Live Like a New York Food Goddess

Images Porter & SailDate 08 October 2019

Our old friend Elettra Wiedemann bursts in breathlessly, pulling the scarf from her swan-like neck and throwing it to the side.

She charms with a sort of hectic grace, like NYC itself.

Elettra, the latest bloom in the rosy Isabella Rosselini-Ingrid Bergman bloodline, started out as a model, discovered a love for food and drink, and wrote her own cookbook, Impatient Foodie. A girl who grew up on Perry Street in the West Village, whose parents met on a Calvin Klein photo shoot, must know the city’s secrets. So, we ask her: Imagine a friend has come to town for the weekend. What’s on the agenda?

Russian and Turkish Baths

“One place we’ll go to is the Russian bathhouse on 10th. It’s totally grimy, terribly old, and everybody there is grumpy and un-glamorous, but it’s a trip! I’ve been going for years, and I’ve met so many fun people. It could only exist in New York—I don’t even think a Russian bathhouse like that exists in Russia!”

The Odeon

“I cook so much at home now, that I’ve stopped going out as much as I used to. But for a brunch or lunch in the city, I take friends to The Odeon. It’s such a classic.”

Chelsea Market

“I never was that person that loves shopping; I’m too impatient. But food people always gift each other cool spices, interesting salts, so we’ll go to Chelsea Market. If I see something—or smell something—that strikes my fancy, I’ll get it. But it’ll be like a drone attack: in and out.”

Schooner Adirondack

“My favorite thing to do is this cocktail sunset sail. You set off from Chelsea Piers on a gorgeous sailboat, a schooner, you sail around The Statue of Liberty and back up. It’s not a tour or anything. You just get to drink on a boat with ten or so people and see the city.”