The renovated David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center will open this fall, restaurants are bringing back dress codes, and HDAC announces this year’s Awards of Excellence winner. All that and more in this week’s Five on Friday.
Restaurant dress codes make a return
After more than two years of embracing yoga pants and athleisure, fine dining has had enough. According to the New York Times, restaurants around the country are betting on diners’ desire to dress up outweighing their preference for comfort by reinforcing dress codes. Fine dining staples, like Les Trois Chevaux in New York, prohibit jeans, sneakers, and shorts, while other popular haunts, like Olivetta in Los Angeles, encourage guests to dress with a sense of occasion. Such policies can often yield confusion, as is the case with Carte Blanche in Dallas, where the murky “polished casual” is enforced, or at LA’s Issima, which adopts a policy of equally ambiguous “casual elegance.” While an excuse to gussy up is fun, it’s worth noting that such prohibitive policies unsurprisingly have racist, sexist, and homophobic roots, and dress codes can often impose unintentional ableism as well. Until a more nuanced dialogue on these rules is achieved, the key thing dictating whether or not a dress code is worthwhile will remained unchanged: the quality of the food.
Lincoln Center teases redesigned concert hall
The David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, shown in a rendering
New York’s Lincoln Center has revealed a look at the new David Geffen Hall. Slated to open this October, the facility was renovated by Canadian firm Diamond Schmitt Architects and will feature numerous art installations as part of a collaboration with the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Public Art Fund, ARTnews reports. Among the artists animating the 16-acre complex will be Nina Chanel Abney, who will transform façades along 65th Street with a boldly colored, large-scale mural inspired by the ethnically and racially diverse San Juan Hill neighborhood upon which Lincoln Center stands. Contemporary artist Jacolby Satterwhite will also create a video for a 50-foot media wall in the building’s lobby that will combine archival dance footage from Lincoln Center with new footage of dancers from the Ailey School, the Juilliard School, and the Professional Performing Arts School.
Minnesota Zoo to launch new trail
The Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, Minneapolis is set to revitalize a long-defunct urban park project through a partnership with Snow Kreilich Architects and Buro Happold. ArchPaper reports that the Skytrail monorail system, which first debuted in 1979 to provide a bird’s-eye view of the zoo’s Northern Hemisphere habitats, will be reborn as the Treetop Trail. The 1.25-mile-long elevated pedestrian walkway will invite visitors to stroll 32 feet above the ground through habitats of hardwood forest, wetlands, Minnesota wildlife, and the zoo’s animals. Wellness activities—from yoga to live music and art classes—will also be hosted across the promenade.
Edible tape is here to save your burrito
If you’ve ever been anxious to publicly indulge in a burrito for fear of it falling apart in your hands and onto your clothes… fear not! Designboom reports that engineering students at Johns Hopkins University have developed a novel solution: edible tape. Dubbed Tastee Tape, the clear plastic tape comprises a food-grade fibrous scaffold and an organic adhesive to ensure everything stays in place. The patent-pending invention is fashioned in rectangular strips measuring half an inch by two inches.
HDAC honors entrepreneur and activist Jason Bass
Multihyphenate entrepreneur and community activist Jason Bass has been named the winner of the second annual HDAC Awards of Excellence. The honor recognizes exemplary work by individuals and companies that are working to advance the hospitality industry through the promotion of diversity, inclusivity, and equity. Among his many roles, Bass serves as the director of culture and impact at Hotel Revival in Baltimore, where he oversees cultural and community-focused programming. He has further contributed to the Baltimore community through the Night Brunch pop-up series, which works to dismantle racial and social barriers by building unity through music and food. Bass also helms boutique marketing firm Kiss Tomorrow Hello, which maintains a robust client list that ranges from the Baltimore Orioles to DC’s Dirty Habit restaurant.
