R5 Spreading the Love

Photography by John O’Donnell

First Leslie Lampert, a former editor at Ladies’ Home Journal, opened Ladle of Love in Mount Kisco featuring her sumptuous soups. This was followed in short order by Café of Love, a full-service restaurant, Love on the Run, a catering business, and, most recently, Tavern on the Green featuring Ladle of Love in Manhattan. In the midst of this love fest, she also downsized from her 4,000-square-foot house in Chappaqua to a 2,300-square-foot house in Katonah, to a 1,500-square-foot apartment at The Residences at Ritz-Carlton, Westchester in White Plains, where she managed to find places for her most beloved belongings.

An Open Book Since she was a food editor at LHJ, it was natural that friends would give Lampert cooking-related hostess gifts, and cookbook holders were popular—she has four of them. Her favorite is this wrought-iron model that firmly holds her books open and keeps her recipes in view.

Musical Memories Running to catch a train in Chappaqua, Lampert spied this enchanting music chair at a flea market in the station and snatched it up for about $100. When she had a pre-move tag sale, everyone made offers on the chair; it was not for sale.

It’s Got Legs Lampert picked up this console at Golden Oldies’ going-out-of-business sale. “I like to mix ornate with simple, old with new. I think it’s a chopped-up dining room table—whatever, it lends the room a little je ne sais quoi.”

Looking Pretty These mother-of-pearl binoculars belonged to Lampert’s mother. “She used them when she went to the theater. I keep them on my nightstand.”

Family History Lampert’s grandmother’s vintage pitchers help keep her attached to her roots. “I can picture them in my grandmother’s house—I like the continuity of having all these memories from the past.” The cloisonné vases were her mother’s. “I didn’t appreciate flourishes like these while I was growing up; now I love them as much as my mom did.”

Check Mates “My entire family plays chess, and I wanted a beautiful and substantial set,” Lampert says of the Egyptian-themed marble-and-brass beauty she found by Washington Square Park in New York. “I’ve lost a lot of games to my children on this.”

Major Props Lampert bought these Moroccan stacking chests back in the ’90s from a photo shoot that took place in her living room. “After the shoot, when they were taking all the props away, I said, ‘Wait! I want to keep these here.”

Venetian Accents Lampert found these linen napkins on a trip to Venice she took with her daughter Elizabeth to celebrate her 16th birthday. - Partner Content - Q&A Topic: Bone Grafting Faces of Westchester 2024