When my daughter was little she had a Harry Potter book with pop-up pictures of Hogwarts, Hagrid, Hermione and the gang that, truth to tell, I looked at more than she did. She’s still too young to drink legally, so people like me must be the intended audience for the latest twist in cocktail culture — the pop-up picture cocktail menu. Read more
October was once a red letter – or, more to the point, red book — month. In years past, Michelin and Zagat published their new crimson-covered guides to New York City eating, often just days apart, in early autumn. No more. This week Michelin deemed 71 restaurants worthy of star quality for 2015. But Zagat is holding back its crowd-sourced results until November, perhaps to shore up all the attention.
How did hotels fare this year with Michelin’s under-the-radar inspectors who visit anonymously and always pay for their meals? Read more
Sandwiches are not the first thing that leaps to mind when I think of Four Seasons hotels. Neither are food trucks. But what do I know? Read more
Can’t make it to today’s matches at the U.S. Open?
The Crosby Street Hotel offers a tall, cool alternative. The Grey Goose Honey Deuce Cocktail is available as long as the Open is in town – through September 8, in other words.
It’s a last liquid gasp of summer – vodka, raspberry liqueur, lemonade and chilled honey dew melon balls on a stick. Sounds like an ace. Read more
Roof bars are no longer an oddity at hotels, but that doesn’t make them any less appealing. Drinks with an eye-popping view a pairing the never gets old. I found a full hand with money vistas of the ultimate New York City icon – the Empire State Building. Four are open year round so you can gaze whenever the mood strikes upon “the closest thing to heaven” to quote a line from not one, but two legendary movies.
Yum
Here are 35 tasty reasons for hotel enthusiasts to stay put in New York City during the long, hot summer (or at least, for the next three weeks).
NYC Restaurant Week is upon us once again. From July 21 through August 15, 318 restaurants throughout Manhattan will serve up three-course lunches for $25 and dinners for $38. This summer, 35 of them are at hotels – more than ever before, or at least during the four years Overnight New York has tallied the troops. Read more
For those who keep track of these things, there are 36 replicas of the Eiffel Tower scattered throughout the world. This summer the number jumps to 37.
Number 37 is spectacular but, alas, temporary, as creations tend to be when they are made from macarons. And unlike Tokyo Tower, the Paris, Texas Eiffel and other towering homages to the 1889 Paris Exposition’s instant icon, the French cookie tower is indoors – in the upper lobby of the Peninsula New York hotel, to be precise. Read more
It’s a lot easier than it once was to get a good cup of coffee in New York. And that goes for coffee at hotels.
Flavorful house blends and premium brands like Illy are typical at large hotels (and former coffee wastelands) from the New York Hilton-Midtown to ONE UN New York.
Newcomers are embracing intriguing local brews. Is it coincidence that the restaurants at the Viceroy and the Quin – two chic new hotels on West 57th Street – proudly serve Joe Coffee a succulent brew made from the direct source, sustainable beans found at Joe Coffee shops dotting Manhattan? Read more
Dark libations like bourbon and rye don’t wind up in cocktails nearly as often as the clear stuff, like vodka and gin. But they get mixed with something other than water a lot more than scotch.
Purists might say the reason is obvious. Or as my husband puts it, why ruin a great single malt?
That, of course, makes scotch the Everest of cocktail ingredients, a liquid gauntlet thrown down to adventurous bartenders. The mixing team at The Pierre’s Two-e Bar couldn’t resist temptation. Read more
This is shaking up to be the biggest year in memory for good eggs in New York.
First came the Fabrege Big Egg Hunt, which deposited 250 gigantic eggs decorated by artists, designers and bold-face names around town, including at hotels (it ends April 26). And as we zero in on Easter, hotel pastry chefs are proving, once again, that chocolate is a natural companion to the egg.
I always stop by The Peninsula New York when a holiday nears to see what’s new from executive pastry chef Deden Putra, who never lets a red-letter occasion go by without creating something witty, like life-size lollipop reindeer or a gigantic white chocolate snowman. Read more