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Bathhouse, a new restaurant and “wellness” space, has opened in Williamsburg with several areas for massages and high-end communal bathing in a pristine and elegant environment, alongside an attached area to dine at afterwards. The new concept comes from co-founders Travis Talmadge and Jason Goodman and is an “airy, plant-filled space” with 6,500-square-feet of subterranean spa, complete with a mural inspired by Roman bathhouses of yesteryear by artist Amit Greenberg.
According to a press release provided to Time Out New York, the team refers to the new space as “a distinct departure from traditional wellness models centered on rest and relaxation, [combining] the vibrant, social elements of bathhouses from around the world alongside an array of treatments for the modern athlete and fitness enthusiast.”
However, Bathhouse continues the long-held tradition of social clubs based on relaxation and eating that New Yorkers have enjoyed for decades. The most notable locations include the East Village’s Russian & Turkish bathhouse, the Financial District’s Spa 88, Sojo Spa in Edgewater, NJ (that’s easily accessed by complementary city-wide shuttle buses to the spa) and Spa Castle in College Point, Queens.
New York’s Russian banyas offer dishes like beef-stuffed cabbage, sweet blini and Siberian pelmeni, best finished off with a cooling shot of vodka (such is the case at Spa 88’s restaurant Matryoshka and at the Russian & Turkish baths, where pierogi comes out piping hot from a small, lobby concession stand). At Sojo, the spa doesn't serve alcohol but a food court offers smoothies, ice cream and a Korean menu replete with bibimbap and restorative noodle soups.
Here, the modern Eastern European, which carries on age-old traditions while expanding on the past, will include items such as celery root and apple salad with kohlrabi and crispy quinoa ($12), salmon pastrami sandwich ($15) and the Hunter’s Stew (venison, wild boar sausage and chanterelle mushroom, for $21). A full menu can be seen, here. The menu was designed by chef Nejc Šeruga, who, according to the team’s Instagram, “grew up on a family farm with its own restaurant in the south east of Slovenia,” later going on to work in the kitchens of heavy-hitters like Agern and Eleven Madison Park.
While some will still prefer to keep going to the older bathhouses precisely because they lack any pretense, this trendy, newfangled spa environment will have a few areas for treatments not available at these other spaces, such as cryotherapy and a sensory deprivation tank as well as specialists who've worked with the Brooklyn Nets.
Photograph: Adrian Gaut
Photograph: Adrian Gaut
According to its website, membership runs $250 a month for unlimited access during the weekdays. Then on weekends and weekday nights, members can get 20% off admission (extendable to plus ones) as well as 10% off at the restaurant.
And yes, much like at Sky Ting Yoga, there will be the custom, requisite merch for those who want to wear their allegiance to the wellness life beyond the walls of the sauna steam room.
This new addition to the neighborhood was once the site of an old soda factory for Dr. Brown’s and is just down the street from another recent addition, the bar JJ’s Hideaway.
Photograph: Adrian Gaut
Photograph: Adrian Gaut
Bathhouse is located at 103 North 10th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11249.