The South of France was the inspiration behind Cathédrale, TAO Group’s latest inside the Moxy East Village in New York. Teaming up with longtime collaborator Rockwell Group, which also designed the hotel (Stonehill Taylor handled the architecture), the 300-seat, French-Mediterranean restaurant helmed by executive chef Jason Hall indulges the New York firm’s signature theatrical style. The lofty space comes to life with a series of elevated rooms that incorporate layers of industrial and luxe materials like plaster, copper, plush upholstery, navy drapery, and vintage rock posters that “reflect the East Village’s vibrant music scene,” says Rockwell Group partner Greg Keffer, directly referencing the legendary concert hall Fillmore East across the street. The main dining room is “intimate, but there’s also a sense of grandeur to it,” says Keffer, while the patio is just as inviting with layers of greenery and a retractable roof. The dining room’s centerpiece, however, is Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi’s showstopping ceiling installation: an ethereal mesh-wire sculpture, where rose gold birds in flight are encased by a fragmented central dome and deep chasms, harmonizing delicate details with monumental scale.