Sant Ambroeus Sprawl
And the lost idea of a special place unique to a specific location
There’s a Pura Vida Miami, four actually, and Casa Tua in NYC and a Pastis and Sadelle’s in Miami. Sant Ambreous has opened a location on Palm Beach Island and at the base of Aspen Mountain. Dante and Bar Pisellino are multiplying across Manhattan seemingly faster than Blank Street Coffee circa 2020 and Le Bilboquet and Hillstone’s Honor Bar have sprouted up in major cities across the US.
I don’t know about anyone else but I love the idea of a special place unique to a specific location that I only get to visit every so often.
Whether it’s a dinner at Lucky’s steakhouse in Montecito (which now has an NYC outpost that I refuse to go to because I want to keep the OG special) or enjoying the “taco of the day” at Meat & Cheese in Aspen post Cathedral Lake hike or the Carissa’s smoked turkey ciabatta sandwich after a salty afternoon at the beach in East Hampton or a fluffy slice of La Tarte Tropézienne seaside in Saint Tropez, there are those particular places and meals that you associate with arriving in a certain place, that signal the start of vacation and add to the thrill of being in a specific destination.
I had this thought while sitting outside at the Sant Ambroeus in the newly renovated shopping center in Palm Beach, Royal Poinciana Plaza . The food was dependably good, the interiors just as beautiful as they are in NYC but there was something sad about having brunch at the exact same restaurant on vacation that I do at home. For me this type of sprawl kind of cheapens the original location, a type of market cannibalization if you will, that waters down the spark of being on vacation. Going to Casa Tua in Aspen and ordering the $30 Miky’s Pistachio Gelato just doesn’t have the same thrill to it now that I know I can go to the UES on any given night and eat it on 76th Street.
Even the most high-end destinations and places are starting to feel more homogenous than ever before. The shopping choices are the same, there are very few cool, unique multi-brand boutiques and now the restaurant choices are converging. I don’t know if it’s a function of social media or the need for brands to continue to multiply rapidly to realize growth potential, but the landscape feels dull. Can anyone else relate to feeling this way?
My golden retriever also loves dining al fresco 🐶 💫
Oh yea I agree with this! When a unique place becomes a chain it loses its appeal. It’s like people who go to Nobu regardless of where they are in the world instead of trying a local place. If you’re seeking the sameness of home, why travel then?