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The first round of name your favorite New York and L.A. restaurants began with a mix of the usual, and some unusual, suspects. We had a mutual swoon over Gjelina, a benchmark for farm-to-table hipster food in Venice. Then Paltrow went on a seamless bi-coastal riff: “Daruma-Ya, in TriBeCa, you will faint . . . it’s all Japanese people and you; the original Katsu-Ya in the Valley, just the original one; Sushi Park, the greatest fucking sushi in the world. . . .And you know what else I love, this place Marvin on Beverly.”
But she really had me at Reddi Chick, the 36-year-old institution in the Brentwood Country Mart, with an ode to the inexplicable superiority of its rotisserie chicken and fries served in a red plastic basket for $10.99. (Reddi Chick, for the record, is in fact sublime; a few native Angelinos like me dream about it years after we’ve settled in other cities.) That the poultry is dubiously sourced and the fries napalmed with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt might seem off brand from the woman who “would rather die than give my kids Cup O’ Noodles.” Until you realize she is an equal opportunity arbiter of good taste—a trait that requires a kind of devil-be-damned confidence which, coming from a tall, thin, multi-talented movie star who actually knows her food, tends to inspire haters.
And also a lot of Twitter followers—some 2.21 million and counting. “I think the more you stay true to your world, the more people buy into it,” she says of Goop, the lifestyle brand she started in 2008. Paltrow accepts the paradox that the very uncompromising point of view which routinely roils the social media sphere is the very same one most people, once they actually go to the site, embrace for its anti-Yelp narrowing of the universe. Less celebrated perhaps is her ability to straddle the rarefied and the accessible, the .001-percent and the practical, the vaginal steam and the humble Sunday night meatball dinner—arguably the secret sauce behind a company that in seven short years has grown very organically from coveted insider’s newsletter to grande-dame influencer and e-commerce marketplace.
At the core of her budding empire is a noblesse oblige evangelism that seems at odds with its oft-critiqued, tone-deaf elitism. “The overriding idea of the site is, how can we make good choices,” she says, taking my phone to help me download the updated QuickVoicePro recording app. “First of all, you never put anything on [the site] that you don’t want in your house, or that you don’t understand, or that isn’t part of the story.”
The Goop story is only getting longer and more legitimate. The appointment earlier this year of CEO Lisa Gersh, formerly CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, means more proprietary lines and partnerships with like-minded brands such as Juice Beauty, and expansion into the contextual commerce space across food, fashion, wellness, beauty, home, and travel (the brand has compiled a four-city guide—for L.A., New York, London, and Paris—with plans to add Chicago to the list). With the recent completion of a $10 million Series A round led by New Enterprise Associates, Goop has transitioned from a kitchen-table labor of love to a full-time business with 25 employees and a 62 percent revenue increase year over year. “Taking VC funding is the first step—committing to an investor is different from just committing to yourself,” says Gersh.
But if the next launch is any indication, Goop will always lead with its heart, or in this case, its gut. “I’m dying for a food truck— it’s my dream,” says Paltrow, who plans to man it at least in the beginning. “[Lisa’s] like, ‘I love that idea,’ so we’re working on that.”
Styled by Brandon Maxwell; Makeup by Dick Page; Hair by Didier Malige; Nails by Gina Viviano; Cherry Earrings (New York Vintage, N.Y.C.); Coke T-Shirt (Screaming Mimi's Vintage Fashion, N.Y.C.); Frame Denim Le Flare De Francoise in Queen Street (Intermix, $240)
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