Tigre It’s unusual to hear a rum based cocktail described as “joyful pain” but that happens at Tigre, the intimate, retro chic bar that opened this week on New York’s Lower East Side. The reason for this description is the rum, or rather rums, in the recommended cocktail Airmail composed of champagne and three symbiotic rums from Martinique, Venezuela and Haiti, countries in a region in which slavery played a part in their production. The social history detailed by the maître d’ is, obviously, painful but the cocktail itself is delicious, a choice on the “then” section reinventing classics of the six part menu. (Their screwdriver also has eight types of citrus including three types of orange.) Creative concoctions such as Mister Softee with Singani, sage and pina appear in the “Now” section and martini fans can dictate exact specifications with a ratio of 4:1 to 16:1 among other options.
The room is designed to emulate a sophisticated jet setter’s residence from the 1970’s or 1980’s (also the decades of its booming soundtrack) with gold Ultrasuede walls, jacquard velvet banquettes with tiger embroidery and chocolate leather seats at the small tables plus a horseshoe shaped green Brazilian quartzite bar. The entrance doesn’t give any hint that such a plush setting awaits within, however: it’s a nondescript door plastered with handbills and graffiti guarded by a doorman checking reservations. Given the bar’s immediate popularity, though, and the intimacy of the room, even with reservations, patrons often have to wait on the sidewalk until guests inside vacate their space. (The staff hopes that sorts itself out soon.) What also should be sorted out soon, or at least as soon as the downstairs kitchen is finished, is food to go with the drinks. Since the team behind it also operates beloved New Orleans style oyster bar Maison Premiere in Williamsburg, raw bar items— and definitely oysters— should be on the way.
Paradise Lost The entrance to this bar in the East Village is also nondescript: a door marked with a green symbol but no name with a buzzer to be let in. Once inside, though, the design comes at you from all sides: white fur lining the door; thick foliage lining the walls of the hallway and in the bar itself, a panoply of vivid colors, flashing colored lights (that change when certain drinks are ordered) an eight foot tall altar, taxidermy items, a leather bar and tables designed to look like surfboards and snakeskin banquettes. The team behind it describes it as a tropical hellscape, amusing and slightly sinister, a fantasy allegory/throwback tiki bar.
In this florid setting, the cocktails couldn’t be simple presentations—and they’re not. They arrive embellished with pinwheels and flowers, flaming
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For most New Yorkers, Times Square is a place to be avoided at all times—especially and unequivocally on New Year’s Eve. The Ball Drop looks fun and exciting when watched from the warmth and privacy of your couch but in real life, it looks like a million people packed between police barricades and squished up against each other in the cold for way too many hours, waiting for a 10-second countdown. And there are no public restrooms.
A New York state court judge dismissed an Airbnb lawsuit against New York City, ruling the city had a right to require host registration and licenses, and that it was reasonable to require that Airbnb — and other platforms — verify that listings have licenses, or face penalties.
Let’s face it: New York is hardly the first city to impose regulations on short-term rentals. Today is the official deadline for hosts to register their listings.
New York City’s Office of Special Enforcement has approved only 257 out of 3,250 short-term rental host registrations before the September 5 enforcement deadline. Around 25% of the host applications submitted so far, or 808 applications, have been reviewed.
In September New York City introduced stringent restrictions on short-term rentals leading to news very quickly that Airbnb bookings in the city had “dried up”. And this is by no means new, cities like Barcelona and Berlin already have strict restrictions on short-term rental properties, requiring hosts to obtain a licence to operate.
I professed my love for Carnegie Diner in this column more than two years ago. Today, my fondness for the restaurant is as strong as ever and perhaps even more.
“He’s in here, in the kitchen every night and he’s smiling. He’s so happy to be doing this,” explains one of the managers of Café Carmellini. He is chef Andrew Carmellini, well known around New York the past 15 years for his respected but more casual restaurants Locanda Verde, Lafayette, The Dutch, Carne Mare and Bar Primi. This restaurant, which opened November 1st in the new Fifth Avenue Hotel, marks his return to fine dining with reinterpretations of French and Italian classics and as his most personal restaurant is the first one that bears his name. It’s been packed since opening night and looking around the Gilded Age style dining room with its oversized bronze and seeded glass chandeliers suspended from double height ceilings, plush blue banquettes and sculpted trees in the middle of the floor, the chef isn’t the only one smiling.
There’s no bad time to visit the Big Apple — but when winter takes hold, the city has an extra sheen of glitter. Department stores are brightened with kaleidoscopic light shows; a large ice rink springs up in Central Park; and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree sits pretty in the plaza. If you’re lucky, the streets might even be blanketed in white, catapulting visitors into a scene of a festive Hollywood film.
Fall is always an exciting time in New York City, especially because there are so many new restaurant openings. Many tasty newcomers have opened in the last few months and they’re absolutely worth a visit. From buzzy nightlife boîtes to unique omakase destinations, here’s where you should eat before the year is over.
Booking.com and Warner Bros. Pictures have this week announced a new collaboration to celebrate the holidays and the debut of Wonka (in theatres December 15). The limited-time collaboration comes in the form of two sugar-coated stays at Wonka’s Sweet Suites in both New York and Los Angeles.