Lily Pond: The Latest Culinary Debut in the Della Femina Legacy

A fusion of Korean and French fare, Lily Pond is nestled in the West Village next to its neighbor, Smalls Jazz Club; while Croft Alley hits the Soho scene, a spinoff of his ever-popular celebrity haunt back on the West Coast.

In the production arena, Della Femina has reunited with his Ivy League Crimelords team — Michael Mailer, Johnny Friedman, and Adam Storke—to shoot their new comedy mini-series In the Weeds, starring Michael himself, with guest appearances by his legendary dad, Jerry Della Femina.

Here we talk to Michael about working with family, fact meeting fiction, and free-flowing martinis.

Tell us about Lily Pond. How was it born, and what is the concept? 

Well, we’ve had the restaurant in LA, Croft Alley, for about 12 years now. We’re also in Beverly Hills, and we’ve been there about five to six years, but we were in West Hollywood originally. My wife and I actually started Lily Pond as kind of a pop-up dinner club out of Croft Alley at night, and that went well.

The idea of the name was taken, obviously, from Lily Pond in the Hamptons, but also in Beverly Hills, right around the corner from the restaurant, there is also a lily pond. So, it’s kind of serendipitous that both places that we call home have this beautiful lily pond.

We come back and forth to New York all the time. We keep a place here in the West Village. Croft Alley has been here about three or four months, and I was here, I think it was November, and I wasn’t planning on another location right at the same time, but we were walking in the neighborhood and saw this wonderful spot was available, so we jumped at it.

You’re doing a fusion of French and Korean at Lily Pond. How did that come about?

Half of my family is Korean. My sister’s husband is Korean, and all of my nieces and nephews, so, it’s been kind of part of our world for a long time. I love the culture, and we also love the whole Bistro concept, so it’s kind of an inspired Bistro, with some French and Korean influences. We have some fun things like a kimchi Reuben on the menu, and then we have some classics like the sassy spicy salmon bowl and the Lily Pond burger. We’re also going to give a little homage to Della Femina (a vestige of East Hampton’s past) with fluke tartar.

Have I heard it’s quite a family affair?

There’s a lot of family and friends behind it—from designing the space to running it —which is terrific. My sister and her husband, along with my wife Laurie, are running it as well. My kids are involved—my son Jack does our coffee, and my other son William handles cold drinks. My niece Annabel is doing all the social media and marketing. A lot of my family is close by, out in the Hamptons.

Let’s talk cocktails.

We actually have another concept that we also do called Martini Confidential, which is a private pop-up cocktail club that we’ve been doing in New York and LA, and we’ll be bringing that element to Lily Pond as well.

At certain times of the night, we’ll serve complimentary drinks. It’s just something that we do; it’s not a laid-out plan or anything, it’s just part of our ethos. We have our old-fashioned bar light that, when it goes on, draws in the neighborhood: they come in for a free martini, treats, and some fun. That’s just a little hospitality thing we do for neighbors and friends. I shake a lot of martinis—that’s what I love to do.

Tell us a bit about your latest television project.

We’re involved in a couple of television projects that we’re working on. One is linked to the restaurant food industry, a mini-series called In the Weeds. It’s a comedy show, kind of a Curb Your Enthusiasm meets Kitchen Nightmares. It’s not a reality show, but there’s a lot of history involved. Fact meets Fiction—let’s put it that way.

What’s your next move?

I’m looking at locations now in the Hamptons, either as a pop-up for the summer season, or if we found the right spot, we’d be thrilled to have a mainstay.

Lily Pond is located in the West Village at 183 West 10th St.; Croft Alley is in SoHo, 210 Sixth Avenue.

You can catch snippets of In the Weeds on their website at intheweedstheseries.com.