With a design directive to create a casual, yet modern American bar and grill in New York with an emphasis on local and organic produce, designer Selim Vural did his research. “The design for Highpoint Bistro & Bar was the result of a vigorous historical research on canonic American grills of New York such as the Cedar Tavern, Fanelli’s, King Cole Bar, the Library, Keens Steakhouse,” explains Vural, principal of local firm Market Design Corporation, adding that he’s an architectural history buff and teacher. “We dined at these joints numerous times, smelling the air, making sketches, and taking it all in.”

The result: a contemporary vision, where Vural and his team replaced classical details with modern abstract geometry and contemporary ecological materials. “We aimed at inventing a new casual dining experience (unlike useless French Bistro imitations) which drew upon modern and post-modern evolutions of architectural space,” he says.

Thanks to a long, deep space with a short storefront, the main highlight of the wood-clad interior is a 32-foot-long landscape mural set in LED backlit boxes that’s worked into the wooden ceiling frame he calls the trellis. “We knew we had to visually enrich these walls and bring in an ambient light source for night time dining,” he explains, adding. “The graphics depict a shimmering dreamy image of the culinary concept-locally grown food making its way to Chelsea from the farms of the Hudson Valley.”

Elsewhere, brass light fixtures, exposed brick walls, wood tables and chairs, brown leather banquettes lined by mirrors, and kitschy accessories (like a pig statue, ladder hanging on the wall, and uplit vases with a single rose) round out the organic, homey experience.

Next up for Vural and his firm: a high-end hair salon as well as a few chef-owned restaurants, which makes him very happy. “Their love of earth, nature, and the alchemy of food makes us very compatible,” Vural says. “A lot of them are art and painting collectors to which are shared interests.”

Highpoint Bistro & Bar
New York City

Owner: Earthen Grill Inc.
Interior Design Firm: Market Design Corporation
Interior Design Project Team: Selim Vural, principal, and Kerry Robertson, designer
Construction: Bluestone Studio
Consultant: Stephen Lyle
Engineering: KT Seung
Expediting: Steven Singh