Lauren Brocato | September 10, 2019 | Lifestyle
East End artists cook up something creative for new Amagansett restaurant Coche Comedor.
Before any food hits the table, customers are already feasting their eyes on what new restaurant Coche Comedor is about to dish up. At the East End’s freshly opened taqueria, local artists including Toni Ross, Christopher French, Steve Miller, Oscar Molina, Don Christensen, Almond Zigmund and Bastienne Schmidt came together to create colorfully offbeat tabletops. From the team behind Nick & Toni’s, Rowdy Hall and La Fondita, Coche Comedor is a culmination of cultures with a focus on reflecting Mexican tradition.
Artistic group leader and co-owner Ross sought out East End artists whose works differ across media. “Our goal at Coche Comedor was not to imitate but to be inspired by the rich culture and a cuisine of Mexico,” Ross says. With little concrete direction, the artists drew from a strong color palette to bring a cross section of geometrics and identities to the tables. The electric-hued tabletops allow the designs of the artists to speak of a modernly inspired Mexican aesthetic without distraction.
Schmidt, a multimedia artist from Germany whose work is featured in the Museum of Modern Art, crafted warm-colored tabletops with a multicultural identity for the project. Her work reflects her experience growing up in Greece but was inspired by Mexico.
From urban graffiti walls by the Brooklyn artist known as Host18 to handcrafted surfboards-turned-tables by Steve Miller, each design in the restaurant is inspired by the experiences of the artists, who have studied and worked in countries from El Salvador to Italy. “The artwork is astonishingly cohesive yet incredibly varied,” Ross says. “The bold colors fill the space with joy. You can see it. You can feel it.” 74A Montauk Highway, Amagansett, cochecomedor.com