Plugs — Sue Chan
New York food, drink, and leisure recs from the Care of Chan founder + LINKS
Plugs is The Angel’s recs column. On most Saturdays, you’ll get six picks—a restaurant, a bar, a shop, an ingredient, a person, and a treat—from someone in New York who knows what they’re talking about, plus a selection of Angel-curated links. Plugs are for paid subscribers of The Angel only; upgrade your subscription to receive all six!
#12 is Sue Chan, founder and chief creative officer of Care of Chan, aka New York (and L.A.)’s preeminent party planner. Sue grew up in Southern California but came up in New York City, working for Momofuku for 7 years, ultimately as brand director, and eventually founding her namesake agency. She's represented majorly influential restaurants and chefs, from Ignacio Mattos and Enrique Olvera to The Four Horsemen and Wildair, ultimately evolving Care of Chan into a hospitality-driven experiential agency. Nowadays, she and her team collaborate with big-time brands across food, fashion, and culture, including A24, AmEx, Dior, J.Crew, Sweetgreen, the New York Times, and the Office of the Surgeon General. And, as of last week, Care of Chan is on Substack, under the monikor Ready to Host: a weekly newsletter dishing coveted intel on how to host, entertain, and gather. Here's Sue with her Plugs.
Restaurant — Omen Azen
If a restaurant survives five years, it’s a miracle. If it survives ten, it becomes a legend. If it’s been around for 45 years, like Omen Azen, which opened in SoHo in 1981, it may be beyond classification altogether. Iconoclast doesn’t even begin to cover it. Omen has the exact qualities you want in a memorable New Yorker: timeless, deeply itself, and unassumingly powerful. Technically it’s an izakaya, but unlike the casual bar-food version most people associate with the category, Omen feels refined and singular. The decor is chic without trying too hard (I believe the cloud-like paper lamps and blue polka dot cloth napkins are handmade), the recipes are deeply craveable, remarkably consistent, and never disappoint. Its regulars are also the right kind of New York famous. Not scene-y or performative, but true creatives who quietly shape culture without concern for cheap fanfare. There’s a beautiful T Magazine piece on the restaurant and its regulars by Patti Smith and my dear friend Thessaly La Force, who write about Omen far more eloquently than I ever could.
Don’t sleep on the salads, the agedashi tofu, and the wine jelly for dessert.
