Artist André Saraiva Adds Breakfast to His Portfolio

Photo André Saraiva, the club owner, at Café Henrie on Forsyth Street. Credit Danny Ghitis for The New York Times

André Saraiva, the rakish graffiti artist and international club owner, has historically focused his ambitions at entertaining between dusk and dawn. For his next trick, he's taking aim at a new frontier: breakfast.

Next week, Mr. Saraiva, 44, whose night life domain includes Le Baron clubs in Paris and Shanghai (the New York branch is currently closed), is opening Café Henrie on Forsyth Street, a daylight haunt a stone's throw from his apartment and studio in Manhattan's Chinatown.

Le Monde will be delivered there, and there will be coffee (by Counte r Culture) and tea (by his friend Waris Ahluwalia, the actor, jeweler and tea purveyor). The ceramic cups are custom-made by the American Memphis artist Peter Shire, and furniture is by Prouvé from Mr. Saraiva's own personal décor. ("I'm missing them at my apartment," he said.)

Still, old habits die hard. The cafe does not have a liquor license — requisite, or nearly so, to become an after-hours destination — but Mr. Saraiva does not see it as a mere coffeehouse.

"It's a cafe, but it's almost an art project," he said. And while Mr. Saraiva's art ranges from streetside graffiti to the 32-by-820-foot mo saic he is creating for MUDE, the Museu do Design e da Moda in Lisbon, his major medium may be bringing people together.

His list of friends is long. The artist Tom Sachs designed a bench for the cafe, modeled on the Prouvé benches but constructed out of a police barricade. Another artist, Petra Collins, created the neon Henrie sign that glows mauve above the door. (The name Henrie is a tribute to Henrietta, Mr. Saraiva's 5½-year-old daughter with the electronic musician Uffie.)

Olivier Zahm, the editor of Purple Fashion magazine, is curating a mini-exhibition for the opening of the space, celebrating the history of Purple Fashion's supplement, the Purple Book. (Mr. Saraiva once appeared on the cover of Purple Fashion with his leather pants hiked down to a precarious low.)

"That's part of his talent: He really knows how to bring people together," Mr. Zahm said. "It's not the place for a show. I said to André, it's a place for people to meet."

Mr. Saraiva is not overly concerned about planning events for the space. He described his publicity strategy as follows: "A little Instagram, and boom." But he did mention that it was likely attendees would drift over after Mr. Zahm's Purple dinner during New York Fashion Week on Sunday.

Photo Marquis Hayes, a chef at André Saraiva's Café Henrie on Forsyth Street. Credit Danny Ghitis for The New York Times

As the fashion crowd makes inroads into Chinatown (see, for example, its current favorite bar, Mr. Fong's), Café Henrie, with its pegboard walls and '50s-style counter stools, looks well positioned to be its refueling station. Its menu inclines toward brunch fare (served until 7 p.m.) and leans on fashion-world staples like avocado toast, smoothies and juices, reinterpreted by its chef, Marquis Hayes, a Bronx-born self-described former drug dealer who turned to cooking.

"I went from crack to croquettes," said Mr. Hayes, recounting what he told Mr. Saraiva when they met. "He said, 'O.K., you're perfect.' "

< p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="383" data-total-count="3474" itemprop="articleBody">Those who are nostalgic for the after-hours André need not fear: Mr. Saraiva, perhaps unable to help himself, is once again hosting his Chez André party during New York Fashion Week. Mr. Saraiva and his Chez André co-host, André Balazs, are setting up in subMercer, the subterranean, only-occasionally-open space under Mr. Balazs's Mercer Hotel for four invitation-only nights.

Mr. Balazs has not yet seen Café Henrie but said "it sounds perfectly André."

"I think he has a very well-rounded view of life and its various pleasures," Mr . Balazs added.

Including those enjoyed in broad daylight?

"You can attribute all kinds of things to him," Mr. Balazs said, "but having spent quite a bit of time with him, he's not just the night owl you might assume he is, by any stretch."