Creating a Curved Concrete Countertop for Williamsburg Staple, Monarch Restaurant
Located in the heart of Williamsburg on Metropolitan Ave, Monarch is a Modern Asian Restaurant offering a unique and inspired collection of small and large plate Asian dishes, influenced by the cuisine of China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan & Thailand. “We wanted to offer food to our Williamsburg neighbors that we wanted for ourselves,” said owners Lawrence and Ayako Elliott. The Elliotts are 2 pioneering restaurateurs in Williamsburg with their other restaurant, Rabbithole, still a popular fixture on Bedford Avenue. The Elliotts’ vision for Monarch Theater Restaurant was inspired by their favorite dishes from across East Asia, as well as the unique, theatrical history of the building (it used to be a theater called “The Collapsable Hole”, a rather avant-garde, artist-owned, production that took over the space of a former rundown garage in 2000).
For this project, the founders had a long narrow area for the bar and wanted the front of the piece to have a sort of flattened curve to it. They also mentioned that they really wanted something that showed the hand of the craftspeople who made it. Something made of not just any common material and that definitely didn’t have any artificial materials in it.
One detail that made this project challenging was that the clients were adamant that there be no seams in the bar despite the rather large, curved countertop’s size. The small details of the design were paramount, as it was going to be the featured architectural element in the restaurant, greeting people as they first walked in.
With a keen eye for design, the founders had a lot of awesome requests that they wanted us to incorporate. Behind the main bar countertop, they wanted custom “drink rails” for beverages and other mixers to sit, which are really tricky to make logistically. In addition, to maintain a sense of continuity, the entire bar was to be cast in one long continuous pour, including the entire front curve as well as the whole back bar near the wall, which was no walk in the park either!
Finally, since there were already a handful of concrete elements that came with the space, we did a custom color for this bar to match, helping maintain some of the original magic of the old theater. It was an awesome experience getting to create the main element for such a historic, regal location. The owners also made it a great experience for us as they were very hands-on and wanted to work with us to create the perfect shape for the bar. Because we built the entire thing on site, we were able to adjust the curve to be exactly what they wanted in the space and after a few tweaks, we were able to get it just right! Looking forward to doing more custom concrete bars and countertops in the future!
