Everyone Wants to Buy These Server Uniforms—But They’re Not for Sale

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A framed painting smaller than a piece of paper hangs above the bar at Nix. It’s a tiny rendering of a smudgy red tomato on an equally smudgy black backdrop—and it was specially made for the space by artist Hugo Guinness. James Truman, former editorial director of Condé Nast and partner at Nix, says it telegraphs what the Manhattan restaurant is about—from its name, pulled from a centuries-old trial over whether a tomato should be classified as a fruit or vegetable (Nix v. Hedden), to its vegetable-only menu.

Nix is devoted to produce, and does its best to serve hearty food (wok-roasted cucumbers with jerk spices, goat cheese, and kumquats) based around vegetables and grains. Highlights included a Yukon potato fry bread that was halfway between an ideal loaded baked potato (with sour cream, broccoli, radishes) and a donut, as well as a portobello mushroom carpaccio served with fennel and Parmesan. But nothing in the cavernous white-walled, white-marbled restaurant conveys how close Nix wants to be to the earth better than the servers, who float through the dining room in matching, billowy designer navy blue frocks that make us want to take up gardening or painting just so we can look that stylish while doing so.

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