A version of this post originally appeared in Eater Today, which spotlights the freshest news and stories from across the food world every day. Subscribe now.
It’s in the bathroom at Smithereens, and it’s in rotation at Cervo’s, Eel Bar, Hart’s, and the Fly. It’s at June Wine Bar and Rhodora. I knew Schmuck smelled familiar — and then, yep, there it was. I swear I’ve sniffed it at Tatiana, though my email asking for confirmation went unanswered. An Eater colleague clocked it at Elsa, and immediately bought one of her own (and then received another as a Christmas gift).
Sophisticated but not overwhelming, recognizably branded but not flashy, it’s the Wood Cabin candle from Keap, and in New York City restaurants, it’s become a modern classic as far as bathroom candles go.
Both Nick Tamburo of Smithereens and Moe Aljaff of Schmuck wanted Wood Cabin after smelling it at other restaurants. For Aljaff, that was, specifically, Cervo’s, he said in an email: “I remember walking into their bathroom and thinking it smelled unusually good, which is not a thought you normally have in a restaurant bathroom.” With notes of cedar, palo santo, and fireside embers, it offers a “romantic, transportive quality” that pairs well the “the small, cloistered, and intimate rooms” of his subterranean restaurant, according to Tamburo.
Wood Cabin, which was launched in 2015, is Keap’s most popular scent. The owners of June Wine Bar have been fans of the company since its days as a small, Brooklyn-founded brand (it’s now based in the Hudson Valley town of Kingston) and have used the candle since June opened. It’s the first restaurant where Keap owner Harry Doull smelled his candles in the wild.
“Our work with restaurants started organically and that’s still the case for the most part,” wrote Doull in an email. Hospitality clients, including restaurants, make up just shy of 10 percent of the company’s sales, though for some businesses “we offer bulk pricing and have developed ways to be better partners over time,” he explained. Doull, who grew up in a restaurant family, thinks the places that use Keap tend to share similar values around hospitality, artisanal production, and sustainability; restaurants can send back their empty glass vessels for Keap to reuse.
In NYC, there’s a referential quality to stocking your bathroom with a candle as commonplace as Wood Cabin; for some people, that’s actually part of the draw. “I’m skeptical of originality,” Aljaff wrote. “Most places that claim to be original are usually just louder about it. What we do is create a room made by what we’ve been inspired by and various details we like — from restaurants, bars, films, music, art, conversations, bathrooms — and put them together in a way that feels coherent.”
Keap calls its candles “natural luxury.” At $54.50 for a single candle, that luxury is a little easier to stomach than even bougier options like, say, Le Labo or Diptyque — especially when, as June continues to experience, diners still occasionally steal the candle.
If woody’s not your thing, here’s some candle inspiration from other NYC restaurants:
- Take some notes from the bathroom at the chic new wine bar Stars with its Le Feau de L’eau’s Violet candle, which has notes of pink grapefruit, tobacco leaves, and white pepper.
- Burger destination Red Hook Tavern burns Trudon’s Abd El Kader, inspired by Moroccan mint tea.
- Remind yourself of the now-closed Olmsted with the goth-y Apotheke Charcoal candle.
- Or, evoke Tokyo after dark: Takamichi’s Daidō is the go-to at seafood spot Penny.
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