Hors d'oeuvres at Aska - photo Whitney Maxwell, Artspace

Frieze VIPs taste the fine art of Aska

Artists, writers, gourmets and gallerists joined us at the Michelin-starred Williamsburg restaurant to toast Frieze NY

Last week Phaidon and Artspace, co-hosted a dinner for 40 art-world insiders at Aska, the two-Michelin-Starred Williamsburg restaurant founded and overseen by acclaimed Swedish chef Fredrik Berselius. 

 

Fredrik at our Aska party - photo Whitney Maxwell, Artspace
Fredrik at our Aska party - photo Whitney Maxwell, Artspace

The event was staged to celebrate both Frieze Week in New York, and Berselius’s forthcoming book, also called Aska.

 

Fredrik signs copies of his book at Aska - photo Whitney Maxwell, Artspace
Fredrik signs copies of his book at Aska - photo Whitney Maxwell, Artspace

Guests, including the New York Times’ Ted Loos; Creative Time’s Matthew McCardwell and Justine Ludwig; Julia Kaganskiy of the New Museum; artists James Clare, Jeremy Dean, EV Day and Matthew Geller; and Steve Wilson and Alice Gray Stites of 21c Museum Hotels, drank cocktails in the garden, before retiring to the intimate dining room, newly furnished with Hans Wegner furniture, to enjoy a five-course menu.

 

Our book Aska at Aska - photo Whitney Maxwell, Artspace
Our book Aska at Aska - photo Whitney Maxwell, Artspace

Despite Aska’s NY location, the food brought a taste of the country into the city, with dishes such as lichen, caramelized cream, and mushroom broth with preserved pine shoots.

Alice Gray Stites thanked guests and partners, saying, "It seems fitting during Frieze week that we are experiencing the menu of a chef who Pete Wells described in the New York Times as 'the rare chef who thinks like an artist and gets away with it.’” 

We certainly agree. For more on Frieze, take a look at this book; for more on Fredrik, order a copy of Aska.