By Kassandra Burr
Designer-backed cafés appeal to gastronomes and fashion lovers alike
Now your napkin can carry a couture label, too. High fashion meets fine dining at these posh, designer-backed eateries. From gourmet cuisine to elegant afternoon teas, gastronomes with a taste for luxury fashion won’t want to miss these exclusive culinary experiences.
Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura – Beverly Hills, California
Everything is gucci on this Beverly Hills menu. From signature cocktails complete with Gucci-logo-engraved ice cubes to whimsically plated entrées, Gucci Osteria delivers a fine dining experience that leaves a lasting impression.
Located at Gucci’s Rodeo Drive boutique in Beverly Hills, California, this rooftop eatery is one of four Gucci Osteria locations around the globe. The space exudes style with its red marble tables, plush velvet booths, and artisanal, porcelain plates. Butterflies, colorful birds, lush foliage and other nods to the Gucci aesthetic flutter throughout the décor and menu.
Guided by famed Chef Massimo Bottura of the 3-Michelin-star Osteria Francescana, Gucci Osteria’s Head Chef Mattia Agazzi has crafted an imaginative menu. Seemingly simple dishes, like a baked potato, are transformed into refined cuisine using luxury ingredients, like black truffle. This, Agazzi explains, is an intentional choice inspired by his mother and nonna, who always managed to work magic with what they had.
The modern Italian menu showcases local California ingredients, putting a surprising twist on classic Italian cuisine. The Insalata di Mare, for instance, uses locally caught seafood poached for only a few seconds, deviating from the classic Italian method of cooking it for two hours. Guests can order from two menus, à la carte or tasting, and choose from several signature cocktails, including The Captain’s Chest, a whiskey suffused with colloidal gold and hickory wood smoke.
Other menu items include You and Me in Capri, which features a raviolo rosette stuffed with lemon ricotta, and Cod Milanese served with a lively tomato terrine, a reference to the restaurant’s mosaic patio floor. The simple yet brilliant Emilia Burger comes in a pretty pink Gucci-labeled box — which likely won’t be the only thing you leave with.
Café Dior by Dominique Crenn – Dallas, Texas
Three-star Michelin Chef Dominique Crenn takes Christian Dior’s designs from haute couture to haute cuisine at this chic Dallas café.
Café Dior, which opened February 2025 at the Highland Park Village boutique in Dallas, Texas, celebrates the late Christian Dior by interpreting his designs through artistic fare. “Each dish draws inspiration from Dior’s most iconic creations,” says Chef Dominique Crenn. For example, the Miss Dior Consommé features grains and edible flowers that emulate the “Miss Dior” dress from the Monet-inspired Spring/ Summer 1949 line.
Other starters include Montaigne Garden, a zucchini and apple salad with a sherry vinaigrette, and Caviar D’Or paired with egg jam and smoked crème fraiche. Diners can enjoy lunch and dessert or partake in the newly added afternoon tea service, which includes savory and sweet bites, tea and champagne.
Flowers figure prominently in Christian Dior’s work, from embroidery to perfume and even the silhouettes of his iconic New Look, which draw inspiration from botanical anatomy. Inspired by the gardens of his mother, Madeleine, at Villa Les Rhumbs, his childhood home in Normandy, France, Christian Dior’s draw to flora gave vision to Crenn’s menu.
A botanical motif is woven throughout Crenn’s dishes, from the Sandwich Petites Fleurs, a sophisticated chicken salad sandwich featuring pain de mie and delicate purple flowers, to the Blooming Bouquet, a citrus curd adorned with flowers and herbs. “Here, couture is reimagined through ingredients that honor nature’s beauty and balance, uniting art, history, and responsible cuisine in a celebration of French art de vivre,” says Crenn.
Named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2024, the Franco-American chef also owns the renowned Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, California, which features pescatarian dishes made with responsibly sourced seafood and produce.
Crenn’s second collaboration with the fashion brand, Monsieur Dior, opened in Beverly Hills this fall, just down the street from Gucci Osteria. The menu echoes iconic Dior looks worn by Hollywood stars.
Blue Box Café by Daniel Boulud – New York, New York
Fancy a breakfast at Tiffany’s? In the Upper East Side, you can enjoy breakfast, tea and even lunch at Tiffany & Co.’s Blue Box Café by Daniel Boulud.
Located on the sixth floor of the Tiffany & Co. Fifth Avenue Landmark Store, the Blue Box Café by Daniel Boulud opened in 2023 concurrently with the reveal of its flagship store’s redesign. “The Landmark is much more than a jewelry store,” says Anthony Ledru, president and chief executive officer at Tiffany & Co. “It is a cultural hub with an exquisite showcase of architecture and superior hospitality.”
Helmed by Michelin-starred Chef Daniel Boulud — named “World’s Best Restaurateur” in 2021 by French culinary association Les Grands Tables du Monde — the ritzy café offers a French-inspired menu with dishes as stunning as a Tiffany diamond.
With three culinary experiences to choose from — Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Tea at Tiffany’s and À la Carte — guests can order seasonal dishes, like the Confit de Canard, a duck confit paired with apricot jus and crushed potato, or indulge in the delightful Breakfast at Tiffany’s prix-fixe selection, which includes a winsome Egg in a Shell — a hollowed eggshell filled with scrambled eggs and topped with caviar. Available all day, the afternoon tea menu includes classic tea sandwiches, pastries, luxury teas and champagne.
Famed architect Peter Marino designed the café, which features the iconic Tiffany Blue color high and low, from its walls and menus to the beguiling chandelier-like installation of blue boxes hanging overhead. If jewelry shopping is on your holiday to-do list, don’t miss your chance at a refreshingly chic dining experience.