The French Countryside in the West Village
Zimmi's cozy atmosphere
This substack is now about where I find great Atmosphere in New York. You can find it anywhere: going over a bridge, under a certain tree, at a cross-section where a lilac bush reliably blooms, in a particular kind of restaurant, or bookshop, or theater.
My aim, at least in part, is to understand why I find a certain environment moving, which will allow me to write about candlelight and friends and ephemera. In my fiction I often make characters go to restaurants or to lush parks or to tropical islands, so that I can detail those environments. What’s better than ample room for sensorial feasting? Sight, sound, texture. Glow. Taste. Yum.
Hopefully, documenting atmospheric discovery from my actual life will make my imagined worlds richer. Or, at the very least I will have a diaristic (maybe embarrassing) understanding of where I spend my time. What makes this city worth living in is all of the places you can move in, before moving on. I’ll start with last Friday’s double date at 72 Bedford.
Zimmi’s in the West Village
I walked into this place and instantly felt relaxed, impact I attribute to the gingham white-and-green checkered tablecloths and the tea light candles in small glass vase jars. I was no longer in the West Village, but in a super chic woman’s country home. It’s best to sit on the street side, because you can look on at the bar, which was built with a stunning attention to symmetry.
There are other details that add to the atmosphere too. A Loewe candle burns in the bathroom and you can imagine that if you opened the windows, a breeze would nicely lift the white curtains. While the tables are close together, the whole space feels roomier than other restaurants in that neighborhood. The energy is decidedly not frenetic. You won’t be rushed out of your table, and there’s a nice aisle between one side of the restaurant and the other.
Of course, we were one of the last tables to leave, and so we were stumbled out with this last image of the gingham and tea light candles.
Provence-style perfection
After dinner, we went to my favorite bar, The Ear Inn. I end almost every night here because they have crayons. My new friend drew me. I wished I’d had her sign it.
