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High in the Sky: Empire Hotel's rooftop cocktail bar
NewYorkology contributor Vidiot commits journalism by night, edits Cocktailians and explores NYC by day. He’s especially interested in the infrastructure, transit, architectural wonders, drinking establishments, and hidden corners of the greatest city in the world.
Rooftop bars are the new black in New York drinking, and another relatively new offering is the Jeffrey Chodorow-backed Empire Hotel Rooftop, which opened in early June.
 When NewYorkology visited on a recent Thursday evening, the place was hopping. The line stretched through the lobby, behind a velvet rope, and out to the sidewalk. I waited for eight minutes (but my friend who joined me arrived about twenty minutes after I did and wound up waiting for half an hour) and watched some VIPs being waved right to the front of the line. After a cramped elevator ride up to the 12th floor, we arrived in a spacious room filled with a stylish crowd.
A large bar anchored the room, with two big terraces leading off to the sides. One terrace is the designated smokers’ section, while the other offers more seating, huge potted ferns, a retractable roof, and another bar. Loud-ish, well-chosen R&B enhanced the after-work party atmosphere, and “Reserved” signs rested atop every table and banquette.
Despite the crowd, I was served very quickly at the bar. Bartender Anthony told me the most popular drink is the Black Cherry Cosmopolitan, but I opted for the Cucu Cocktail: Patron Anejo, Cointreau, cucumber, cilantro, and fresh lime juice. It was a well-balanced drink, spiky in that good-tequila kind of way. (Mojitos and vodka drinks also seemed very popular, such as the “Empiretini”: Bombay Sapphire and pomegranate juice) and all the cocktails on the menu were made with premium liquors such as Belvedere, Grey Goose, and Glenfiddich. Cocktails were $15 and $16, beers (Bud Light, Heineken, Corona) were $8, and Champagne was $14 and $21, depending on the brand. Food is available as well for $14 to $18, and skewed toward the decadent: the now-standard Kobe beef sliders, a foie gras PB&J, deviled eggs, a lobster roll.
The oh-so-fabulous crowd seemed more intent on drinking (and being seen) than eating, however. The manager of the bar told me that many celebrity events and private parties are held there — he mentioned Will Smith and P. Diddy — and said that sometimes the rooftop is open to the public during these events. The crowd is a young-ish one, most in their 20s or early 30s, with a few outliers. The manager said that they don’t get too many tourists, and are aiming for a “more refined clientele.”
You can get into the inner sanctum — the upper level of the rooftop, with a plunge pool and private bar — only if you book a room at the Empire; it’s reserved for hotel guests.
The Empire Rooftop
12th floor of 44 W. 63rd St., map
(212) 956-3313
Picture credits: Vidiot.
Earlier: High in the Sky cocktails at Roosevelt Hotel’s mad46
High in the Sky at Peninsula hotel’s new Salon de Ning
August 27, 2008 1:21 PM Comments (0)
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W Hotel Fashion Week tickets: Reese, Azria, Tibi, Léger
 W Hotel’s Fashion Week packages have hit the Internet and once again they come with a pair of reserved-seat invitations to a catwalk show inside the tents.
Packages are still available to the following shows: Perry Ellis, Lacoste, Tracy Reese, Harvé Léger by Max Azria, Tibi and Custo Barcelona. Already gone: Miss Sixty, Diesel Black Gold,
Nanette Lepore and Rock & Republic.
The price is $899 and that gets you a suite for the night at the W Hotel at 541 Lexington Ave., map, two cocktails at the hotel’s Living Room, two seats at your fashion show plus passes to the backstage lounge with 2 VIP backstage tours, Bliss’s Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Mask and 3 p.m. late check-out at the hotel.
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week runs from September 5 though 12 and is technically not open to the public.
Image source: Tracy Reese’s earlier collection at Fashion Week
August 19, 2008 6:20 PM Comments (0)
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Hotel news: openings, deals, and avg room now $350
NYC hotel occupancy is around 90 percent, with an average room rate of $350 a night, the Sun reports. Those figures, released by NYC & Co. the city’s official tourism arm, are from May, the most recent data available. According to NYC & Co’s archived statistics, the average hotel rate in NYC from 2000 to 2006 stayed between $198 and $267.
NYC is also the most expensive North American city for business travelers at $358.98 per night, according to the study by travel services company Hogg Robinson Group.
 GoogleMapsMania directs your attention to, deep breath … HotelMapSearch. (Yes, that’s a screengrab for Midtown at left.)
The $99 standard-cabin rooms at the Jane Hotel could be open for business as early as Monday, according to the hotel’s reservationist. See HotelChatter for a two-part sneak peak inside the hotel’s transformation from the less-posh Riverview.
Cooper Square Hotel still pledges it will open in “summer 2008.” Its Expedia profile promises free wi-fi, guestrooms with chrome and natural elements, custom furniture by Antonio Citterio, MP3 docking stations, 400-thread-count Italian Anichini-brand linens, down comforters, bathrooms with Italian glass mosaics. And this:Minibars include an array of items, from snacks to jewelry, from custom make-up kits to saucier offerings by Kiki De Montparnasse. Libraries offer selections of fiction and nonfiction, food, design, and erotica. Guestrooms include three types of bathrobes: yukata robes, silk, and terrycloth.
And wow, this is a rarity: Morgans New York, which closed for renovations in May with plans to reopen Sept. 16 — looks like it’s on track to reopen earlier than planned. The website’s currently taking reservations for August 28 from $329. (When last checked in June, it was still September 16 with rooms from $599.) Although most NYC hotels miss their planned opening dates by a mile, Morgan’s sister property Royalton indeed re-opened on time after renovations a year ago.
Hype-heavy Thompson Lower East Side is now open with rooms from $259. Full coverage from Curbed and HotelChatter, including a critical review of the $195 sex kit in the minibar.
Four Points by Sheraton plans to open its “SoHo Village” location at 66 Charlton Street on August 31, according to the hotel website. Four Points also has a Times Square/40th Street location scheduled to open February 28.
The 899-room Palace Hotel is scheduled for a grand renovation over the next three years now that it’s under the operation of the Dorchester Collection, which also runs the Dorchester in London and The Beverly Hills Hotel, according to Hotel News Resource. It’s slated for a total redesign of the public areas and guest rooms.
The Hilton Garden Inn Tribeca, at 6 York Street, is now targeting an October debut.
 Vikram Chatwal’s upcoming Lamb’s Club Hotel has opted to change its name to The Chatwal, according to HotelChatter. And judging by the way it looked last week, it’s a good bet it won’t be opening anytime soon. (Pictured at right.)
Newsweek reports that the soon-to-open Shibui Spa in the Greenwich Hotel will feature a “250-year-old wood and bamboo farmhouse roof meticulously reconstructed in the hotel.”
The Duane St. Hotel finally got a liquor license for its ‘beca restaurant as long as it closes at midnight, according to the Downtown Express.
Hotelchatter points out that the Buckingham is offering a 50 percent discount on its Martinelli Penthouse through August. Now only $1,800/night.
The Hotel Pennsylvania has a portion of its original 1919 blueprints online (in pdf.)
The Urbanite looks back at the New Yorker’s flashy deco past.
The Post noted that “the bar” made famous in the canoodling story of would-be-president John Edwards is in the Loews Regency on Park Avenue.
Yet more changes in store for the Chelsea Hotel.
The Allerton in Chelsea, which has been closed for a gut renovation into an unnamed boutique hotel - now has a name, according to Curbed. It will be a Clarion-branded Gem.
Downtown, work has started on the new 35-story McSam high rise at 99 Washington Street.
August 13, 2008 9:45 AM Comments (1)
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Help, I'm too rich and don't know what to do with my $
 In case the Ritz Carlton Battery Park’s $40,000 suite package — with a a helicopter ride and a personalized fireworks show — is just a little too over the top for your tastes, there are plenty of other high-end hotel packages in New York City to consider.
The Trump International hotel packages include a Jean-Georges Vongerichten culinary master course priced at $8,999 per couple.
You’ll get a a private, two-hour cooking demonstration with Chef Jean-Georges in his namesake three-starred Michelin restaurant in the hotel; three nights in an executive park view suite; a three-course dinner for two at Jean-Georges with a bottle of Champagne; breakfast for two daily at Nougatine; and a signed copy of Chef Jean-Georges’ new book, “Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges.”
The St. Regis offers high-end culinary packages as well.
For $2,010 the St. Regis will offer up the Executive Chef of Adour Alain Ducasse to lead a shopping tour of the Union Square Green Market. No kitchen tour here, but the chef will use the selected ingredients from Union Square to fix your five-course Adour Tasting Menu (served with a wine pairing.) The package also comes with two night’s deluxe accommodations, transportation to Union Square in the hotel’s Bentley; breakfast for two on Saturday; and free valet parking.
For a mere $1,400, the St. Regis can hook you up with a hotel package that includes butler service for your Central Park picnic. In your picnic box: chilled Maine lobster, Filet Mignon sandwiches and watercress salad with a black truffle emulsion. Of course you’ll get to and from the park via the hotel’s Bentley. The hotel package also comes with a deluxe guestroom and breakfast for two.
Downtown, the Hotel Gansevoort’s “High Roller” package clocks in at $5,500 per night per couple. Aiming for its own little sin city in the Meat Packing District, the hotel offers a private midnight dip in the rooftop pool; an excursion on a 50-foot, two-bedroom private yacht or one-day use of a Lamborghini Gallardo Roadster or Aston Martin Vantage; a night in the duplex penthouse; spa time at Gansevoort Spa & Lounge for a 30-minute facial, 30-minute massage, and manicure/pedicure; a bottle of Dom Perignon and chocolate strawberries upon arrival; fresh flowers; two monogrammed bathrobes; continental breakfast at Ono restaurant; airport transfers and hangover tonic.
And in case all that excess indulgence leaves you feeling dirty, head to the Mandarin Oriental for the $6,750 Healthy Cleansing Weekend package includes, which includes a Central Park suite, a two-day, all-day Blueprint Cleanse and two “Signature Two-Hour Time Rituals™ in The Spa to detoxify, relax and restore.”
Image source: St. Regis
Earlier: Circle Line launching a $50,000 NYC Waterfalls tour
August 11, 2008 11:13 AM Comments (0)
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High in the Sky cocktails at Roosevelt Hotel's mad46
NewYorkology contributor Vidiot commits journalism by night, edits Cocktailians and explores NYC by day. He’s especially interested in the infrastructure, transit, architectural wonders, drinking establishments, and hidden corners of the greatest city in the world.
 The venerable Roosevelt Hotel recently joined the rooftop-bar brigade when it opened mad46 on its 19th-floor terrace. Cleverly named after the intersection nearest the hotel’s back entrance, mad46 opened in June and appeared very popular when NewYorkology visited this Tuesday evening.
You’re met at the curb by one of the lounge’s team of security people, who sport black T-shirts and radio earpieces. They will direct you through a side door, through a spiffed-up service corridor, and to a dedicated elevator to the roof. (The visit began a little standoffishly: I saw one security person bark at some patrons who attempted to follow another group down the corridor, and another security person closed the elevator door in my face.)
But once I arrived at the roof, I took in the spectacular views of the New York Central (Helmsley) and MetLife (Pan Am) Buildings, and the clock atop 444 Madison Avenue reminded me that it was cocktail hour.
The stylish after-work crowd was out in force on the long, narrow terrace when I visited, and the bar’s “Tiki Tuesday” promotion (which they’re running through the end of August) featured Clément rums and liqueurs. Bartender Tristan made me a very fine Mai Tai — the original recipe, sans all the pineapple-guava-passion fruit nonsense that often gets shoveled into rum-based drinks — and life was good.
 The bar frequently teams up with brewers and spirits companies for themed events, such as “Mojito Monday”, which showcases various flavored Mojitos. Bartender Christina told me that the Mojito is the bar’s most-ordered libation, and the St. Germain (Champagne, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, club soda), Daiquiris, Margaritas, and good old beer seemed quite popular as well.
The bar menu (in pdf) also offers bottle service and a wide array of specialty cocktails and martini variations. Some limited food offerings are available, such as cheese plates, shrimp cocktail, and crudités, and are priced from $12-$18. Cocktails are $12, and beers are $8-$10.
mad46 is on the 19th-floor rooftop terrace of the Roosevelt Hotel. Enter at the hotel’s back entrance on 46th Street at Madison Avenue, map.
Picture credits: Vidiot.
Earlier: High in the Sky at Peninsula hotel’s new Salon de Ning
High in the Sky: a Times Square 360 at The View
August 6, 2008 12:04 PM Comments (0)
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Brooklyn's Nu hotel opens with $199 rooms thru August
 The Nu Hotel is all about Brooklyn.
The decor is mainly from local artists, its hole-rusted address sign, “85” was formerly at the Brooklyn Brewery, quotations from Spike Lee, Henry Miller and Betty Smith cover the walls, and the do-not-disturb signs warn “Don’t Even Think About It.”
The giant YES letters in the lobby are remnants from Brooklyn’s Bayside Fuel Oil Depot Corp., Bertrand Nelson, the Nu’s general manager (and a New York native,) told NewYorkology during a tour of the property this week.
Nelson said the hotel’s designer, Guillermo Garita of Datumzero, intentionally went looking for items that said Brooklyn. It’s still a “work in progress” Nelson sad, as the Basquiat prints will soon be joined by work of more Brooklyn artists he hopes to rotate through the lobby. A glass case at reception will include some of the not-too-touristy T-shirts crafted by Brooklyn Industries, which has a location diagonally across the intersection from the hotel at Atlantic and Smith.
In its soft opening since July 7, the Nu has already been selling out its 60 rooms, with a full offering of 93 planned to open by the third week of August, Nelson said. All rooms at the boutique hotel are priced at $199/night until August 31, when rates for some will climb into the $300-and up range.
Six of the 93 rooms will be suites, including three urban suites (with a king bed and hammock in each,) and the friends suite (with a queen and a bunk bed in each.) The urban suites will have the only three hammocks in the hotel.
Nu’s lobby has free wi-fi, (which is also free in all the rooms,) a book nook filled with non-guidebook Brooklyn-type tomes (including on interior design and subway tile art.) The lobby will also be home to the NuBar, which just received its liquor license and will open in a week or two, offering light fare along the lines of charcuterie plates, oysters and chocolates to pair with champagne. The bar itself is actually just the side of the lobby, offering picture-window views of Smith Street and the Brooklyn House of Detention.
What? Oh yes. The Brooklyn House of Detention is directly across the street.
Read the rest of this entry
July 25, 2008 9:54 AM Comments (0)
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New NYC hotels, deals: Jane, Grace, and third-night free
Trying to clear the decks here before the holiday, so here’s a few quick hits on the hotel news front:
The Jane Hotel opens next week in the West Village with room “just under $100 a night,” according to the New York Times.
Hotel QT - the “it” hotel of 2005 when it opened off Times Square with rooms from $99, has been sold and changed its name to Hotel Grace, HotelChatter.com reports.
NYC & Co. has revived the third-night free hotel deal for the summer, offering just what the name implies at The New York Palace Hotel, Hotel Plaza Athénée New York; Jumeirah Essex House; Loews Regency Hotel; The London NYC; The Plaza; The Sherry-Netherland Hotel; The St. Regis Hotel, New York; Trump International Hotel & Tower; and the Waldorf Towers.
The Premier Hotel, (formerly The Premier at Millennium Broadway,) said it has re-launched and now has a Women Travelers Floor.
July 3, 2008 1:52 PM Comments (0)
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NYC hotel deals, openings, construction and wi-fi
HotelChatter flags a great booking bargain: Quikbook has quality NYC hotels for under $200.
Tablet Hotels current NYC offers include 6 Columbus from $255, Bryant Park Hotel from $289 and SoHo House from $525.
 The Standard, "coming soonish" offers lovely eye candy courtesy its webcam (right.)
Thompson LES hopes to open July 22, according to HotelChatter.com.
Morgans plans to reopen September 16 after renovations with rooms from $599, according to the hotel's website.
There are five potential new hotels on tap for the Gowanus Canal neighborhood already home to Hotel Le Bleu, the Holiday Inn Express and the Comfort Inn, according to the Brooklyn Paper.
Bloomberg quotes a Lodging Econometrics report that says 55 hotels are in the works for Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and New Jersey's Hudson County.
A Smith Travel Research study found that 91 percent of hotels surveyed now offer wi-fi and that only 15 percent of them are charging for Internet access, the Associated Press reports. bad news for the rich: "charges for Internet access were most common at more expensive properties."
You can get a $30 TV dinner at the Loews Regency Hotel, according to the New York Times.
The NYC City Council wants to bump up the hotel tax to 8 percent, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg says no. "International tourism is down throughout our country something like 17 percent. It is up 9 percent in New York. Killing the golden goose is not a smart thing to do," he's quoted in the NY Sun.
June 24, 2008 2:22 PM Comments (0)
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Free NYC Waterfalls cruises on Circle Line Downtown
Circle Line Downtown, which will be operating the "official" cruises of the artist Olafur Eliasson's NYC Waterfalls once they officially start running Thursday, will be offering a limted number of free tickets on most of its 30-minute cruises this summer.
"In the spirit of public art, Circle Line Downtown and the Public Art Fund are making these tickets available so that everyone has an opportunity to experience the Waterfalls," a Circle Line spoksewoman told NewYorkology via e-mail today.
The free tickets will be available on all of the 30-minute cruises on board Circle Line's Zephyr and Patriot boats through the duration of the exhibition (October 13.) The regular price for the 30-minute waterfalls cruises are $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and $5 for children. The free offer's not good on the company's Shark speedboat, or waterfalls cruises of longer durations.
Free tickets are first come, first serve and you can only get the tickets by calling (866) 925-4631. One order per household. They're accepting orders now.
Also note the freebie offer is only for Circle Line downtown, which is not the same company as Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises (or Circle Line/Circle Line Uptown/Circle Line 42nd Street, as they are sometimes called.) Circle Line Sightesing, however, is among the other companies offering waterfalls cruises, along with the NY Water Taxi and on the yacht Manhattan.
See the Tropolism blog for the latest renderings of the pop-up park that will open near the Brooklyn Bridge to allow for great waterfalls views.
And here's two more NYC Waterfalls hotel packages:
The Carlyle waterfall package inlcudes buffet breakfast, a one-hour cruise and cover charge and signature cocktails at Bemelmans Bar.
All W hotels in NYC are offering a waterfalls package that comes with NY Water Taxi vouchers, Bliss Sunscreen and a pair of cocktails.
See pictures of all four waterfalls in test mode.
Earlier: Waterfalls update: new views, champagne cruise
Hotel packages start trickling in for NYC Waterfalls
June 24, 2008 11:28 AM Comments (0)
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High in the Sky at Peninsula hotel's new Salon de Ning
NewYorkology contributor Vidiot commits journalism by night, edits Cocktailians and explores NYC by day. He's especially interested in the infrastructure, transit, architectural wonders, drinking establishments, and hidden corners of the greatest city in the world.
 Not long ago, I decided that my air conditioner wasn't quite up to the task of coping with the New York heat, so declared defeat and headed outside. To Salon de Ning, the new bar atop the Peninsula Hotel, to be specific. Occupying the former Pen-Top space, Salon de Ning opened last month and seems to be doing quite well, attracting a stream of the well-to-do (and wannabes, like me) to its boozy aerie. I settled on a barstool to peruse both the drink menu and the clientele.
The "Ninglet", comprised of Hendrick's gin, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, and fresh-squeezed lime juice, was tart and bracing, but the cucumber note from the gin and the floral taste from the St. Germain manage to sneak through. Could you want more in a summer cocktail? My friend had a "Ning Sling" of Absolut Mandrin, Soho lychee liqueur, fresh mint leaves, and lychee and passion fruit juices. She pronounced it "sweet and silly" -- this was a positive -- and I cadged a taste and found it to be very good; I'd feared that with an ingredient list like that, the cocktail would be too sweet, but it was a surprisingly well-balanced drink.
 Firmly in the "too-sweet-and-proud-of-it" category was the Tiramisu Martini, which bartender Alan let us sample. Absolut Vanilia, Kahlua, Amaretto, white Godiva chocolate liqueur, and whipped cream, all topped with chocolate shavings: it was dessert in a cocktail glass, and an unapologetic one.
Salon de Ning's terrace boasts fantastic views up and down Fifth Avenue, not to mention the upper Midtown skyline. Drinks are in the $22 to $24 range, and the menu includes other spirits and Champagnes. If all the fab-ness has made you peckish, there's also a selection of small plates for $35-45.
Salon de Ning is on the rooftop terrace (23rd floor) of The Peninsula New York, 700 Fifth Avenue at 55th Street, map. The bar has a direct elevator from the hotel lobby.
Picture credits: Vidiot (full photoset on flickr.) View of Fifth Avenue, (top,) cooling cocktail glasses (right,) the Ning Sling (left) and the terrace at Salon de Ning.
Earlier: High in the Sky: a Times Square 360 at The View
High in the Sky: Above restaurant, eat with The Hand
June 16, 2008 3:38 PM Comments (1)
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