David Graziano & Corey Lane: The Guys Who Kiss and Bagatelle

David Graziano and Corey Lane are becoming moguls. David is a fantastic hospitality/interior designer with home runs like Pink Elephant and the Kiss & Fly/Bagatelle/RdV complex to his credit. Corey comes from an operations background but is well grounded in promotion, especially when it comes to South American house fests. I don't know one person that doesn't like or respect them. In an industry which sometimes creates tensions, that's a mouthful. I caught up to them (and their new publicist Steve Kasuba) at their new restaurant, Ganesvoort 69, where the old Florent restaurant used to be. Florent was in the Meatpacking District when men were still packing meat while other men dressed as women were also packing meat. Late night, a scene of running mascara and sex workers of every persuasion had a bite after a long night. For club operators and staff, it was one of the few places always open where you could get an intelligent late-night meal. It was an after-hours club affair or someplace to fuel up before taking the party to the late afternoon at one of the great house meccas. They kept a lot of the charm and some of the fixtures as Ganesvoort 69 pays its respect to its vaunted past.

This used to be a very fabulous place called Florent, a late-night restaurant which I visited way too many times. What time is it now, Steve?
Steve Kasuba: It’s 3:15.

Yeah, it was possible that I was eating here at 3pm from the night before.
Steve: Ending your night.

Very possible. And there would be some S&M hookers over here, and some transsexual hookers and some other hookers. Spike Lee, lots of trendies. Florent was one of the great places in New York. In fact, when it went down, a lot of people were very upset because Florent was an institution, and you guys were taking over. As a publicist, Steve, you had to talk about what it’s like to go from this legendary space to Ganesvoort 69 without breaking eggs.
Corey Lane: Interesting story about Florent himself. He was in here on the first night of friends and family. He came in with his boyfriend, and he sat and he had dinner. I went over and introduced myself, and I had a drink with him. I told him what our intentions were—to maintain this fun, neighborhood dinery type of feel. I said, “We promise that we’ll do good things with the space, but we have tough shoes to fill.” His comment back to me was, “Honey, my shoes are most of the time high heels. You wouldn’t feel comfortable in them.”

Well, he is that kind of guy. With Florent now closed, I don’t know if he still does his infamous Bastille Day party. Maybe you should do a Bastille Day party with him.
Corey: We actually spoke about that.
David Graziano: You should finish what Florent said. He did give the green light. He said he was happy with what the place had changed into. He kind of passed the baton on ...
Corey: He thought that we were a good, young group. He felt our vibrancy. He felt that the place was left in good hands. He passed the torch to us that night. It was very nice to have that moment with him.

Well, I think with any success, whether it’s a band or an institution like this, it’s being true to your school, being honest, and no fault can be found in that.
Corey: Good sportsmanship.

I think that’s right. You guys are good sports. You’re the nice guys in the business, and you’re not finishing last. So this is Gansevoort 69. Tell me about he other properties you have. You have RdV, Bagatelle, Kiss & Fly.
David: The new addition is Kiss & Fly Sao Paulo.

Now tell me about that. Are you going to actually go there?
David: Yeah, we were just there last week. We signed a deal. It’s in motion. We’re in the process of designing it right now. We’re going to open up in March after Carnival. It’s a licensing/consulting deal. We’re going to help them get it off the ground. We’ll do co-brand and stuff with the DJs, stuff like that.

How are you going to operate? How do you control quality from 5,000 miles away?
Corey: The first thing you have to do is you have to believe in the company. You have to investigate who these people are, what they’ve done before, and their track record, as well. Right now, we feel comfortable with the group that we’re dealing with. They’re responsible.