Donna Lennard

In 1994, when Donna Lennard co-opened a neighborhood enoteca off the Bowery in Manhattan, the process had a familiar ring. “Il Buco was a little independent film production in a lot of ways,” she says, recalling her early start as a filmmaker. “It’s like set design: How do you make a beautiful space for people to enjoy and be in community?” Three decades later, the salt-fired gambas still draw the regulars at the original location, which is joined by the nearby Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria and the home-goods shop Il Buco Vita. Farther afield, there are sister spots on Long Island and Ibiza. In an industry known for burnout, Lennard has found ways to keep cool. In the summertime at her East Hampton place, she takes near-daily dips in the ocean and rides her horse, Stallone—a veteran big jumper now treated to acupuncture sessions and leftover apple cores. “I’ve been looking for this carrot for days!” Lennard says, discovering a wilted relic at the bottom of her bag. “I think he’ll enjoy it anyway.” She’s in the business of nourishment because she lives it, whether she’s traveling with her 20-year-old son or popping downstairs (her New York apartment sits above Il Buco) for a cavolonero salad. As for her own kitchen? “Funny you should ask,” she says. “I have seven people coming for dinner tonight.”

What projects are you currently working on?

We opened a bakery with a wholesale bread program last summer out in Amagansett, which has been going really well. Now it’s mostly bread, and we’re going to make laminated dough pastries. We want to do some canning from our farmers out here and sell those products in Alimentari and out east at our market here. And we are working on a new project on Bond Street for Vita.

Where is your favorite place to spend time in nature?

I love to be near the water. I’m not a long-distance swimmer like my son, who can get in the water and just swim forever. I boof around in the waves. As long as I can get myself in and wet every day, I’m good. My street is like a spit of land that runs a mile and a quarter down to a beach. A lot of people go fishing and clamming there. It’s a very special location. The sun rises every morning in the window in my bedroom.

What is your favorite season?

I love Italy in the fall for the olive harvest. I haven’t been in a number of years, but I used to go religiously for the first press. We sell our olive oil at Alimentari and at Vita. A friend of ours makes it—we helped build the mill with him. It’s a beautiful tradition: all the old ladies and men out in the fields with their little wooden ladders, harvesting by hand and singing in the trees. It’s a folkloric kind of event that I decided to make a documentary about a million years ago, in the late ’90s.

What beauty or self-care ritual keeps you going?

I’m very, very simple. I like to be in nature—that’s where I’m happiest—and I am drawn to things that are natural. I play around with different products, but there are certain things that I always have around. Probably once a day I bathe my body in coconut oil, and I have a beautiful flax serum that my Qigong healer makes. I use a lot of different Ayurvedic scented oils.

What helps you get energized?

I’m a stout yogi, devoted for 20-plus years. I started in the early days of Il Buco, living in the city. I got tired of those high-impact classes at Crunch Fitness and was like, I’m going to try yoga. I just loved it. Sometimes I take Rodney [Yee]’s class in Sag Harbor at Yoga Shanti, and I do Sky Ting in the city when I’m around. But mostly, because the riding takes up so much time now, my yoga is more like my own private practice for 30 minutes every morning, just to get my body limbered up to get on the horse.

What favorite activity keeps you unplugged from the internet?

Definitely riding. Honestly, I am very connected to my phone. I don’t even want to know what hours it’s tracking me at right now. There’s always a call, whether it’s my assistant or my nephew or someone from one of the teams. With four restaurants and two stores, there’s usually something happening.

What is a good rule to live by?

Be true to yourself—all the time, every day. I think if you’re really true to yourself in everything that you do, then you remain authentic and you don’t go astray. Sometimes you falter, but you always have to come back to that center point. In the restaurant business there’s always some fire to put out, literally or figuratively, and you have to stay grounded. I also think relationships are based on being really honest and straightforward. I’m a very direct person and don’t like to pretend everything’s all right. I’ve tried to teach that to my son—that you need to express what’s going on, rather than letting it all bottle up and come out in some way that you’re not really happy about.

Who do you consider to be a beauty inspiration?

Catherine Deneuve, in the movie where she ends up being a prostitute. Belle de Jour.

What is your sun sign—moon and rising, too, if you want to share?

I’m a Taurus. Very earth-bound—I’m all about textures and feeling and nature. I’m a Leo rising, which makes sense since I have inadvertently drifted into the spotlight. It’s not my go-to, but having all these restaurants has kind of put me there, more than I would say is my natural affinity. But as a Leo I like to be around people. And I’m a Scorpio moon—water sign.