Inside New York’s new playpen for millionaires
On a recent Tuesday night on a quiet Midtown block, Aussie billionaire scion and NYC hedge-fund titan Richard Hains, 51, looks on gleefully as his 25-year-old actress/model/writer girlfriend, Alessia Sushko, dances atop a banquette in a crop top.
A suited, bushy-haired Hains slaps his buddy high-five and then, for good measure, slaps Sushko on the behind.
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Millionaire plastic surgeon Paul Nassif, 52, and designer Sera Ysydes, 29, are among the see-and-be-seen at new hot spot Beautique.Photo: Gabi Porter
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Doorman Eric Evans makes sure revelers look the part before entering the subterranean club.Photo: Gabi Porter
Welcome to Beautique, New York’s newest millionaire lair. Sure, it may sound like the name of a Korean nail salon, but ever since opening in April, the city’s rich, famous and aspiring have been flocking to the 58th Street restaurant/lounge like “Housewives” to a sample sale.
“Leo [DiCaprio], Dylan McDermott, Maxwell, the guy from the Strokes . . . countless others. They’ve all been here,” says Beautique managing director Frank Roberts, who previously managed Gramercy Park Hotel’s Rose Bar, known for its tough door and free-range models.
“They’re here for me,” says Roberts, a suave man in a sharp gray suit.
“I make them feel at home.”
And what a home it is. Located next to the Paris Theatre and across from the Plaza Hotel, the 125-seat subterranean restaurant is a case study in decadence — from the food to the décor to the women, whose legs are as long as their dresses are short.
“Every time we’ve come here, there have always been many, many beautiful women,” says 37-year-old Rudy Gofman, who was recently holding court in a corner booth with his wife, Eka, and former USA soccer player Cobi Jones.
“She used to be a model,” says Gofman of the missus.
“Now I’m housewife,” chimes in the Ukrainian stunner.
But in order to see the eye candy, you have to get past doorman Eric Evans.
“If anyone looks the part — good-looking, upscale, classy, A-list — they’re more than welcome,” explains Evans, 47, who guards the normally touristy stretch like it’s the hottest downtown block in NYC.
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Billionaire scion Richard Hains, 51, and his 25-year-old girlfriend Alessia SushkoPhoto: Gabi Porter
Kate Bosworth, Adam Brody and Uma Thurman are among those who made the cut — and were granted access down a dizzying mirror-lined staircase into the restaurant.
“When I came up with the vision of the place it was based off Coco Chanel, 1900s Paris-meets-New York, feminine charm and opulent glamour,” says Roberts, 42, whose Rolodex was bolstered during his five-year tenure at perennial hot spot Rose Bar.
On any given night, a sea of bandage dresses and enough pocket squares to stock a Brooks Brothers outlet fill the restaurant, where diners chomp on former Le Cirque chef Craig Hopson’s fare — including the $135 Australian black winter truffle menu currently on offer.
After washing it all down with the house favorite cocktail, the Maison Martini, made with lemongrass, fresh pineapple and mint ($19), an even more exclusive experience awaits you. Those brave enough to wiggle their way through the kitchen’s tiny corridor will be greeted by a dimly lit “secret” lounge with stools clad in Jean Paul Gaultier silk upholstery. Everyone from models Iman and Joan Smalls to movie honcho Harvey Weinstein and chef Eric Ripert, with a bevy of beauties in tow, have been spotted there. (“Each man has about five to seven women with him,” explains doorman Evans. “That’s the right ratio.”)
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Cheers to being fabulous! The lounge is packed with bottle-buying men and the women who love them.Photo: Gabi Porter
“It just feels very private,” says Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listings” star Luis Ortiz, who was there to celebrate top real estate agent Oren Alexander’s 27th birthday on a recent June night.
“The more towards the back you go, the more private it feels,” says Ortiz, who had the $32 branzino — and “a lot of whiskey.”
“I think Beautique is upscale and goes in line with who I am: elegant and sophisticated,” says birthday boy Alexander, who hosted Douglas Elliman president Howard Lorber and Sir Ivan Wilzig, who throws raucous parties at his infamous Hamptons “castle.”
“It gives you the feeling of the 1920s, when things used to be a little bit more elegant and people would get dressed up for dinner,” he adds.
Cristina Rosetti and her pals certainly pulled out all the stops when they met up at Beautique last month.
“The upper crust is invited here . . . obviously the crowd is going to be a little bit different than your average spot,” says Rosetti.
The Midtown East resident, who hails from Romania, is flaunting diamonds as big as her lips and a white leather jacket as she sips Champagne with her girlfriends, 29-year-old Katerina Samove and 28-year-old Iryna Bojaj.
“We met a couple of years ago in church,” Bojaj says of her friends.
“No, no,” corrects Samove, in a red, body-hugging dress and matching Celine bag.
“I thought at church, no? Oh, OK, at Lavo,” clarifies Bojaj, in a black sequined frock with a matching black sequined Chanel purse.
Rosetti, who says she’s 33, has been coming to Beautique ever since it opened. Sadly, she says, a brief hiatus is in store.
“We’re going to the Hamptons for the Fourth of July and then South of France, so …,” Rosetti says with a shrug.
Luckily, there are plenty of reality stars eager to warm her seat.
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Power brokers Oren Alexander (left) and Tal AlexanderPhoto: Patrick McMullan/PatrickMcMullan.com
Dr. Paul Nassif, 52, the millionaire plastic-surgeon star of E!’s “Botched” (and ex-hubby of Adrienne Maloof of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” fame), seemed quite at home during a recent Beautique bash for artist Ralph Macuzzo.
“I never thought on a Tuesday night, New York would be bustling like this,” says Nassif, who sits thigh-to-thigh with his 29-year-old “friend,” designer Sera Ysydes.
“It’s very, very attractive, good-looking, upscale people.”
NYC personality Justin Ross Lee counts himself as one of the special few.
“It feels like how my parents described the Playboy Club back in the day,” says Lee, who recently sat next to Kim Kardashian’s bestie and E! star Jonathan Cheban at dinner.
“I love it there,” says Lee. “It’s a very pretentious place.”
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