Café SFA and SnAKS restaurants are about to meet another culinary companion. Fifth Dining is designing a new destination restaurant experience, Sophie’s at Saks Fifth Avenue, which will launch in select Saks stores beginning in 2014. Inspired by American fashion designer Sophie Gimbel, the iconic arbiter of style for Saks for nearly 40 years, the eponymous eating-out extravaganza will feature a fashionable contemporariness. “We sought to engage the fundamental innovation, luxury, and cool that is the core of both Sophie Gimbel and Saks Fifth Avenue in a way that is inviting, elegant and chic,” said Andre Kikoski, the award-winning architect behind the restaurant’s design vision.
“Every restaurant needs an inspiration, and in Sophie Gimbel, we have found the perfect muse,” said Michael Kaufman, president, Fifth Dining, which operates exclusively to serve as the food and beverage partner of iconic retailer Saks Fifth Avenue. “The first American designer to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, Sophie was a legendary New York hostess who cooked, gardened, and canned her own fruits and vegetables. Moreover, she did this with an unending sense of wit and style, which we honor in the restaurant’s menu and design,” completed Kauffman.
Matching Sophie’s sleek design aesthetic will be the magnificence of Barcelona-born chef Alexandro Reyes’ globally influenced yet decidedly American cuisine and libations, “Sophie’s will focus on simple ingredients, sourced locally and seasonally whenever possible, to create a contemporary American menu inspired by world flavors.” Even the beverage list will stand out by way of fresh, seasonal cocktails and handcrafted sodas, along with a carefully curated wine list featuring superb, by-the-glass selections. “We hope to surprise our guests with innovative combinations and flavors and present them in a way that is memorable as well as nutritionally thoughtful,” explained the chef.
The Magnificent Mile will acquire a magnificent dining option, one with sweeping views of Michigan Avenue. And they will come in January when Sophie’s is introduced in Saks Fifth Avenue Chicago, where it will open on the 7th floor alongside the new men’s department. The addition of Sophie’s will also focus on a multimillion-dollar renovation of the 8th-floor restaurant in Saks’ New York flagship. It will not only enhance the restaurant’s views of Rockefeller Center and St Patrick’s Cathedral but make Sophie’s a prized New York destination, even as additional Sophie’s restaurants come up in San Juan, PR, and Sarasota, FL.
[Via – Sophies and Prnewswire]
