Chef's Sampler: Everything Old Is New Again at Three Recent Restaurant Projects
BY NORA BURBA TRULSSON
The Roosevelt
Phoenix, Arizona | Joe Herzog and Chris Nieto | merzproject | Phoenix, Arizona
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT WINQUIST
 The Roosevelt makes its home in a 1901 red brick cottage.
Things get cozy at The Roosevelt most nights. Crowds gather for chef/owner Matt Poole's gourmet tavern food, a cold beer or a good glass of wine. But they also are drawn to the tiny tavern for its ambiance and sense of community, fostered by the design and construction done by merzproject, a Phoenix architectural and building firm spearheaded by architect Joe Herzog and business partner Chris Nieto.
The Roosevelt is the second downtown Phoenix eatery opened by Poole and his wife, Erenia. The Roosevelt's location had special appeal to Poole — it's a historic, red-brick Victorian cottage, built in 1901. "It's a cool old house," explains Herzog, "and Matt really liked the creaky old floors. It reminded him of an old tavern."
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In the front parlor, a steel-clad fireplace is juxtaposed with an ornate chandelier. |
However, the 1,300-square-foot house, long zoned commercial, had previously been an office building, and, as such, lacked restaurant and bar facilities. It also needed some serious updating in all of its systems. "We had to jack up the building to install new floor joists," says Nieto. New mechanical, plumbing and electrical also were installed.
As a commercial kitchen would eat up too much of the building's charming floor space, the kitchen was located in what was once an old guest house behind the main structure, connected to the main house by an outdoor deck. "Placing the kitchen in a separate building helps keep the kitchen noise away from the main restaurant," explains Herzog.
 The back dining room's focal point is the glassed-in, illuminated beer cooler.
Inside the main house, Herzog took stock of what was there, admiring the old arched windows, moulding, wood floors, chandelier and small rooms that were once the front hall, parlor, dining room, kitchen and bedroom. Rather than blowing out walls to create more open spaces, Herzog suggested keeping the floorplan intact. "We kept the cellular nature of the house," he explains. "We think it's essential to the character of the house, and it makes for a series of private lounges."
While Herzog kept the historic elements of the house intact, he opted for a "minimalist intervention," clearly defining that The Roosevelt was a modern eatery, not a nostalgia business.
 The bar's built-in china hutch is original to the house.
From the front entry bench, everything new was set at a slight angle through the house, leading all the way back to the kitchen. Materials were chosen for their modern, honest appeal. The bar, made of sleek dark lyptus wood, occupies the center of the floorplan, in what was once probably the dining room. The front parlor's fireplace is now clad in black steel, a material that was also used in a serving credenza that doubles as wine storage. The design team did make one homage to the past by installing flocked wallpaper on one wall in the front parlor.
The interior's focal point, though, is a glassed-in beer cooler. Rather than hiding the utilitarian room from view, Herzog and the merzproject team chose to enclose it in glass and illuminate it, making it glow, beacon-like, in the back dining area. "We decided to present the objects that The Roosevelt is selling," says Herzog, "and it's selling a lot of beer. When the bartender pulls a tap at the bar, you can see the beer running through the lines. We illuminated the beer like art objects."
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Arched windows frame The Roosevelt's front room. The chandelier is original; the flocked wallpaper is a nostaligic gesture. |
The Roosevelt's furnishings were kept simple and spare. Tall bar tables and simple stools encourage mingling, as does a long community table, made from an old picnic table top set on new steel legs. A few well-placed sofas encourage lounging and conversation.
Since it opened a little more than a year ago, The Roosevelt has drawn downtowners hungry for some urban socializing. "It's a great place to go," says Herzog. "The food is good, the wine is good and the beer is cold. This has become a community hall — everyone knows everyone."
Architecture, interior design and builder: merzproject, Phoenix, AZ; (602) 430-3223 or www.merzproject.com.
Trader Vic's
Scottsdale, Arizona | Ken Allen and Mark Philp | Allen + Philp | Scottsdale, Arizona
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK BOISCLAIR AND BILL TIMMERMAN
 An outrigger canoe-shaped bar and drum-style tables mark the bar, just off the "lava cone" reception space.
Victor J. Bergeron was quite the raconteur and genial host. When he converted his grocery store in Oakland, California into a bar and restaurant in the 1930s, he spun tales of adventure and began to decorate the place with truckloads of Polynesian artifacts. By the time he invented that most tropical of cocktails, the mai tai, he had become Trader Vic, owner of the eponymous restaurant.
At one time, Trader Vic's spanned the globe, riding the wave of tiki-dom. When the Trader Vic's opened in downtown Scottsdale in 1962, it quickly became a favorite gathering spot, where locals and visitors alike would gather for giant scorpion bowls and crab rangoon under a canopy of fish nets, outrigger canoes and tapa cloth. By the time the Arizona locale closed in 1990, the tiki trail had seemingly come to a close.
But times change. In 2005, the Hotel Valley Ho in downtown Scottsdale, a modernist classic built in 1956, had reopened after a multimillion-dollar renovation that perfectly preserved its hipster past. With the renovation spearheaded by Ken Allen and Mark Philp, principals of the architectural and interiors firm Allen + Philp, the project was a huge success, particularly with younger urbanites hungry for some mid-century cool.
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Corrugated fiberglass fencing panels, masonry block walls and a red steel trellis converge in one corner of Trader Vic's exterior. |
While the hotel had its three-meal-a-day restaurant, Café ZuZu, just off the lobby, the property owners asked the Allen + Philp team to create a freestanding, signature restaurant on a corner of the hotel property, previously occupied by tennis courts. In what could only be termed a harmonic convergence, Trader Vic's restaurants were also on the verge of a comeback, catering to not only an older audience's fondness for nostalgia, but to a younger customer's penchant for all things retro. Placing a new Trader Vic's at a restored mid-century hotel seemed very cool indeed.
"Our first thought was, how do we re-create a Polynesian hut yet honor the Hotel Valley Ho's mid-century design?" explains Philp, who headed up the design team. "With Trader Vic's blessing, we decided to go contemporary with the building and use elements of the traditional Trader Vic's design in a more museum-like showcase."
Philp and the design team sited the 7,650-square-foot building on an angle, creating maximum exposure to its street-corner setting. The angled setting, in turn, allows for an entry axis that leads directly to the hotel grounds. The axis also anchors the floorplan, dividing the restaurant into a "box" that contains the kitchen, service area, restrooms and other back-of-the-house functions, and, on the other side, the reception area, dining room, bar and lounge, which all open to patio areas.
 The lava cone element protrudes through the otherwise angular Trader Vic's exterior.
In elevation, the contemporary building's design is a mix of rectangular forms and curves, capped in part by a cantilevered roofline. Exterior materials include colored stucco, honed masonry blocks, steel and glass. At the front, a "lava cone," a curved wall of lava stone, marks the entry. A red steel trellis floats beneath the roof structure, visually piercing the window walls.
Exterior materials continue inside, with massive battered masonry walls organizing dining areas that open onto the patios via sliding glass walls. The red steel trellis defines the ceiling plane, while concrete, embedded with river stones, was used as flooring in the front of the restaurant. Inside, the lava cone houses the reception and waiting area.
Both inside and out, signature Trader Vic's elements were featured in the design. The red entry door is opened by an overscale Chinese "coin" embellished with "Welcome to Paradise" spelled out in Chinese characters. Inside, an outrigger canoe hangs from the ceiling, while the gable end of a Polynesian longhouse is mounted on a wall. A row of giant, hand-carved tiki columns marches guests from the entry, past the red Chinese oven and into the dining area. "The first tiki you see is gritting his teeth, like he's just finished work," explains Philp. "The second one is smiling, like he's had a mai tai. The last one has his tongue hanging out, like it's the end of the night. Obviously, we had a lot of fun with this."
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An overscale Chinese coin serves as the front door handle. |
The lounge, defined by cork flooring, is marked with a teak bar shaped like an outrigger canoe and tall bar tables designed to look like drums. Near the restrooms, a collection of framed Trader Vic's photographs and memorabilia tells the restaurant's history.
Throughout, restaurant furnishings were chosen for their tropical–modern appeal, as an elegant counterpoint to the Polynesian artifacts. Bamboo and rattan seating mingle with upholstered banquettes; white tablecloths and carpet add an elegant touch to the dining area.
In keeping with the restaurant's indoor/outdoor ambiance, the patios were comfortably designed and furnished as well. A fire pit, a sandy "beach" and a waterfall are the focal points in the patio adjacent to the bar. Stainless-steel planters tucked into the top of masonry dividing walls are planted with bougainvillea, while bamboo plants provide a screening element.
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Battered masonry walls divide the dining area and continue out to the patios. |
Opened in the summer of 2006, the restaurant offers cocktails and dinner to hotel guests and locals alike. It also serves the hotel as a special-event space during the day. For Allen + Philp, it won an Arizona Masonry Guild design award.
Most important, its design honors the past and looks toward the future. "Everyone has a Trader Vic's story," says Philp. The new Scottsdale locale, no doubt, will inspire more.
Architecture and interior design: Allen + Philp, Scottsdale, AZ; (480) 990-2800 or www.allenphilp.com.
Landscape architecture: E Group, Inc., Phoenix, AZ; (602) 462-9000 or www.egroupinc.com.
Builder: Kitchell Contractors, Inc., Phoenix, AZ; (602) 222-5300 or www.kitchell.com.
Bar, bar tables, banquette: Woodesign, Phoenix, AZ; (602) 305-9550 or www.woodesign.org.
Polynesian artifacts: Asiantique, Berkeley, CA; (510) 540-5440 or www.asiantiqueweb.com.
The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach Restaurants
Manalapan, Florida | Todd-Avery Lenahan | ABA Avery Brooks & Associates | Las Vegas, Nevada
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT MILLER
 The resort's Stir bar has a luxurious, residential quality.
At the newly refurbished Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach, you can eat and drink anywhere you desire. Yes, the oceanfront, Mobil Five-Star resort has three restaurants — Angle, Temple Orange and Breeze — and a bar, Stir. But if you wanted, say, Angle's roasted Florida red snapper and Stir's refreshing mojito served to you in the lobby, it can be done.
"We wanted to take away the boundaries of the food and beverage service," explains interior designer Todd-Avery Lenahan, who masterminded the revamped look and function of the public spaces of the 1980s-era resort. "The old program had a distinct separation between the food and beverage areas. We took down the walls between the spaces, literally and figuratively. All of the food and beverage areas now present themselves to the main lobby, which serves as a lounge for those spaces."
Lenahan and his Las Vegas–based team were called in on the $60 million renovation project to help redefine the Ritz-Carlton design paradigm. "The existing Ritz-Carltons have a defined look," says Lenahan, whose firm specializes in hospitality projects. "They are dark, Georgian and internalized. Here in Palm Beach, we were given an opportunity to rethink that, to give the property a sense of context. We wanted guests to know that they were at an oceanfront resort — in Palm Beach."
One of the main tenets of Lenahan's approach was to open up the 310-room hotel's public spaces to the ocean views, by removing walls, adding windows and doorways, and, most important, constructing a 3,000-foot terrace facing the ocean.
 All of the resort's food and beverage venues open onto the lobby, which serves as a lounge area for those spaces.
"We wanted the interior to be infused with sun and air," says Lenahan, "but also to embrace the idea of opulence and glamour that is Palm Beach." He specified a light color palette of cream, gold and celadon, interspersed with splashes of orange and hints of chocolate brown. Fabrics and finishes are sumptuous, but not stuffy.
Lenahan worked in many of the resort's existing antiques, sending out pieces such as a 19th-century French chest to be restored during the renovation. "We needed to provide the returning guest with iconic pieces of furniture to keep a sense of continuity in the property," he says. Lenahan also specified new furnishings in a larger scale, with lines that evoke European elegance.
For Angle, the resort's signature dinner restaurant, Lenahan anchored the space with a long, uplit onyx dining table, surrounded by leather- and velvet-upholstered armchairs. Meant to evoke the old grand dining halls of Palm Beach estates, the table is meant for large parties, or it can be shared by smaller groups. Surrounded by chocolate velvet draperies, the restaurant setting is soothing and sophisticated.
At Temple Orange, the all-day restaurant, Lenahan created a "market table" centerpiece for the space, where the chef can make food presentations, serve continental breakfast or offer a dessert buffet. Wicker chairs, kentia palms planted in antique greenhouse urns and views of the ocean create a tropical ambiance.
 Breeze, located on the oceanfront terrace, includes traditional tables as well as lounging areas.
Breeze, on the terrace, serves light meals and drinks; guests can relax on iron outdoor furniture upholstered in beach-friendly stripes. Stir, the bar, has large, cozy wingback chairs to envelop guests, luxuriously draped walls and a custom rug embellished with butterflies and peach blossoms — a motif for other rugs in the public spaces. Even the lobby has its official food service — high tea — and guests can partake of crumpets on cushy, down-filled sofas and deep, tall armchairs.
Throughout the public spaces, Lenahan specified accessories that were at once residential and spoke of Florida, using clocks, artful boxes, plentiful accessory cushions and large, sculptural coral and seashells. He framed and displayed images of old Palm Beach culled from the historical society's archives.
"We also did a lighting scheme," says Lenahan. "We relit everything, including the art, to add dimension."
Reopened last spring after an eight-month closure, The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach has once again become an elegant haven along the Atlantic coast. Lenahan and his ABA Avery Brooks & Associates team received an NEWH "Hospy" design award for the resort's lobby.
 Temple Orange, the all-day restaurant, is anchored by a versatile market table, where food can be displayed and served.
Indeed, guests and local visitors alike are drawn to the hotel for its charming atmosphere and restaurant options, not to mention the fact that a meal or beverage can travel to whatever spot the guest wishes.
"The whole idea of a luxury hotel is accessibility," sums Lenahan, "to have things delivered to you on your own terms, with no boundaries."
Interior design: ABA Avery Brooks & Associates, Las Vegas, NV; (702) 364-5888 or www.abalv.com.
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