Tecla

A woman with short hair and tattoos on her arm standing behind a bar counter, holding a bottle of wine, in a cozy kitchen or bar area with glasses and jars on the counter and shelves of dishes and cups in the background.

Tecla Esposito is the founder of Heaven & Earth, a natural wine bar in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where she is also the head chef, wine buyer, and interior designer.

Born and raised in Hell's Kitchen, New York, Tecla grew up between the rhythms of a Haitian-Italian household and the energy of midtown Manhattan, an upbringing that informs the way she cooks, the wines she pours, and the kind of room she wanted to build. Heaven & Earth, which opened on Nassau Avenue in 2024, is the result: a small, considered space where the food, the wine, and the design all come from the same person and the same point of view.

The food menu draws from the dishes she grew up eating and the ones she's collected since, blending Italian technique, Haitian flavor, and a New Yorker's appetite for everything else. The wine list is built around natural producers Tecla has come to know personally over years of tasting, with a focus on bottles that feel alive rather than impressive. The room itself is warm, low-lit, and intentionally a little off-center, designed to feel less like a restaurant and more like the dining room of someone who really means it.

Food

Wine

Design

Woman standing on sidewalk wearing beige pants, a brown top, a striped vest, yellow coat draped over her shoulder, yellow sunglasses, jewelry, and beige boots, with buildings, trees, and parked cars in the background.
Person sitting at a table in a cafe, wearing sunglasses, drinking from a small red cup, dressed in a striped shirt and dark jacket, with a tattoo on her left arm. There is a vibrant yellow cushion on the seat near her and a framed poster on the wall behind her.

What I Do

In addition to running Heaven & Earth, Tecla consults with hospitality and lifestyle clients across a range of disciplines, including interior design and spatial concept development, food and beverage menu design, wine program curation, brand identity and positioning, and end-to-end consulting for new restaurant openings. She brings firsthand experience as an owner-operator, having built Heaven & Earth from concept to launch, and works with a small number of clients at a time.

Woman with short dark hair wearing sunglasses, a striped vest, jewelry, and carrying a yellow jacket outside.
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Approach

I'm interested in spaces, menus, and brands that feel like a person made them. The work I take on, whether it's a wine bar in Brooklyn or a consulting project for a client, comes from the same place: a belief that the best hospitality is specific, generous, and unmistakably someone's. I'd rather build one room that means something than ten that don't.