Soooo… I signed a lease

June 8, 2026

Funny thing about life: just when it finally feels like it’s in balance, we find a way to completely blow it up.

Popina is heading into its ninth year later this summer, and for the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m actually taking some time for myself. Don’t get me wrong—it hasn’t been all work and no play. There have been plenty of good meals, good bottles, trips, and great nights with friends. But the daily panic has faded. Fewer mornings waking up thinking about the 47 things that are already on fire before I’ve even had coffee.

Life is good.

I’m trying to focus more on the things outside of work: my health, dating, hobbies, friendships—the whole “being a person” thing.

And then I signed a lease for a bar in Williamsburg.

A neighborhood I genuinely never thought I’d have any interest in.

At the end of 2025, I was approached by FOC (Friend of Chef) to gauge my interest in opening a wine bar with a major developer. I wanted to learn more, but my initial reaction was a polite “probably not.”

If Williamsburg wasn’t enough of a dealbreaker on its own, they showed me the location: south of just about everything on the waterfront.

Perfect.

The building itself is beautiful. The vision is “resort-style luxury,” which raised the question: how do you bring soul, character, and neighborhood charm to something so polished and flashy?

First, you hire Rockwell Group to design the bar.

That was probably the first moment I thought, “Okay… maybe this is actually something.”

I worked with Todd and Nick from FOC to get the concept to a point where I felt comfortable engaging a lawyer. Then came the negotiations.

To Naftali’s credit, they put together a very generous deal to bring me into Williamsburg Wharf. But I kept asking for more. And then a little more. My lawyer kept asking for more too. It became a beautiful dance of “one more thing” that stretched on for a few weeks.

After that, I sat with it.

I asked myself why I wanted to do this. I talked to friends. The reactions were mixed. Some saw an incredible opportunity. Others looked at me like I had suffered a mild head injury.

So why do I want to do this?

I kept coming back to one word: community.

I’ve always loved the idea of creating community in unlikely places. Of taking a beautiful, intimidating space and making people feel like it belongs to them. And, selfishly, there’s something exciting about building something that is completely my vision—not a compromise with a partner, not a committee, but an extension of what I love.

So here we go.

I signed the lease on Monday.

What’s next?

First, I have to look at the financial commitments. Thankfully, the full buildout is being handled, but there’s still plenty to fund: branding, PR, inventory, opening expenses, and the inevitable “oh right, we forgot about that” category.

I’ve already called my accountant and bookkeeper. The lawyers can wait until next week before we start working on operating agreements.

I have an idea of who I want to work with on branding and PR, but I’m going to take some meetings. Good to have options.

Then there are the bigger questions.

Like… what the hell is this place called?

Al Banco fits the concept, but I don’t love it. La Sosta is beautiful, but apparently someone beat me to it in NYC not that long ago. La Nicchia—or just Nicchia—is intriguing, but I’m not sure I want to spend the next decade teaching every guest how to pronounce the name.

So I ask friends. I throw names around. I overthink. I ignore my own advice about not rushing creative decisions.

The process is hard, so I’m trying not to force it.

What else happened this week?

The Knicks won the Finals. I had a great dinner with friends. I got out on the boat. I drank a whiskey with an old friend at Travel Bar. I mourned the loss of Henry, my longtime doorman. I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge twice. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, I caught myself daydreaming about a beautiful woman.

Life is funny.

One minute you’re convincing yourself to slow down and enjoy what you’ve built. The next minute, you’re signing a lease for another concept.

June is crazy. It’s event season at Popina, so I have to make the most of it.

But I suppose that’s the point.

Work hard. Build things you love. Drink good wine. Fall for beautiful people. And occasionally make completely unreasonable decisions that somehow feel exactly right.