DRINKS
A Good Day For Wine
The owner-designers at AvroKO have spawned a wine café next to their popular Public restaurant in NoLIta. The Monday Room, which seats 25, serves 60 wines by the glass or bottle and offers half glass and half-bottle tastings, as well as flights of wine. Chef Brad Farmerie offers a menu of small dishes and canapés to pair with your wine.
Wine Amid the Vines
The Flatiron district’s Punch restaurant has added a new feature: a second-floor wine lounge named Wined Up. Jay Valgora of Studio V Architecture decked the walls with expansive wine displays and a creative screenlike installation that incorporates gnarled grape vines. The wine offerings focus on small producers, with 150 selections by the bottle and 30 by the glass. Small dishes include an assortment of cheeses and meats, flatbread pizzas, salads, and fondues.
A Spirited Den
You know about sake, but what about shochu, the distilled Japanese liquor made from sweet potato, rice, buckwheat, or barley? EN Shochu Bar, the revamped space within EN Japanese Brasserie, specializes in this spirit. Along with a cocktail list of drinks made from shochu, there’s also a new bar menu, as well as some subtle cosmetic changes to the bar and lounge.
BITES
Moroccan Spice
With mosaic tiles, Arabic arches, and filigreed window frames, Babouche is part lounge and part restaurant, serving traditional French-Moroccan fare. From the owners of Murray Hill’s Barbès, the space occupies the same building as the L’Occitane boutique, with its own Mercer Street entrance. The lounge and bar are situated at ground level, and a 50-seat dining room is upstairs.
Get Out the Steak Knives
Jeffrey Chodorow’s new steak house Kobe Club takes over the former Mix space, sporting curious Japanese-inspired interior design. Dodd Mitchell Design and New World Design Builders’ look for the 110-seat restaurant includes a dramatic installation of 2,000 Samurai swords, which dangle over the center of the main dining room. As the name implies, genuine Japanese Wagyu beef is a highlight of the menu, along with American and Australian cuts.
CULTURE
Aspects of Spain
The Metropolitan Museum of Art investigates Catalan culture in “Barcelona and Modernity: GaudĂ to DalĂ,” a show concentrating on the artistic output centered in that city from the later part of the 19th century through 1939. Some 200 paintings, sculpture, and architectural models, as well as decorative objects and furniture, make up the show, which opens March 7 and ends June 3. Also at the Met: It isn’t too late to check out the works of stained glass, paintings, and decorative works that highlight the “Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall, An Artist’s Country Estate” exhibit—the show ends May 20. (tours and visitor services: 212.570.3711, corporate patrons: 212.570.3947; www.metmuseum.org)
SHOW
A Musical About a Musical
David Hyde Pierce of Frasier fame steps back onto Broadway in Curtains. The comedy revolves around a musical in Boston and the talentless leading lady who is murdered on opening night. Hyde Pierce’s character investigates the crime and becomes charmed by the theater and interested in making the show a success (while working on the case). Previews begin February 27; the show opens on March 22 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. (Telecharge; group sales: Broadway Inbound)
IN-OFFICE CATERING
Any Way You Slice It
Michael Ayoub of Williamsburg’s Fornino has extended his reach to Manhattan, with Cronkite Pizzeria and Wine Bar on the Lower East Side. The brick-oven joint (which seats 65 and is adorned with hand-blown glassworks crafted by Ayoub) whips up pies ranging from the classic Margherita to the luscious black-truffle pizza. While delivery is typically limited to the surrounding area, try the manager for special requests.
—Mark Mavrigian
Posted 12.21.06
Photos: Courtesy of AvroKO (Monday Room); Lluis Bracons and Jaume Busquets, "Port de Barcelona," 1925, Artur Ramon Collection, Barcelona; Joan Marcus (Curtains)
A Good Day For Wine
The owner-designers at AvroKO have spawned a wine café next to their popular Public restaurant in NoLIta. The Monday Room, which seats 25, serves 60 wines by the glass or bottle and offers half glass and half-bottle tastings, as well as flights of wine. Chef Brad Farmerie offers a menu of small dishes and canapés to pair with your wine.
Wine Amid the Vines
The Flatiron district’s Punch restaurant has added a new feature: a second-floor wine lounge named Wined Up. Jay Valgora of Studio V Architecture decked the walls with expansive wine displays and a creative screenlike installation that incorporates gnarled grape vines. The wine offerings focus on small producers, with 150 selections by the bottle and 30 by the glass. Small dishes include an assortment of cheeses and meats, flatbread pizzas, salads, and fondues.
A Spirited Den
You know about sake, but what about shochu, the distilled Japanese liquor made from sweet potato, rice, buckwheat, or barley? EN Shochu Bar, the revamped space within EN Japanese Brasserie, specializes in this spirit. Along with a cocktail list of drinks made from shochu, there’s also a new bar menu, as well as some subtle cosmetic changes to the bar and lounge.
BITES
Moroccan Spice
With mosaic tiles, Arabic arches, and filigreed window frames, Babouche is part lounge and part restaurant, serving traditional French-Moroccan fare. From the owners of Murray Hill’s Barbès, the space occupies the same building as the L’Occitane boutique, with its own Mercer Street entrance. The lounge and bar are situated at ground level, and a 50-seat dining room is upstairs.
Get Out the Steak Knives
Jeffrey Chodorow’s new steak house Kobe Club takes over the former Mix space, sporting curious Japanese-inspired interior design. Dodd Mitchell Design and New World Design Builders’ look for the 110-seat restaurant includes a dramatic installation of 2,000 Samurai swords, which dangle over the center of the main dining room. As the name implies, genuine Japanese Wagyu beef is a highlight of the menu, along with American and Australian cuts.
CULTURE
Aspects of Spain
The Metropolitan Museum of Art investigates Catalan culture in “Barcelona and Modernity: GaudĂ to DalĂ,” a show concentrating on the artistic output centered in that city from the later part of the 19th century through 1939. Some 200 paintings, sculpture, and architectural models, as well as decorative objects and furniture, make up the show, which opens March 7 and ends June 3. Also at the Met: It isn’t too late to check out the works of stained glass, paintings, and decorative works that highlight the “Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall, An Artist’s Country Estate” exhibit—the show ends May 20. (tours and visitor services: 212.570.3711, corporate patrons: 212.570.3947; www.metmuseum.org)
SHOW
A Musical About a Musical
David Hyde Pierce of Frasier fame steps back onto Broadway in Curtains. The comedy revolves around a musical in Boston and the talentless leading lady who is murdered on opening night. Hyde Pierce’s character investigates the crime and becomes charmed by the theater and interested in making the show a success (while working on the case). Previews begin February 27; the show opens on March 22 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. (Telecharge; group sales: Broadway Inbound)
IN-OFFICE CATERING
Any Way You Slice It
Michael Ayoub of Williamsburg’s Fornino has extended his reach to Manhattan, with Cronkite Pizzeria and Wine Bar on the Lower East Side. The brick-oven joint (which seats 65 and is adorned with hand-blown glassworks crafted by Ayoub) whips up pies ranging from the classic Margherita to the luscious black-truffle pizza. While delivery is typically limited to the surrounding area, try the manager for special requests.
—Mark Mavrigian
Posted 12.21.06
Photos: Courtesy of AvroKO (Monday Room); Lluis Bracons and Jaume Busquets, "Port de Barcelona," 1925, Artur Ramon Collection, Barcelona; Joan Marcus (Curtains)
The Monday Room
Babouche
"Barcelona and Modernity: Gaud? to Dal?" at the Met
David Hyde Pierce in Curtains
