Chef April Bloomfield and restauranteur Ken Friedman opened the 100-seat Salvation Taco this spring, a casual restaurant attached to Midtown's Pod 39 Hotel. With a menu of globally inspired tacos, tortas, and family-style larger dishes, Salvation Taco also caters events in the hotel's adjacent 150-person lounge as well as the 17th-floor rooftop bar. The decor features terracotta floors, tables covered in Mexican tiles, and a colorful ceiling of reclaimed timber beams and slats. The restaurant's name refers to the hotel's onetime use as a Salvation Army.
A new independent event venue and music venue in NoHo, SubCulture is a subterranean space that can be used for a pop-up shops, product launches, fashion shows, and small meetings and conferences. It accommodates 200 standing or 150 seated. The venue offers extensive audiovisual equipment and has two greenrooms, two showers, and other amenities for performers. Catering from a list of preferred vendors is allowed, and the space has a built-in bar.
In Midtown, the Paramount Hotel finished a $40 million renovation in March, creating a dramatic two-story lobby with its own DJ booth, updating its meeting spaces, and refreshing its 597 guest rooms and suites. The four new mezzanine-level meeting spaces feature natural light and updated audiovisual equipment and can be combined to host 200 people. The hotel also added the Paramount Bar & Grill restaurant, a 2,500-square-foot space that seats 106 guests. Raised banquettes and large-format photography are part of the design elements inspired by the surrounding theater district.
In May, Regus opened a three-floor shared office space in Midtown near Grand Central Station, Regus 747, that is available for small corporate meetings and events. At 25,000 square feet, the space offers a business lounge, meeting rooms, videoconferencing, and a library that can be booked without a membership. The first-floor lounge is also available for private event rental and accommodates 140 people for receptions. The venue has floor-to-ceiling windows, modern furniture, and screens that can be programmed with digital signage.
Opened May 22 in the Hamptons, Delmonico’s of Southampton Est. 1837 offers seafood and farm-to-table dining as well as staples from the flagship Delmonico’s Restaurant in downtown Manhattan. The restaurant, open year-round, has seating for 96 and accommodates 300 for receptions; it also offers seasonal outdoor seating for 90 or receptions for 300. The property has its own chef's garden of herbs and vegetables used in the food and cocktail menus.
The Setai hotel has been sold and reflagged as Langham Place, Fifth Avenue, a new five-star brand being introduced in the United States. Artwork and some soft goods are being changed, and a more welcoming lobby is in the works. It will continue to offer space for small meetings and banquets, and its studio-like suites are available for events. The hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant, Ai Fiori, will remain, but the hotel's ground-floor restaurant has changed. Measure, the renamed Bar on Fifth, has new decor and a new menu of British fare with upscale twists such as a lobster shepherd's pie. It has a separate entrance and is available for private or semiprivate events.
Convene's newest corporate meeting site, 32 Old Slip, is located in the financial district and includes numerous spaces for meetings and events such as a 10-person boardroom, a classroom-style theater that seats 212, and reception spaces that can host from 50 to 200 people. The sleek design features mostly white furniture, light wood, and pops of light orange. The venue has its own chef and seasonal menus.
Per Se veterans and spouses Matt Danzer and Ann Redding have opened Uncle Boons, a Thai restaurant in NoLIta. A curved bar seats 10, and the 65 dining seats are divided into two rooms, the front pub room and the back Sanuk, or "Fun," room with views of the garden.
Greenwich Project, Project Group's newest venue, opened in April in Greenwich Village. Situated in an old townhouse, the two-story restaurant features whitewashed brick walls covered in Pop Art. The 1,800-square-foot first level seats 34 and serves small plates, while the 2,200-square-foot upper level seats 40 guests and offers a full menu. Both areas are available for buyouts. The cocktail list includes both classic and signature drinks, as well as the option to "pick your poison," in which the bartender concocts a drink based on a descriptor such as sweet, savory, or light.
The East Village Indian restaurant Brick Lane Curry House has opened a 140-seat location on the Upper East Side. The new location has a 40-foot bar where it serves British beers as well as cocktails with Indian spices. It has two private dining rooms with speaker systems.
In May, the Absolut X promotion in Miami had a masquerade theme. At the entrance to the event, futuristic models offered guests masks to help them get in the spirit.
