Drinkology
For basic New York drinking guides, check out MurphGuide, MyOpenBar.com, Shecky’s, Thrillist, the New York on Tap drinking map, Club Planet, the New York magazine's top 50 bars, Forgotten NY’s oldest NYC bars, City Search, DrinkDeal.com and Real Beer.
Zagat '09 bar guide says NYC drinking less, cheaper
 Call it the trickle down theory of Wall Street’s hangover.
The Zagat 2009/10 New York City Nightlife guide hits shelves today, along with the rather expected news that people are going out less frequently, and when they do, they’re ordering less and staying on the cheaper side. A mere 16 percent of the 6,000-plus “local nighthawks” surveyed by Zagat said the weakening economy “hasn’t affected my nightlife habits.”
The survey pegs the Lower East Side, Meatpacking District and East Village as the city’s hottest nightlife neighborhoods. Yet the Meatpacking District, LES and Chelsea are also dinged as the most over-hyped nabes. the typical survey respondent drinks wine on the weekdays, mixed drinks on the weekends, ever-so-slightly prefers a DJ to live music and 44 percent of them “expect the best bars, clubs and lounges in NYC to have their own signature drinks.”
Among the trends spotted in the new guide is the favor for the underground (instead of the rooftops of ‘08.) “Underground” includes basement bars such as BEast, Chloe, Macao Trading Co., RDV, 675 Bar and Southside, as well as “secret bars” such as Cabin Down Below and Bleecker Heights Tavern.
The new guide rates 1,315 nightspots and is also available at ZAGAT.com and with ZAGAT TO GO™, Zagat’s mobile application for iPhone, BlackBerry and handhelds.
June 17, 2009 4:06 PM Comments (0)
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Eye candy: South Street Seaport Water Taxi Beach
The South Street Seaport Water Taxi Beach is indeed open for business at Pier 17 this summer.
More than 5,100 golf balls have been hit at the 9-hole mini golf course since the course opened on May 23, “and so far and NONE have ended up in the drink,” a spokeswoman for Harbor Experience Companies, which operates the beach.
Access to the beach itself is free during the days, though cover charges sometimes kick in at night if there’s live entertainment. In addition to the mini-golf, there is food and drink (including Brooklyn’s Sixpoint Ale on tap,) skeeball and ping-pong tables. (And if you enter by the old fish market, you’ll miss most of the touristy mess near the main entrance to the mall.)
The original Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City is also open for the season and the new Governors Island location is on track to open for the July 4th weekend.
Picture credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier: Water Taxi Beach approved for South Street SeaportNew Water Taxi Beach location: Governors Island
June 11, 2009 3:18 PM Comments (0)
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Do-it-yourself Obama date night: $515 + helicopter
 The First Couple’s trip to New York City this past Saturday for a “private” date night can be re-created for about $515, based on reports of where the Obamas wined, dined and saw a show.
If you want to arrive in Manhattan the way they did, you can take a helicopter from JFK Airport to the Downtown Heliport near Wall Street on US Helicopter. The price is $159 per-person one-way.
The Obamas dined at Blue Hill at 72 Washington Place. President Obama reportedly ordered the “Farmer’s Feast,” five-course tasting menu inspired by the week’s harvest. The price is usually $72, but the cost varies depending on the week’s ingredients.
He reportedly ordered the wine-pairing, but since that price varies as well, for comparison, use the price for a bottle of wine that another source said they ordered. The Hirsch Vineyard & Blue Hill, A Special Release 2007; Pinot Noir; Sonoma Coast, California is priced at $88 on the restaurant’s wine list.
If you want something akin to presidential-motorcade on standby, try a car service to cover the trip from the heliport to Greenwich Village for dinner and then to Times Square for your Broadway show. A two-hour luxury-class car booking is about $90.
Orchestra-level tickets to the Tony-nominated Lincoln Center production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” on Broadway are $96.50 each.
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June 1, 2009 11:43 AM Comments (1)
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Meatpacking District Design Week features freebies
 The Meatpacking District Design Week will be in full force this weekend, with free tours, panel discussions, cocktail parties and gallery exhibitions on display in the rapidly changing neighborhood.
Among the sights to see, the Diane von Furstenberg store will be showing the Renzo Piano Building Workshop-designed model for the planned Whitney Museum of American Art on Gansevoort Street.
Design Week headquarters is at the new Standard Hotel, where you can pick up an event guide from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sunday.
Related: Forgotten NY’s profile of the Meatpacking District
May 15, 2009 10:48 AM Comments (0)
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Prince Harry to visit NY, play polo on Governors Island
 England’s Prince Harry will make a formal trip to New York City later this month, to visit the World Trade Center site and play in a charity polo match on the opening day of Governors Island, the
BBC reports.
It will be the 24-year-old prince’s first visit to America since he was a child.
The Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic on May 30, which will have paid and free viewing areas, is a benefit exhibition match for the American Friends of Sentebale. Nacho Figueras, the captain of Black Watch, will also play, a spokesperson for the match previously told NewYorkology.
VIP benefit tickets range from $500 for an individual to $50,000 for a table of 10 in the royal enclosure. (Details in pdf format.)
This will be the second year in a row that a polo match will help kick off the summer season at Governors Island, which has only been open to the public since 2004. The island, located just off the southern tip of Manhattan, can be reached by a free ferry next to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. (It’s actually closer to Brooklyn, with the Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal extremely nearby, as the picture from October 2008 shows.) This year Governors Island will get its own Water Taxi Beach (opening the Fourth of July weekend) as well as new picnic grounds on the newly opened south side of the island.
During the royal visit, Prince Harry will also visit a Veterans Affairs medical center in Manhattan, the Sept. 11 tribute at the British Garden at Hanover Square, and the Harlem Children’s Zone with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, according to BBC and People magazine.
(Thanks to Meryl Cooper and LaForce+Stevens on Twitter for the BBC tip.)
Picture credits: Top Veuve Clicquot; QM2 as seen from Governors Island, Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier: Polo returning to Governors Island on Opening Day
Governors Island plans: more biking, art and cabanas
May 13, 2009 8:07 AM Comments (0)
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Hotel news: Ritz closes Rise bar to public; wi-fi survey
The Rise bar with excellent views of the harbor and Statue of Liberty at the Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park has closed to the public and will only be available for private events, Crain’s business newspaper reports in a story about high-end hotels cutting back on luxury.
Rise, which also hosts the chocolate feast in February, features a wraparound outdoor deck with one of the best views downtown, (pictured.)
In the same story, Crain’s notes that Waldorf Astoria Towers has cut back the hours of its 26th-floor Astoria Lounge, which offered everything from free breakfast to complimentary cocktails throughout the day.
Elsewhere, see Hotel Chatter’s hotel wi-fi report for ‘09.
See the New York Times for a picture of the new Andy Warhol pool at the Thompson LES.
Walking Off the Big Apple learns that the rooms in the Tribeca Grand feature white-noise controls to screen out the sound of the city. But if you’re a New Yorker, you probably already know white noise will have the opposite effect on your city ears.
The Conde Nast Traveler Hot List for 2009 features plugs for Thompson LES and the Greenwich Hotel.
The New Yorker Hotel has launched a monthly ballroom dancing and dinner program.
Picture credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
May 6, 2009 3:21 PM Comments (0)
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Museums open late in NYC for spring/summer 2009
Many museums stay open late at least one night a week, often in conjunction with free admission hours or live music and cocktails.
Here are the museums with late-closing hours listed by day of the week:
Mondays
New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex at Grand Central Terminal - 8 p.m. (always free)
Starting May 12: Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame Annex - 10 p.m., with last admission at 9 p.m. ($24.50)
Tuesdays
Society of Illustrators - 8 p.m. (always free)
New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex at Grand Central Terminal - 8 p.m. (always free)
China Institute Gallery - 8 p.m. (free 6-8 p.m.)
Starting May 12: Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame Annex - 10 p.m., with last admission at 9 p.m. ($24.50)
Wednesdays
Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art - 7 p.m. ($10)
Museum of Jewish Heritage - 8 p.m. ($12)
New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex at Grand Central Terminal - 8 p.m. (always free)
Gallery at the Science, Industry and Business Library - 8 p.m. (always free)
Starting May 12: Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame Annex - 10 p.m., with last admission at 9 p.m. ($24.50)
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April 30, 2009 11:14 AM Comments (0)
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Roxy Paine's 'Maelstrom' opens on Met roof for summer
Weighing in at over 7 tons, Roxy Paine’s sprawling, site-specific sculpture “Maelstrom” opens to the public Tuesday on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 Paine — whose work will be familiar to New Yorkers who saw his Conjoined, Defunct and Erratic trees in Madison Square Park in 2007 — becomes the twelfth consecutive single-artist to get the roof for a summer. Past installations include Jeff Koon’s balloons, “Frank Stella on the Roof” and Sol LeWitt’s “Splotches, Whirls and Twirls.”
This year’s “Maelstrom” is the largest sculpture ever installed on the museum’s roof. Made of stainless steel, it measures 130-feet long and 45 feet wide. It’s spindles out tree-like in all directions, sure to trip up art goers, especially during martini bar nights, which will resume Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30 to 8 p.m. (The roof garden cafe will also be open 10 a.m. until closing serving, sandwiches, desserts, soft drinks, espresso, wine and beer.)
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April 27, 2009 3:14 PM Comments (0)
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West Branch, Ko, Abraco on Time Out's best-of lists
 Time Out’s annual Eat Out awards of the best restaurants and bars in the city gives props to spots such as Vinegar Hill House, (best addition to an underserved ‘hood,) Clover Club (best new cocktail lounge,) and 5 Napkin Burger 9best new burger.)
But in fairness, even Time Out casts doubt on the public voting, noting that the Oak Room at The Plaza got a nod despite the fact that the chef departed earlier this year, and wondering “how many voters have actually scored seats” at best new restaurant Momofuku Ko.
Critics choice winners include:
West Branch - best crowd-pleaser
Char No. 4 - best reason to declare your love for BBQ and bourbon
Abraco - best cult coffee
Simon Sips - best dining on a budget
Baoguette - best new banh mi
Earlier: Time Out ballot narrows list of best food, drinks for ‘09
April 19, 2009 3:37 PM Comments (0)
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Red Hook weekend: Tini's move, Anselmo's oven test
Out in Red Hook, LeNell’s, once New York’s best liquor store lost her lease, and now her old next door neighbor is getting the boot, too.
Tini Wine bar confirmed in an e-mail this morning that it fell victim to “greedy landlord syndrome” and will move to another location this Sunday.
They’ll move to its sister location, home/made , just down the street at 293 Van Brunt St.
The ladies at Tini are not going quietly, as they are “taking a page from our Amish friends and having an old fashioned “bar(n) raising.” They’ll be parading the bar, furniture, and a Red Hook mermaid down the street starting at noon on Sunday.
Tini’s last day in business at 414 Van Brunt St. will be this Saturday. home/made will reopen two weeks later.
Other changes are afoot in Red Hook. The coal-oven pizza place Anselmo’s hopes to start testing its ovens this Friday, according to the website.
 And one block over, the Botanica bar has started serving food — small Italian plates of meat and cheese served with ciabatta and tapas as well as coffee and espresso drinks — and has just hired a chef with an eye toward offering a full menu later this spring, Marshall Hansen of Botanica told NewYorkology.
Elsewhere, see Gothamist for a rundown of other bars and restaurants hoping to open soon in Red Hook.
Update: The New York Times covered the parade/move, and offers details about the lease dispute at Tini’s:The bar owners’ departure was fractious: Ms. Swenson and Ms. Byrne had a sublease, and their landlord, Liz Larie, said in a phone interview that they owed the leaseholder around $18,000 for improvements the leaseholder had previously made, a claim Ms. Swenson and Ms. Byrne denied.
Picture credits: Lenell’s and Tini in May 2008; Botanica’s botanicals. Both Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Earlier: Red Hook ‘08 guide, the Here-Comes-Ikea edition
March 24, 2009 11:33 AM Comments (0)
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