When Antonio Rotolo, Executive Chef at ONE UN New York, was asked to come up with a culinary creation to salute the United Nation’s International Year of Quinoa, he heeded the advice of Jerry Seinfeld in The Dinner Party episode – he looked to the cookie. Read more
Going to the dogs.
Considering the size of the average hotel room, it’s amazing that New York City has any hotels that allow guests to bring their pets. But pet friendly ranks have grown in recent years.
The SoHo Grand has always been kind to pet lovers, possibly because the hotel is owned by the family that founded the Hartz Mountain pet supply company. Read more
I’ll take a wild guess and assume that George Frederich Handel never dreamed his opera Rodrigo, written in 1707 when he was 22 years old, would have its North American premiere nearly three hundred years later in a hotel lobby.
But on May 21, 23 and 25, Handel’s fifth opera will be performed in the lobby of the Gershwin Hotel, a move that trumps the Met and every other opera house in the hemisphere. Read more
The calendar says it’s spring, even when it’s contradicted by chilly breezes and overcast skies. No matter.
Seasonal roof bars observe time, not temperature when choosing to open, and this week the Loopy Doopy Bar atop the Conrad New York, flung open its terrace above the Hudson for its second season. Read more
Kristen McGinnis’s lacquered dining room.
The best hotel rooms are the ones filled with things you want to steal – like decorating ideas.
A great decorator show house is even better. The designers, of course, want you to hire them, but they have to put their ideas out there to lure you in. And this year’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House, the biggie of the bunch in New York City, is jam-packed with ideas ripe for the plucking. Read more
The Plaza.
As The Great Gatsby, the most hyped movie since, well, Iron Man 3, steamrolls into theaters, two hotels are proudly trumpeting their Gatsby connections.
Most obvious is The Plaza. When Daisy suggests Gatsby, Tom, Jordan and Nick drive to Manhattan, they beeline for the Plaza, a favorite of F. Scott Fitzgerald and wife Zelda. Read more
The answer is on your plate or in your glass if you order an arugula salad or a muddled-mint mojito at LCL, the hotel restaurant and bar. Read more
Jack Reacher, based on the best-selling book One Shot by Lee Childs, took in around $80 million at US box offices – not great for a $60 million movie with Tom Cruise in the leading role. (Translation: don’t expect a sequel.) But it was a big hit in hotel rooms last month, coming in first with pay-to-view hotel audiences in the US and Canada as well as New York City. Read more
They skipped the bells, whistles and champagne last September when JW Marriott took over management of the Essex House, the gracious 1931 tower overlooking Central Park and operated most recently by Dubai-based Jumierah Hotels.
Last night they made up for it. Read more