe into the restaurant business as a line cook, waiter and bartender. And when he started opening restaurants in New York, he called on his old Wisconsin friends to help him. (His company — Little Wisco — is short for “Wisconsin.”) “When I came to New York, it was the only thing I brought with me.”
Across from the map is Simon’s changing table. Simon will one day be able to boast that his changing table had been refashioned out of Gabriel’s former liquor cabinet. “I bought it nine years ago,” says Gabriel. As he opens it up, he finds something in one of the drawers he hadn’t expected. He examines the small object for a moment and laughs. “It’s a muddler.”
THE BACKWARDS PAINTING
On the wall of the Stulmans’ living room is a crackled, faded portrait of a gentleman who could be an ancestor in the Stulman family tree. (In fact, he does look like Gabriel’s Moroccan grandfather — sadly not from Casablanca.) “We bought it for like $20 at the Chelsea Flea Market,” says Gabriel. “It was one of the first things we bought together.”
“There are these Mona Lisa eyes, where he follows you all over the place,” says Gina.
Aside from the familial resemblance (Gabriel is a devotee of the family: His first restaurant — Joseph Leonard — bears the name of his two grandfathers; Perla is the name of his grandmother; Jeffrey in Jeffrey’s Grocery is his dad) there’s also the fact that if you flip the portrait around, you will see another portrait behind it of a matronly woman. Gabriel and Gina can’t agree whether they discovered this at the flea market or when they brought it home, but they both view it as a plus.
Bon voyage
Since August 2009, Gabriel Stulman has been opening restaurants in the West Village at a pace worthy of Ray Kroc.
That was when Stulman opened Joseph Leonard, which serves up golden brown skate fish and pan-roasted chicken in a room that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Parisian arrondissement. (If it weren’t so packed with New Yorkers.)
In October 2010, he opened up Jeffery’s Grocery, across the street. He followed that with Fedora. He then waited 14 months before opening his take on Italian food, Perla. By the end of 2012, he had opened Chez Sardine. This February, he took his first steps out of the village with Montmarte in Chelsea. Six restaurants in less than four years is impressive.
You’ll have a chance to meet Stulman at Perla on Saturday as part of the Bon Appetit Grub Crawl — a day-long $149 food tour of downtown Manhattan, also featuring stops at the Standard Biergarten, Cole’s, Anfora and Takashi. (Tickets and more info, including details on a separate Saturday night crawl in SoHo, are available at bagrubcrawl.com.)
But in the meantime, here’s what Stulman has been up to, should you ever want to do your own grub crawl.
* Joseph Leonard (August 2009)170 Waverly Place
* Jeffrey’s Grocery (October 2010) 172 Waverly Place
* Fedora (January 2011) 239 W. 4th St.
* Perla (March 2012) 24 Minetta Lane
* Chez Sardine (November 2012) 183 W. 10th St.
* Montmartre (February) 158 Eighth Ave.