While Post Company projects span the hospitality industry, it’s the New York– and Wyoming-based design firm’s restaurant projects, like Raf’s and Cafe Zaffri in Manhattan and the Lafayette Hotel in San Diego, that exemplify their elegant aesthetic—a unique blend of escapism and pragmatism. The process that brings their designs to life is an anthropological exercise.
To create these worlds, partners Ruben Caldwell, Jou-Yie Chou, and Leigh Salem begin by syncing with their client’s greatest intention. They ascertain not just the romantic details of an owner’s dream restaurant but also how it will operate and what will anchor a diner’s experience. They learn the history of the space and dine across the city to make sure the restaurant fits the landscape but is distinct.
“The restaurants that really stand out that we’ve been fortunate to work with are when the client comes to us and doesn’t know what the room looks like, but they have a huge amount of perspective,” Salem says. “It allows us to ask why we are making this restaurant.”
Armed with these details, a team made up of architects and interior designers, but also carpenters, art directors, and graphic designers, create a compelling version of that vision right down to the font on the menu.
Whether it’s a hotel restaurant a guest will dine multiple times during a stay or a neighborhood anchor, each space is a revelation in its own right—a focused expression of design and a distinguished sensibility that makes you want to linger.
The LaFayette Hotel
San Diego, CA
Tasked with designing seven restaurants and bars at the Lafayette Hotel, Post Company turned to cinematic and cultural references to ensure that each venue has its own identity, and that they all fit cohesively under one roof.
At Lou Lou’s Jungle Room, the circular bar that appeared in the original Top Gun in 1986 was revived. At Beginner’s Diner, they employed an American diner historian to create a traditional 24-hour 1940s-era diner. With a tagline like “a good place to hide,” the hotel’s restaurants are meant to be captivating, and at Lou Lou’s, a supper club and live music venue, the mood is swanky and deluxe. Maximal animal prints, huge Murano light fixtures, and a historic clamshell stage are all on display. “It’s rooted in the mad science of the owner CH Projects and what they wanted to achieve,” says Chou. “It pushed our boundaries of what we thought was good design in a very collaborative, interesting way.”
Photo by Matt Kisiday
Photo by Matt Kisiday
Raf’s
New York, NY
Raf’s is a study of how to design a room for a restaurant led by an all-star chef duo in a historic bakery that dates back to 1903. Knowing this, Salem said the Post approach was to “highlight the operation and use it as the fire of the restaurant.”
Image Courtesy of Post Company
Owners and sisters Jennifer and Nicole Vitagliano worked with the designers to create different experiences throughout the day. In the back, an open kitchen highlights the exposed ovens. In the front, a bakery case anchors the all-day café. Regulars who stop for pastries or breakfast with their kids can return by night to sit at the counter turned bar or the intimate dining room.