February 18, 2005

Meet the Forkers

TableArt Store

You slave over your dinner parties. So you should know by now how pathetic it is to serve roasted tarragon chicken and tomato-ricotta tart on dinky plastic plates.

Food, after all, isn’t the only component of a dinner — dishware (and flatware and stemware) should inspire conversation and compliments, too.

Thank goodness for TableArt, the brainchild of a finance exec and a lawyer who left corporate hell to go on a six-month global shopping spree and bring you the hottest new dishware store in L.A.

These two gentlemen (yes, the friends in this beautiful tale are boys) are no hacks. They’ve put together an inimitable collection of designs that have heretofore been impossible to find in L.A.: Georg Jensen flatware from Denmark, Nason & Moretti stemware from Italy, an impressive selection of European and custom table linens. The sensibility is classic but also irreverent (check out the African Dawn sterling dragon salt and pepper shakers from Zimbabwe), and the sundries (Murano vases, porcelain bird sculptures) don’t disappoint.

It’s the perfect beginning to a perfect evening.

Because good taste is about more than the food.

TableArt, 7977 Melrose Avenue, between Hayworth and Edinburgh Avenues, L.A. (323-653-8278 or tartontheweb.com).