Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The pop-o-matic Bar Report

You know you are at a swanky joint when the coasters on the bar are crisp, white, hand-stitched cloth squares rather than the usual soggy cardboard circles with adds printed on them. I'm still not entirely sure why we were doing happy hour at The Star Bar in The Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South last night but I generally go where I'm told so there I was.

Despite this current location for the Ritz-Carlton being just a few years old, the hotel and bar have the feeling of old world New York with luxoriuos fabrics, rich woods and more marble than a Roman bath-house. With furniture and accessories that look like they may have once belonged in a Czar's palace, the place is gaudy but not too much.

I imagine that on nights where the crew I was with aren't there it's a quiet and stuffy setting but we managed to have a great time basking in the opulence and enjoying the talents of famed bartender, Norman Bukofzer. You aren't getting out of a place with a "famed" bartender cheaply, which is why this is the perfect spot to bring your parents from out of town when they visit you in New York.

13 comments:

  1. Some BFF's and I used to hang out at this swanky bar.

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  2. Lioux - I love that bar's name and tag line: The Side Bar, a sophisticated gathering place.

    I'm going to start referring to my apartment as a sophisticated gathering place.

    BD - Is Dead link a swanky bar in Denver?

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  3. did you get paid for this??

    ;)

    Jew

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  4. Yes. My BFFs and I enjoy meeting up at sophisticated gathering places.

    You know, because we're kinda sophisticated.

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  5. jew, do the think the Ritz-Carlton paid me to say something nice about their bar as part of their new reach out to bloggers who drink too much?

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  6. What's the crowd like? And do they serve food at the bar?

    I'm definitely a fan of hotel bars. I miss the old bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel (prerenovation).

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  7. ha ha - yes they serve food and it smelled delicious. I was too busy drinking to eat. The crowd was sort of a mix of banker types, older sophisticates and tourists.

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  8. Anonymous4:53 PM

    The bar at the Carlyle is also a good one to bring people from out of town to...so is the Hudson Hotel for someone younger, but you have to go on an off night, like a Tuesday.

    The bar at the Four Season's Hotel on 57th is fun for people watching...after 9pm it's like Moscow circa 1985 with all the Eastern European prostitutes...I work right near there, that's the only reason I've been, I swear!!

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  9. MWG - "I work right near there, that's the only reason I've been, I swear!!"

    Uh huh.

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  10. Did they have Zima?

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  11. Colleen, do they still make Zima?

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  12. I was just craving a Zima®™©™ the other day!

    The original unmessed around with Zima®™©™ though.

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