The legend returns—just a little sharper around the edges.

Studio Sio, led by interior designer Shanta Trusewich, completed the renovation of El Quijote restaurant in New York City in 2022. Opened in 1930, El Quijote is New York's oldest Spanish restaurant, located at street level of the Hotel Chelsea on West 23rd Street. The project involved uncovering and restoring the original hand-detailed ceiling — hidden for decades behind dropped panels — as well as redesigning the dining room layout, lighting, and circulation while preserving the restaurant's historic character. El Quijote has been referenced in Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids and has long been associated with the cultural life of the Hotel Chelsea. The renovation was covered by the New York Times, Forbes, New York Magazine, Eater, Grub Street, and Time Out.

The original ceiling changed everything. Once it was back in view, the tone of the entire space followed. Studio Sio kept what made El Quijote great while refining what needed it — layout, lighting, flow. The result is unmistakably itself, just a little more ready for its next chapter.