GOLDBAR: The Follow Up

Well that didn't take long. A little birdy just forwarded us a note from the good people of Goldbar, that informs us:

GOLDBAR will now open daily from 6pm til 4am. Please join us after work and in the early evening to experience our new menu of aperitivi and Italian Snacks. Pressed Tramezzini Sandwiches, Porcini risotto balls, and more. It's the perfect way to end the business day or start your evening out.

Sounds delicious, but really makes us wonder what kind of super-exclusive, trend setting global nightspot is this anyway? We thought the business people were only welcome once the hipsters abandon the joint.

In the Dead of the Night(life)

Some interesting developments in the last few days regarding two of the more important bars to open in the last few months. First, it seems Death and Co. ran into some neighborhood opposition regarding its quasi-restaurant service. We've been to D and C a few times, and well, why we appreciate the name and above average cocktails, we are going to give it a pass.

We have also seen Gold Bar go from impossible door to posing for pictures. We admit we haven't been yet, because well, we aren't that hip. But early reports to DBTH are troubling, with one birdy who has been reporting "tons of models, cool space, and the best old-fashioned that $18 can buy." Seems about right, until our resident nightlife expert (yeah, we got one of those too!) saying "They have not gotten any good pr and the opening was not as exclusive as I thought it should be, so they are trying to drum up some pr. Thing is, they usually go Page 6 or NY Mag, which makes me question what is going on if they go to Blogs." I guess they can bend with the best of them.

Well, we like the blog PR route, since you know we are one. (And they love us). But, with Sacco-ville cooked, the irrelevant MeatPacking district, and the Lower East Side's Dunzo status, the state of NYC nightlife is in serious flux.

When Hip Sells Out and Dies

Walking down Lafayette, we came across this billboard by Neck Face, one of our favorite Street Artists. Remember Neck Face, the tag name you could rack your brain around for months and still not know what the hell a neck face was? He used to tag a lot of downtown spots, like this. We always wished we lived in a Neck Face building.


Now we don't. Sigh.



We cried little child tears when we saw who paid for the ad. A sneaker company. Bad Neck Face. Bad. We will never forgive you.

Wrap Up: Sobe Wine and Food Fest

Our little birdy checks in with a few tidbits to wrap up the SoBe Wine and Food Fest sponsored by the Food Network. There was no major news announced at the event, no chefs went crazy in the SoBe Nightlife, unless you count "Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert sightings at the Raleigh poolside." Umm, we don't. There was one little blog related nugget coming from the sparsely attended PR Panel. Our LB reports

Restaurant PR guru Phil Baltz conceded that publicists must bend to blogger's requests. said you had to indulge them until you find out which ones would be around for the long haul.

We all know who that means. Is there anything hotter than a publicist limbo contest to amuse bloggers? Of course not.

Blogging for a Flogging: Gemma

We admit, we're not perfect. And when we're bad, we deserve to be punished. In our excitement over the possibility of Freeman's being a part of our favorite new hotel, we got our facts mixed up. It seems Taavo and the crew will not be operating Gemma, the new spot at the Bowery Hotel. Mr. William Tigertt from Freeman's checked in to say:

Taavo did the design for the Gemma restaurant at the Bowery Hotel as the architect. We do not own it, or are not going to operate it. It will be run by the same chef/group that does the Maritime Hotel, Bowery Bar, and Waverly. It has no association with Freemans.

We've been a bad blogger, and we're ready to bend over and take it. We promise to be good.

Italian Surprise at The Bowery Hotel

We admit that we are a sucker for this Bowery Hotel thing. When we saw those first guests walking in, we were oh so jealous. So we decided that we should check it out too, and check it out we did. The place is sweet, ranking up there with the other boutique powerhouses, both in NYC and globally. That's right, globally.

But we have more than just praise. We have some juicy intel. Like the bar is open for business. And that the restaurant will be of the Italian variety and is named Gemma. And that the operator is none other than Taavo Somer of Freeman's. To top it all off, there will be a super stealth Japanese joint in the sub-level that is still a few months away.

So let's take a deep breath and recap, shall we?
1. The Bowery Hotel is sweet.
2. The bar is open for cocktails.
3. The restaurant is Italian and a co-production with Freeman's.
4. Stealth Japanese joint coming soon.
5. Oooh, how could we forget, their website launched too.

Looking good, Billy Ray. Feeling good, Lewis.

They Love Him Someplace

You would be hard pressed to have missed this week's shitstorm between Sir Chodorow and the Food Critic Establishment. But to us, a review of this type of establishment is worthless. These overpriced and overhyped Fusion/Theater/Rare Food establishments are not for city residents looking for a good meal. They are for the tourists and executives who are out for an evening and want to be wowed with fancy swords and overpriced beef. For proof, lets head to Miami, where an on-site tipster at the Food and Wine Expo reports "people were tripping over themselves to go to the Kobe Club booth at the burger bash. People here love Choderow, as opposed to his nosedive in NYC." So rest easy JC, there is love for you out there. Just not from critics (the same who didn't like Freeman's, but more on that later).

Oooh, So Very Bright and Shiny

Once there was a crappy Hollywood Video Store,
Now there is a Duane Reade.
Prehistoric Third Avenue sucks.

The DR near Astor Place is officially open for business. We must not forget that every Duane Reade has a Chase Bank center inside, giving the East Village 3 Chase locations (Astor Tower, 3rd Avenue and 9th St, and Second Avenue Deli) in as many blocks.

This is a serious challenge to Starbucks Square. Hopefully, the Green Goblets rise up to defeat their blue and red foe.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

This sign, seen near the site of the future Fulton Transit Hub, prove that no matter how much you spend, the rats have your number.

Ah, progress.

Ago Coming to Town

Robert De Niro's yet to open Downtown Hotel in Tribeca has finalized plans for its lobby restaurant and we have the scoop-du-jour. Ago, the LA and Miami Italian Hotspot, will be occupying the lobby space, and expect celebs and gawkers to make this one the big openings of 2007. The pairing makes perfect sense, since Bobby D and those other Tribeca heavyweights (literally) the Weinstein Brothers were chef Agostino Sciandri original partners when he jumped ship from legendary Brentwood trattoria Toscana to open the first Ago in West Hollywood a few years back.

Our little birdy has also spilled the beans on at least part of the design. Apparently, the ceiling is made of 9 million wine corks. That's 9 with six zeroes worth of corkage that someone had to jam into the ceiling! Our job ain't looking half bad now.

Bowery Hotel Gets Going

The Bowery Hotel, Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson's latest addition to the Manhattan scene, is getting ready to open and open big. Even though the soft opening is reportedly still a few weeks away, we spotted some pseudo doormen/valets standing outside the Bowery entrance to this new "boutique" hotel.

We also spotted what could be the hotel's first guest, the woman pictured here, get out of a cab and greet both valets with a big hug and smile. We hope that they have the same chipper attitude in 3 months when there are 600 people trying to get inside their second floor bar. It's Go Time!