Take a trip down the shore
& around the city to maximize summer’s potential <3
This week we’re sharing our Jersey Shore Travel Guide, featuring new restaurants and food pop-ups, highlighting volunteer opps in the city, cookbook events & our new favorite jazz spot and introducing you to our cool friends: Stephanie Betesh and Nicholas Steigmann of Riffmade.
Mommy Pai’s
The new Thai chicken finger and tropical fruit drink concept from the team behind Thai Diner and Uncle Boons is open…TODAY! Mommy Pai’s, at 203 Mott in Nolita is a tribute to chef-partner Ann Redding’s mother, Ampai. The counter-service-only storefront’s design by May Redding incorporates the team’s signature tongue-in-cheek humor and vibrant illustrations of Ampai, or “Mommy Pai”. Their menu is centered around Thai chicken fingers served up in flavors like Lemongrass and Coconut. We’re super excited about the “Mommy Cakes” (coconut scallion pancakes) and the Curry Puff Mozzarella Sticks. Stop by now from 12p-5p Fri-Sun opening week, with new times of 12p-9p starting next week (closed Tues + Wed!).
Confidant
The first full-service restaurant in Industry City is here! Confidant, the new spot from chef/owners Brendan Kelley and Daniel Grossman (from Roberta’s Gage & Tollner and Per Se), is centered around a seasonally-rotating menu with a focus on dry-aged fish and meats. The menu includes plates like Trout Mousse with rainbow trout from Pennsylvania, Tuna Prosciutto with Montauk bigeye tuna and Chicken Roulade layered with grilled maitake mushrooms, chicken jus and seasonal herbs. We're heading over soon for all that and more at like the Rhubarb Upside Down Cake & their twist on a Manhattan.
Last weekend, we had the chance for the first time to explore a few towns on the north end of the Jersey Shore. From Asbury down to Belmar, we were impressed with the selection of great independent shops and restaurants, plus a handful of great places to stay. Just over an hour from Brooklyn by car, there’s still so much that we plan to explore, but for a quick weekend hitlist, here are our favorites in a collection of towns so close together that they feel like hopping from neighborhood to neighborhood within in one city.
A special thanks to our Jersey guides, Alex & Juliana, who steered us in the right direction every step of the way!
At long last, The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of TWELFTH NIGHT, is here!! The show will reopen the revitalized Delacorte Theater, originally built in ‘62. Running until September 14th, you can revel in the midsummer madness as twins Sebastian and Viola survive shipwreck, revenge plots, and the trick doors of love. Public Theater’s Saheem Ali directs this joyful romp welcoming all of New York back to the magic of Central Park’s beloved theater with this high-powered production of the classic comedy. Performances of TWELFTH NIGHT begin at The Delacorte Theater will continue through September 14 with performances from Tuesday through Sunday at 8pm. Don’t miss this classic New York in the summer show, and make sure you know everything there is to know on how to get free tickets.
Bright Light, an NYC-based non-profit, makes it easy for busy New Yorkers to give back with simple, fun group volunteer events outside of work hours. Bright Light’s most popular volunteer opp is their sandwich making series - where volunteers come together to make 1,000+ sandwiches for local shelters and food pantries after the workday. Head to their events listings to get in on the fun <3
Meet Steph & Nick, BK-based furniture company made in the USA, Riffmade, was born from their own journey: two designers moving into a small Brooklyn brownstone apartment, blending their favorite modern pieces with antiques, and realizing that the hardest things to find weren’t statement pieces, but the essentials that make daily life work. They decided to design furniture that lets you cook, work, sleep, host and live fully in a small space - beautiful, functional pieces that celebrate the best parts of urban living. We caught up with the design duo to hear how their newly formed brand is growing and what’s next!
How did your careers in design begin?
Steph: I studied interior design in college, within the school of architecture where the first year is a shared foundation across architecture and interiors. That experience taught me to think spatially at every scale, but I quickly found myself drawn to the human scale: the objects, materials, and atmospheres people encounter most intimately. After working at several hospitality-focused design studios, I launched Ember Studio, my own interiors practice, which I’ve been running for just over three years. My work is rooted in creating tactile, emotionally resonant spaces, with a focus on high-end residential projects—and a growing interest in hospitality. I also design and sell a small furniture collection through Ember Studio at a gallery called Colony in Tribeca, blending my love of interiors with hands-on material exploration.
Nick: For me, it all started with feeling powerless and wanting to do something about it. A family member got sick, and suddenly we were navigating a complex system that didn't feel human. I started looking into who could improve that experience and discovered that designers were often the ones reimagining how these systems work. That curiosity led me to designing products and services across healthcare, finance, transportation, and eventually, the rhythms of everyday life at home.
Tell us about what it was like starting your furniture and design brand, Riffmade.
We used to show up to dinner dates with a roll of vellum paper and just... start sketching. Right there on the table, between appetizers and main courses. The couple next to us would be having some deep talk, and we'd be frantically drawing cabinet details and debating wood joints. Very romantic, actually.
When we moved in together, our apartment became this ongoing design experiment. Our kitchen was basically a hallway with a sink, and our desk was shoved into the corner of the living room. So we started building solutions, not just because we thought we'd sell them, but because we needed them to exist.
The first time someone saw our kitchen setup and said "I need that exact thing," we realized we weren't the only ones living in beautiful but completely impractical NYC spaces. Steph had already connected with incredible makers through Colony's Designers Residency, so we had this network of people who could actually build the ideas we were sketching over dinner. It felt less like launching a brand and more like sharing a secret we'd figured out with the wider world.
What's your favorite part about the New York creative community?
The infrastructure, but you have to dig for it. There's this incredible network of people and resources here: someone who can help you prototype, someone else who knows a showroom, another person connected to the perfect craftsperson. But it's not obvious. You have to listen, ask questions, follow threads.
We've learned that the magic happens in the connections between things. Steph's relationship with Colony opened doors we didn't even know existed. A conversation at someone's opening leads to meeting a maker who becomes essential to your work. The city rewards you for showing up and paying attention.
And there's this underlying energy of everyone hustling in the best way: making stuff, launching things, supporting each other's projects. You'll have three gallery openings and two pop-ups to choose from on any given Thursday. It feels vibrant and celebratory, like creative ideas are constantly flowing through the streets and you just have to tune in to catch them.
In addition to Riffmade, you both maintain busy personal creative practices. How does your work in one medium or project influence another?
It's like having multiple conversations going at once! They all start influencing each other in weird ways. The whole curtain concept actually emerged from this need to transition between different rhythms of the day. Work mode, dinner prep mode, entertaining mode: we wanted furniture that could shift with us instead of staying static.
The Veil Desk was our first attempt at solving this. You literally close the curtain on your workday and suddenly you have a symbolic and ritual based closure to one part of your day to flow into the next.
Do you have a favorite piece in the current collection or a new design that you're really excited about right now?
We're obsessed with all of it, honestly. The kitchen islands solve this very human problem of how to live beautifully when life is inherently messy. But our Nook Curtain Table has been equally transformative. It's a bedside table that can mount to the wall or sit on legs, and it's completely transformed how we think about bedroom storage, entryways, perfume vanities and display. Phone chargers, reading glasses, the random stuff that usually clutters your nightstand: all disappears behind this simple curtain, and it serves as a whimsical entryway shelf also.
The Hearth Island and Hearthlet come in multiple different curtain options, and people use them for everything, coffee stations, home bars, Vinyl tables.The curtain element means each piece can transform throughout the day.
We're deep in development on even more ways to bring textiles into unexpected places. The craft, the softness, the way fabric can completely change a room's energy: we want that feeling everywhere.
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