Beauty & Essex
I just had my mind blown after my birthday dinner at Beauty & Essex! It was quite possibly the most fun dining experience I've had in a long time! Beauty & Essex is, as the name suggests, beautiful and located on Essex Street in the Lower East Side. It is one of two restaurants by Executive Chef Chris Santos, also known as the lovable tattooed judge on Chopped. The concept of both Beauty & Essex and The Stanton Social (his other restaurant in the same neighborhood) is to have little plates for sharing: tapas, but without the pigs ears and with a whole lotta fancy. Why is Beauty & Essex beautiful? The restaurant will puzzle you, surprise you, and take your breath away, quite literally. Its marquee is a dingy, falling-apart sign that looks like the covering fell off the neon letters, a leftover from the wild days of New York in the 80s. I wouldn't be surprised if they intentionally made the ampersand dangle at an angle. The vesti...