“You know, everything that was fun that happened in New York happened at Indochine at one point or another.”
- Designer Narciso Rodriguez, an Indochine regular
Early 1980s New York was a time and place of tremendous flux and threat - financial, cultural and demographic. Much like the perilous urban jungle depicted the 1979 film The Warriors, Manhattan, much of it a bare dereliction, was swept by disparate clouds of criminality of a swirling ethnic diversity snarling up at the extraordinary wealth towering above. The rich in turn, sought their kicks with the experimental creative community flocking to New York from around the world, who were reclaiming and transforming much of the same urban decay, at revolutionarily decadent nightclubs such as Studio 54.
The plurality of hedonism fueled this new scene. Sensually extravagant expression, coupled with a tingling sense of danger were the only fixed points around which it revolved, meaning that it was a truly New York phenomena - an edgy and glamorous melting pot. Launched in November 20th, 1984 by founders music producer John Loeffler and restaurateur Brian McNally, and located in the then still-sketchy surroundings of what was to become NoHo, Indochine transplanted the vibrant eclecticism of the contemporary club-scene into a restaurant, and thus changed the face of New York nightlife.
Drawn by the exquisite mingling of classic South East Asian and haute cuisine, soon-to-be-ex-impoverished artists rubbed shoulders with soon-to-be-billionaire millionaire Wall Street executives, while models, fashion designers, actors, musicians, heiresses, and other doyennes of cool coiled around them. Downtown met Uptown for dinner and both liked what they saw, the former providing the latter a sense of spiritual credibility, and the latter granting the former ground floor access to the naked glamour of the economic boom that would sweep the rest of the decade before it.
A decadent sensibility ruled the aesthetic at Indochine, one of the most prominent early exponents of fusion cuisine - itself a breaking down of style, taste and regional barriers which kicked open the doors of the formerly staid world of fine dining in the 1980s. Today’s Indochine menu, which features many of the same dishes and all of the original’s tantalizing blend of French and Vietnamese cuisine, presents such delights as Steamed Chilean Sea Bass marinated in a black bean chili paste, and Vietnamese Bouillabaisse of fresh local shellfish served in a lime leaf ginger broth and signature dish Cambodgien, a coconut-flavored fillet of sole wrapped in a banana leaf.
In the compulsively fickle and cyclical world of New York nightlife, Indochine’s longevity is truly remarkable. The esoteric palm leaf interior motif and renowned model friendly muted lighting, which together summon up an infinite intimacy, and the knowledge that the guest list is so eclectic that heads will turn to the point of resignation have combined to draw an extraordinary list of regulars.
Jean-Marc Houmard, Huy Chi Le and Michael Callahan (former Indochine maître-d, chef and day manager respectively) bought the establishment in 1992 and have been initiating each new glittering generation to the Indochine ever since. The epic seven hour 25th Anniversary Party last year featured such disparate luminaries as Willem Dafoe, Hollywood couple Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts, Terry Richardson, Paz de la Huerta, Padma Lakshmi, Zac Posen and Ally Hilfiger. Each new wave of youthful cool represented on the anniversary party’s 900 strong guest-list has added another rich layer to Indochine’s unique identity and contributed to its sense of timeless spontaneity. It cast off niche conservatism in the 1980s, set the style benchmark in the 1990s and has since joined the rarified ranks of legendary New York nightspots.
Club in the basement Undochine, which had been witness to some of the wildest nights of Indochine’s history, reopened for the 25th Anniversary and continued the party like it had never been away. Chic publishing house Rizzoli even released a glossy hardback chronicling and celebrating the event. The book, entitled Indochine Stories, Shaken and Stirred and published in November 2009, presents stunning images from both Indochine’s glittering history and the spectacular anniversary party. It charts the restaurant’s extraordinary legacy with stories by some of its most illustrious guests, including Fran Lebowitz and Julianne Moore, and features original artwork by Helmut Lang and Julian Schnabel amongst many others. A unique collector’s edition box-set of the book is available at Indochine, and at $65, is a very small price to pay for a lasting insight into a fantastic story which looks set to tell itself to the harbingers of style for many years to come.
- Benjamin Stewart
Indochine
Address: 430 Lafayette Street
New York, 10003
Tel: 212 505 5111 Reserve Online
Website: www.indochinenyc.com
Buy the Book
Photo Credit: Indochine 23
p. 16-17 Andy Warhol, Jacqueline Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel and Kenny Scharf at the opening of Indochine
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 1984 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 38
p. 89 JP Gaultier, Kate Moss, U2....
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Christy Turlington, 1995 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 44
p. 139 Mario Testino
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 2002 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 52
p. 70 Herrera, Johnson
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 1999 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 54
p. 108 Stacy Miller, Veronica Moore and Carmen Zita
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Gregg Von Mirsky, 1994 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 55
p. 113 Amanda Lepore
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 1999 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 64
p. 57 Elliott, Campbell, Evangelista
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 1991 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
- Designer Narciso Rodriguez, an Indochine regular
Early 1980s New York was a time and place of tremendous flux and threat - financial, cultural and demographic. Much like the perilous urban jungle depicted the 1979 film The Warriors, Manhattan, much of it a bare dereliction, was swept by disparate clouds of criminality of a swirling ethnic diversity snarling up at the extraordinary wealth towering above. The rich in turn, sought their kicks with the experimental creative community flocking to New York from around the world, who were reclaiming and transforming much of the same urban decay, at revolutionarily decadent nightclubs such as Studio 54.
The plurality of hedonism fueled this new scene. Sensually extravagant expression, coupled with a tingling sense of danger were the only fixed points around which it revolved, meaning that it was a truly New York phenomena - an edgy and glamorous melting pot. Launched in November 20th, 1984 by founders music producer John Loeffler and restaurateur Brian McNally, and located in the then still-sketchy surroundings of what was to become NoHo, Indochine transplanted the vibrant eclecticism of the contemporary club-scene into a restaurant, and thus changed the face of New York nightlife.
Drawn by the exquisite mingling of classic South East Asian and haute cuisine, soon-to-be-ex-impoverished artists rubbed shoulders with soon-to-be-billionaire millionaire Wall Street executives, while models, fashion designers, actors, musicians, heiresses, and other doyennes of cool coiled around them. Downtown met Uptown for dinner and both liked what they saw, the former providing the latter a sense of spiritual credibility, and the latter granting the former ground floor access to the naked glamour of the economic boom that would sweep the rest of the decade before it.
A decadent sensibility ruled the aesthetic at Indochine, one of the most prominent early exponents of fusion cuisine - itself a breaking down of style, taste and regional barriers which kicked open the doors of the formerly staid world of fine dining in the 1980s. Today’s Indochine menu, which features many of the same dishes and all of the original’s tantalizing blend of French and Vietnamese cuisine, presents such delights as Steamed Chilean Sea Bass marinated in a black bean chili paste, and Vietnamese Bouillabaisse of fresh local shellfish served in a lime leaf ginger broth and signature dish Cambodgien, a coconut-flavored fillet of sole wrapped in a banana leaf.
In the compulsively fickle and cyclical world of New York nightlife, Indochine’s longevity is truly remarkable. The esoteric palm leaf interior motif and renowned model friendly muted lighting, which together summon up an infinite intimacy, and the knowledge that the guest list is so eclectic that heads will turn to the point of resignation have combined to draw an extraordinary list of regulars.
Jean-Marc Houmard, Huy Chi Le and Michael Callahan (former Indochine maître-d, chef and day manager respectively) bought the establishment in 1992 and have been initiating each new glittering generation to the Indochine ever since. The epic seven hour 25th Anniversary Party last year featured such disparate luminaries as Willem Dafoe, Hollywood couple Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts, Terry Richardson, Paz de la Huerta, Padma Lakshmi, Zac Posen and Ally Hilfiger. Each new wave of youthful cool represented on the anniversary party’s 900 strong guest-list has added another rich layer to Indochine’s unique identity and contributed to its sense of timeless spontaneity. It cast off niche conservatism in the 1980s, set the style benchmark in the 1990s and has since joined the rarified ranks of legendary New York nightspots.
Club in the basement Undochine, which had been witness to some of the wildest nights of Indochine’s history, reopened for the 25th Anniversary and continued the party like it had never been away. Chic publishing house Rizzoli even released a glossy hardback chronicling and celebrating the event. The book, entitled Indochine Stories, Shaken and Stirred and published in November 2009, presents stunning images from both Indochine’s glittering history and the spectacular anniversary party. It charts the restaurant’s extraordinary legacy with stories by some of its most illustrious guests, including Fran Lebowitz and Julianne Moore, and features original artwork by Helmut Lang and Julian Schnabel amongst many others. A unique collector’s edition box-set of the book is available at Indochine, and at $65, is a very small price to pay for a lasting insight into a fantastic story which looks set to tell itself to the harbingers of style for many years to come.
- Benjamin Stewart
Indochine
Address: 430 Lafayette Street
New York, 10003
Tel: 212 505 5111 Reserve Online
Website: www.indochinenyc.com
Buy the Book
Photo Credit: Indochine 23
p. 16-17 Andy Warhol, Jacqueline Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Julian Schnabel and Kenny Scharf at the opening of Indochine
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 1984 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 38
p. 89 JP Gaultier, Kate Moss, U2....
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Christy Turlington, 1995 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 44
p. 139 Mario Testino
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 2002 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 52
p. 70 Herrera, Johnson
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 1999 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 54
p. 108 Stacy Miller, Veronica Moore and Carmen Zita
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Gregg Von Mirsky, 1994 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 55
p. 113 Amanda Lepore
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 1999 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
Indochine 64
p. 57 Elliott, Campbell, Evangelista
© Used by permission; photo courtesy Roxanne Lowit, 1991 From Indochine published 2009 by Rizzoli International, New York
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