After a temporary soft opening during New York Fashion Week, The eighth officially welcomed the public to its Chelsea den on March 10. After visiting the cocktail-driven restaurant during its first week, it’s clear that Eighth is still fine-tuning the implementation of parts of its program. Some restaurants take a beat to find their legs, and Eighth seems to be one of them-perhaps not so surprising, since Eighth threw the gauntlet to itself with an esoteric concept and very clear ideas of service every night.
Julien Legeard and Valmira Gashi teamed up with Richie Romero to create Eighth. Legeard and Gashi’s Legeard Studio designed hospitality venues such as La Grande Boucherie, Hudson Club and Olio e Più; Romero is a nightlife veteran behind spots like 1 Oak and Up&Down.
The press release announcing the Eighth’s arrival read a little like the last essay of a great art writer, describing the space as “conceived as a space outside of ordinary time…[its] The goal is not to try to recreate a certain era, but rather the opposite. Rather, it comes from the absence of history—times, stories and emotions that have slipped through the cracks.”
So, what does “anti-period” really look like as a restaurant? I went in to find out on opening night.
The second I stepped inside, I was drawn to the well-lit space—it’s clear that Eighth was created by the design team. Gashi describes that bar as “very central… That’s obvious: the backlight, the alabaster stone bar shines like an altar of molten rock. The back bar emits an amber light, and the back box of small, disco-like lights puts a golden finish on everything.
Gashi and Legeard chose two symbols for the Eight: the snake that forms the number eight and represents renewal, and the moth that symbolizes attraction. “With Moth, we had the idea that this bar creates an ‘oh my God, I’ve got to see it’ moment when someone walks in the door,” Gashi said. “It’s the idea of giving in to temptation, seeing the light and moving on.”
Eighth’s black tables, arranged around the bar, are sleek and marbled, with gray velvet chairs in deep purple. Candles highlight the warm glow of the bar, and the ball-chain curtains feel like a subtle nod to both Chelsea’s industrial history and its more hedonistic nightclub era. That ambiguity is intentional.
“We wanted to represent the different things that Chelsea has had, from industrial to artistic, without sticking to one era—it’s all a woven fabric, not a single thread,” Gashi told the Observer. “It creates the idea that anyone can have their experience, their story here; that’s what Chelsea is.”
The beauty of the Eighth is the one that grabs you first and lasts the longest during your visit. That may be why talking about it—namely, the vibe and the interior—comes before any mention of dishes or drinks, both here in this story and in the restaurant’s press release. Eighth is clearly a design-driven concept, but the drinks, food, and one key promise of this venue are missing—or maybe they’re still finding their way.
That promise was one of the “rituals” or “celebrations.” On Eighth’s website, potential tourists are lured to “three festive times: 8pm to wake up, 10pm to indulge, and 12am to surrender.” According to Legeard, each event was meant to be a unique cocktail and small bite pairing to create an immersive experience and reflect the mood of the room at all times. There was a lot of ambiguity about what these rituals would look like, which Gashi explained was intentional: “I don’t want people to know what’s coming next.
Or, they don’t have the experience of watching these ceremonies because when the opening night started, the Eighth team was not sure what these rituals might look like. Initially intrigued by these events, this writer waited anxiously for the 8 o’clock hour to roll around, confident that a magical, religious cocktail would take over at any moment. When nothing happened at 8:30 pm, I asked our wonderful supplier, who explained that they still wanted to know if and how they would do all three rituals. To assure us of that others the kind of special experience that guests are always given, he argued with the bartender to give our table a show. It’s not the flamboyance one might expect from a room-wide culture, but specialty cocktails are presented with flair and the drama of rolling nitrous oxide. Mezcal was paired with charred pineapple and pink corn; the drink was bright, refreshing and delicious.
Some drinks show great potential for strong, healthy flavors, but may still need some tweaking. Dial in the complex sounds of Lilly with bourbon, Lillet Blanc, black tea syrup, calamansi and rose mist, and it smelled delicious. But on the palate, the calamansi dominated very little, resulting in something like juice. Similarly, the tequila, Campari and Cocchi Rosa cocktail, Desert Rose, had a scent you’d want to capture forever like a candle or incense, thanks to its additions of palo santo smoke and rose and sage vermouth. However, its taste returned to the french punch area. Overall, the drinks menu consists of these novel creations, as well as improved classics like Negronis and gin and tonics. These options are affordable but high quality, with features such as spices and fresh herbs, which may, in time, amount to a good list. They just need to dial in some balance.
Ditto that on the food menu; there are hits and misses. The beet tartare was rich, earthy and slightly sweet; the classic shrimp cocktail was fresh and satisfying; and crispy purple potatoes with black garlic aioli stole the limelight from their accompanying burger. Perhaps the star of the night was the white chocolate-y semifreddo with strawberries and rose meringues—custardy and rich, balanced by the sweetness of the flowers and the tartness of the strawberries. Cucumbers with sesame oil and chilies, however, felt like they needed more time to soak in the water and absorb their dressing.
Ultimately, The Eighth shows promise and achieves a different balance in Chelsea and New York in general: It’s glamorous, chic, sensible. It is warm and welcoming. “The Eighth” tent at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 18th Street is refreshingly large and bright, unlike the leaning entrance one might expect from a high-concept venue like this. Menu prices were surprisingly reasonable, with small plates costing as little as $9 or $11, well below what the Chelsea restaurant has charged in recent years.
“Everything about Eighth is designed to create comfort and invitation with a little twist, to create this experience that will be different every time,” said Gashi. “The food and cocktails are not about show, it’s not about, ‘look, this is hot or gold-leafed,’ it’s not about your tendency to be on Instagram. We want the opposite, we want people to feel present and enjoy the moment.”
“We want people to be like, ‘Wow, the staff really took care of me, I’m coming back for this, I’m coming back for that,'” added Legeard. This beauty seems to be played out here. Gashi and Legeard have created a healthy, upscale restaurant with a new twist of accessibility and comfort. Trying to accomplish both that and the arcane concept of the Eighth, however, can prove to be quite the juggling act.
