Tagged: Cipriani

New York Nightlife Happenings: January 17th 2013

Amy SaccoA lot happened this past week in New York Nightlife. A certain mega-club reopened last night in Chelsea and a nightlife birthday was celebrated not too far either but luckily both events were on different days. Two top DJs are slated to perform on the same night and a certain Sunday party is heading to Utah for the Sundance Festival. Another SoHo spot brings back their popular Sunday party as well. Check out all this and more in this week’s New York Nightlife Happenings! [Photo via]

 

Marquee NY#1. Marquee Re-Opened - This Strategic Group nightclub closed its doors not too long ago for renovations. The New York Marquee needed to be altered and rebranded to fit in with the other two other locations in Las Vegas and Sydney. What NYC got is a Las Vegas style nightclub that is geared towards performances and house music. Most of the tables have been removed to make more space for General Admissions and ticket holders. Last night’s opening brought out virtually every big name in New York nightlife and judging by the overall feedback we’ve been reading on Twitter, the new Marquee is the next best thing in New York City! If you didn’t get a chance to check out the new club last night, make sure to this Friday when DubFire is slated to perform! [Photo via]

 

DJ Dalton#2. DJ Dalton Celebrated His Birthday At SL – Basically if you weren’t at Marquee you were at SL for DJ Dalton’s birthday celebration. One of New York’s favorite DJs, from 4AM DJs of course, had his birthday at the lounge under Abe & Arthur’s. Guest DJs Scram Jones, DJ Chachi and DJ Sinatra performed along side Dalton for his special celebration. To make the night even better, Krill was also photographing the event and of course giving his signature champagne facials. This week must be the nightlife birthday week because not too far over someone else was celebrating their birthday…  [Photo via]

 

Amy Sacco#3. Amy Sacco’s Birthday Celebration at No. 8 - If you thought the new reincarnation of the late Bungalow 8 wasn’t drawing enough celebrities, well, you thought wrong. The famed Amy Sacco held her birthday celebration at the new bi-level Meatpacking lounge. If you were able to get past Disco, you were in for a real good time as the celebration brought in big names such as Iman, John Legend and Christina Ricci. We hope that No. 8 continues to draw in similar crows as the space is perfect for mingling and socializing amongst New York’s elite. [Photo via]

 

Lavo NY#4. Lavo & Finale Both Bring Top DJs to New York Tonight – Just to show how big the EDM market is in New York City, Strategic Group’s Midtown club Lavo and EMM Group’s newly opened Finale both are bringing popular producers to perform in their clubs tonight. Zedd is slated to perform at Finale while Dirty South is at Lavo. Both clubs did sell advanced tickets however, the tickets to see Zedd at Finale are now sold out. Expect the door to be super tight at both venues unless you are either purchasing bottle service or ordered a ticket in advanced. Either way we suggest arriving at 11:30 PM. [Photo via]

 

Karaoke Sunday#5. Karaoke Sundays Return To Cipriani Downtown - Thought Cipriani Downtown was only a hotspot to get expensive plates of Penne with Lamb Ragu? Think again. The nightclub upstairs aptly named Cipriani Upstairs is bringing back it’s most popular weekly party: Karaoke Sundays. This chic Italian nightclub manages to combine $25 bellinis with and karaoke all into one space. With both Cipriani Downtown and Goldbar hosting popular Sunday parties (which this week heads to the Sundance Festical) literally within walking distance, it will be interesting to see if SoHo/Little Italy becomes the new place to be on Sundays. [Photo via]

Il Mulino Great Neck, Long Island

Il Mulino New York (Long Island) on Urbanspoon

With the Americana Mall right down the block, Il Mulino seems like the perfect place to grab lunch or dinner after shopping and for the most part it is. Well, until you see your bill that is. Il Mulino in New York is synonymous to a traditional Italian restaurant with a chic and who’s who clientele. However, this outpost of Il Mulino draws a much more reserved crowd, mostly from the Great Neck area, than its trendier West Village sibling. The average age for patrons at this restaurant would have to be somewhere around 50 but to be honest, those are probably the only people who can afford their prices. The dark woods match nicely with the cream colored walls simple tables and chairs in the very open restaurant and the design is safe yet effective in the conservative but elegant dining room. The atmosphere is essentially the same as you’d find at Cipriani or Nello but again, much more toned down and less bustling. A tall man with a thick, and possibly fake, Italian accent greets you at the entrance and most of the servers are actually not Italian despite what you might think.

The menu consists of traditional dishes from the Abruzzo region of Italy and all of the plates are made to share which is good because so is the bill. A plate of pasta will run you easily over $30 and the meat dishes are in the $30-$60 range. The dishes themselves are nothing different than you’d find at an upscale Italian restaurant; you have your basic yet filling pastas such as: Linguini in a Spicy Seafood Sauce and Mushroom Rissotto and your entrees such as: Veal Milanese and Branzino. The menu does tend to focus a bit more on fish than meat which is good, especially for an Italian restaurant. My advice when ordering, skip all the appetizers and go straight to the pastas and entrees as you essentially get an appetizer with your bread and butter. Not only did we receive bread before our meal, but an entire order of Bruschetta (which was actually one of the better Bruschettas I have had) in addition to our very generous portions. As an entree I had Il Mulino’s famous Porcini Ravioli with Champagne Truffle Cream Sauce. The ravioli were cooked just perfectly and the sauce was flavorful, if not a bit too heavy. However, the only turn off about the menu would be dessert. While the main dessert is prepared in the kitchen, all the garnishes and sauces are pre-prepared and added to the dish at a dessert station at the front of the restaurant that is disguised as apart of the decor. While I could see how this was supposed to be a “fun” aspect of the restaurant to make patrons feel at home, if you are charging over $12 for a dessert I would expect that 25% of it to not be sitting out in the open at the front of the restaurant for the entire day.

Il Mulino is a place to go if you’re in the mood for decently prepared food that you, yourself, can not make at home. The food is better than the near by Cipolini but it’s also triple the price. The only reason why this place isn’t as absurdly overpriced as Nello is because the portions and amount of food they give you is actually quite generous and much better but don’t get me wrong, this is certainly not a cheap dinner. My suggestion would be to stop in for a glass of wine and pasta or for their Sunday Supper which consists of a four course pre-fixe menu for $39 a person (a great deal for the area in my opinion).

Ambiance: 7

Food: 7

Service: 7

Overall: 7

Verdict: Oasis

[Photo via]

 

 

Participating Restaurants for 2012 Summer New York City Restaurant Week Have Been Posted

The title says it all, the restaurants participating in the 2012 New York City summer Restaurant Week have been posted. This year is actually the 20th anniversary of restaurant week and the participating restaurants will offer a three course pre-fixe lunch menu for $24.07 and a three course pre-fixe dinner menu for $35. The deal runs July 16th through August 10th Monday through Friday (and Sundays at certain restaurants). Some of the usual favorite participating restaurants are One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Cafe Boulud and Nobu but there are also a few new additions to the list this year such as Bar Italia and STK Midtown. My suggestion for Restaurant Week is to go research restaurants that offer similar pre-fixe menus year round (such as Jean-Georges restaurants) and perhaps not visiting those during restaurant week since your time is limited. For example, since Il Mulino is normally pricey and does not offer a year round pre-fixe menu, perhaps you would want to go check that out for restaurant week. [Photo via]

Some places I would suggest visiting are:

 

These picks are restaurants that are usually quite expensive so it would be a great bargain to try them during restaurant week. You can view the participating restaurants list at www.nycgo.com and if you register your American Express card on the site, you get $20 back if you dine at four or more restaurants during restaurant week. [Photo via]

Armani Ristorante

Armani/Ristorante 5th Avenue on Urbanspoon

On the roof of the relatively new Armani flagship store on 5th Avenue sits a modern Italian restaurant mainly built for the tourists that come in and out of the store. The restaurant itself has its own separate entrance from the store itself but during store hours you can access the restaurant through the store’s elevator. The restaurant’s location within the Armani store looks as if they had a bit of extra space left over and didn’t know what to do with it as it takes up a bit less than half of one floor. However, the restaurant itself is decorated very simply with modern looking black chairs and white tables and a few circular booths scattered throughout the restaurant. Its a very chic and modern decor and matches the rest of the store perfectly. There is, however, a bit of a pretentious vibe given off when you first enter the restaurant by the maître d. Even though the restaurant was half empty during my lunch visit, we still had to wait 10 minutes for a table for two but then again when visiting an upscale Italian restaurant there’s a bit of attitude is to be expected.

The menu features refined Italian dishes that would please any Park Avenue housewife. Of course you have the essentials for any upscale Italian restaurant such as Beef Carpaccio and an array of salads to choose from but what is surprising is the $33 pre-fixe lunch menu. However, since I was having dinner at Sushi Gari later that evening I chose to save my appetite and just get the Bavette Sul Pesce and the Spaghettini. The Bavette consisted of Bavette pasta, similar to linguini, with an array of seafood in a light sauce. The bavette itself was very al dente, though some people do prefer it that way, and the portion size was far too small to justify the $28 price-tag. The sauce was also very oily and left a very greasy feeling in my mouth afterwards. The Spaghettini was similar to the Bavette except it had sea urchin in it as well. This dish was mediocre at best and featured such a small amount of sea urchin that it was laughable.

Since I haven’t heard much about Armani Ristorante I suppose I should not have set my expectations so high. While the space is beautiful, the service is a bit pretentious and the food leaves much to be desired. My suggestion is checking it out once if this is a place you are very interested in or if you really need a nice place to have a quick lunch while shopping on 5th avenue. Frankly the food is not good enough to make this my regular Italian spot. For this price range I’d much rather Sfoglia, Cipriani or even Nello.

Ambiance: 7

Food: 6

Service: 6

Overall: 6

Verdict: Mirage

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Osteria Morini

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Coming back from Wheaton in late December the restaurant that I probably heard the most about was Osteria Morini (the second probably being Lavo for some strange reason). Michael White’s latest restaurant takes White’s usual Italian theme but looks to make it more traditional and less upscale at Osteria Morini. Next to powerhouses like La Esquina and Balthazar it would be tough for a new comer to be so popular but with Michael White behind this restaurant its no wonder it became to popular so quickly. I originally had intended to go there for dinner but getting a reservation is very difficult for dinner (each time I’ve called I got the famous “we have 5:30 or 11) so I decided to go one day at the awkward hour of 4 PM. The restaurant was transitioning from their lunch to dinner service and they were serving their bar menu (which is essentially a shortened dinner menu). The restaurant is much less formal than Marea or Ai Fiori especially since neither of White’s other restaurants have mismatched chairs, wooden cupboards and used pots hanging from their walls.

Though the decor isn’t as grand as Michael White’s other New York restaurants it doesn’t mean the food isn’t as good. Though I can’t say anything for Ai Fiori since I’ve never been but what I had at Osteria Morini would make me go back as much as Marea made me want to go back there. Though I really don’t like judging a restaurant on one dish, this happened to be the case with Osteria Morini. So the Creste was the make or break dish with Osteria Morini for me. Overall the dish was very good. The creste, crescent pasta, was cooked perfectly but what won me over was the freshness of the seafood and the lightness of the sauce. It really was a fantastic dish and I would hope all the other dishes at Osteria Morini would be just as good because then it’d be a great option when La Esquina’s reservation line refuses to answer their phones…again.

Osteria Morini is an excellent option when in Soho or actually a great option for Italian food in general. Though the Cipriani Downtown still remains my favorite Italian restaurant overall, Osteria Morini is a cheaper option (meat dishes at Osteria Morini cost the same as pasta dishes at the Cipriani) than the Cipriani and the food is just as good.

Ambiance: 7

Food: 7

Service: 7

Overall: 7

Verdict: Oasis

[Photo via]

I Tre Merli

 Last Saturday I ventured off to I Tre Merli for brunch. After being turned down by Bagatelle for a seat at their beloved Saturday brunch service I luckly made back up reservations at I Tre Merli in Soho. I Tre Merli is the  new home of Day & Night‘s Saturday Brunch Parties in New York City (It was first Merkato 55 which closed down, then they moved to Revel and now they’re at I Tre Merli). On days other than Saturday, I Tre Merli is kind of overlooked due to the power house Cipriani Downtown not too far down West Broadway but Day & Night is planning to change all that. The Koch brothers have taken over the restaurant for the Saturday afternoon implementing a new drink & food menu and reservation system. You can’t call I Tre Merli directly for a reservation but instead you must call Day & Night directly (212-755-1222) to get a table. The Day & Night menu is more based on drinks than food. The food menu consisted of a small page worth of appetizers (all priced $15), a pizza ($18) and three pastas ($20) but the drink menu took up an entire clip board ($475 for a 3L bottle of Rosé and $3000 for a bottle of Dom Pérignon with sparklers are just a few of the options for bottle service). The restaurant begins “brunch mode” at 3 so be sure not to make a reservation earlier than that (make it at 2:30 the earliest). For the brunch that I went to DJ Serebe, the famed DJ who also played at Merkato 55 numerous times, was spinning pulsating house music that could be heard two blocks down. By 3:15 a table of 6 was dancing on their table and by 4, when they dimmed the lights, only a few remained in their seats. [Photo via]

Though I Tre Merli is a restaurant, their food during their brunch service isn’t the main focus. With that said it isn’t too bad. The Pizza Margherita was average though not exactly worth $18. But my Porchini Ravioli with Truffle Sauce was actually good, if not a bit heavy. The Fried Calamari were also decent and up to par with Da Silvano. But to be honest no one really cares about the food here. I’d say only about a half of the restaurant ordered food and less than half of them ordered an entree. The patrons here only care about the four liter bottles of Rosé with sparklers for the whole tables and the latest dance songs being blasted at super high decibels. Its truly like going to a club in the afternoon.

Though I’d say Merkato’s brunches had more of a buzz, I Tre Merli is the next best thing. The atmosphere is perfect and the food is a lot better than expected. The service is also great and you don’t get the usual snobby attitudes that you get at these types of places. The pretentiousness may be too much for some and those searching for good food may want to skip this restaurant all together, but those looking for a party have come to the right spot with Day & Night’s brunch at I Tre Merli!

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Cipriani Dolci

Cipriani Dolci on Urbanspoon

This Cipriani outpost has the same exact menu as the Cipriani Wall Street, prices and all. Though at this Cipriani I feel the only thing they could do differently is lower their prices a tad as, personally, I don’t feel you’re getting the “full” Cipriani experience here. Yes you get the yellow table cloths and the baby blue menus with the tassels at the end, but I want the Europeans air kissing right in the entrance so no one can get in and the host that barley speaks English and pretends to know your name for the 2 hours that you’re there. At the Cipriani Dolci you get none of that. Here you get frumpy business people and the occasional tourist who comes in with the sweat suit they wore on their 3 hour train ride to New York and the beauty of Grand Central…that’s it. With all that said the food is as good as the Cipriani Wall Street. The Dodge Salad was fresh and light and the pastas are good, though I still prefer the Cipriani Downtown. The biggest change of the menu at the Cipriani Dolci is the addition of a bar menu which consists of an array of slightly cheaper small dishes, which is a good addition if you need a quick lunch or just sitting at the bar.

Is the Cipriani Dolci better than the Cipriani Downtown: no. Is it better than their Wall Street location: no. Is it better than the Cipriani Le Specialita: they’re about the same. The only reason why I may choose Cipriani Dolci over Cipriani Le Specialita is because the Cipriani Le Specialita gets packed and its very hard to find a seat. Quite frankly the Cipriani Dolci’s prices are a bit too high for what the place offers. Its kind of a half a Cipriani for the full price. The only reason you should go to the Cipriani Dolci is if you are on a business lunch and need to stay within a 5 block radius of your office and specifically want to go to the Cipriani. If that’s not the case, please take the 6 train from Grand Central and head down to Spring Street and walk over to the Cipriani Downtown.

Ambiance: 6

Food: 7

Service: 6

Overall: 6

Verdict: Mirage

[Photo via]

 

Da Silvano

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Yesterday (May 1st 2010) was Da Silvano‘s 35th anniversary. Sadly by the looks of their lunch service, no one really cared. Aside from the outside seating, the inside dining area was pretty much empty at around 2 PM (prime-time for a Saturday lunch). For the most part the outside area was full but of course the host at Da Silvano had to make it seem full to capacity and didn’t want to seat us outside…though I pointed at two tables that could have seated both me and my friend. Like for Bar Pitti, I would never want to eat inside Da Silvano. The decor sadly doesn’t match the price tags. Traditional trattoria ambiance for a $19 plate of small portioned pasta, I don’t think so. Once seated outside, and it took a bit of persuading, there was a bit of a scene going on. Though quite frankly now after being at Da Silvano, the scene at Bar Pitti is much better. The customers at Da Silvano are blatantly going there only because its “Da Silvano”. Think like a much more “wanna-be socialite” version of Cipriani Downtown. The scene at Bar Pitti is a bit more genuine in that the people actually go there somewhat for the food, mainly for the outside seating though, and since the prices are lower.

The service at Da Silvano is actually what turned me off the most. I’ve found that as these “chic” Italian restaurants, the host and servers often think they’re better than you. This requires that you have to be a bit arrogant and assertive in order to get what you want. For example, when telling my waiter about my allergy he knew there weren’t any nuts/peanuts in my dish but couldn’t tell me what oil they fried in, and I felt that was important for me to know. He clearly didn’t want to ask the chef, but after telling him about three times to he finally went over to Silvano himself to ask what exactly was in the dish. Then and only then was I assured that the food was safe to eat. But at a restaurant like Da Silvano, I shouldn’t have to fight with the staff to find out if the food is safe to eat.

Once my fighting with the staff was over, I just hoped the food at Da Silvano was very good. Though I still prefer the Cipriani, Da Silvano’s food isn’t awful. The Lobster Gnocchi was very good, though it was really small portioned…actually it was appetizer portioned. The gnocchi could have been cooked a bit less, but the sauce was great and the lobster was fresh (though there could have been a bit more lobster in the dish). Then, since we were still hungry after our “appetizer”, we ordered another appetizer of Fried Calamari. Since I don’t think I can go too much in depth about fried squid, basically it was average and no different than any other normal Italian restaurant in the five boroughs.

Overall I wasn’t impressed with Da Silvano. I expected much more especially with all the hype surrounding it. The food was good, but the service was awful and the atmosphere leaves more to be desired. Its not cheap either. My lunch was $50, which in reality isn’t so bad, after tax and tip and I got the same amount of food as the Cipriani Downtown. As far as Italian restaurants go, I’d still pick the Cipriani Downtown over Da Silvano any day. Actually I’d pick Bar Pitti, Nello, Scuderia and Sandro over Da Silvano. The only time I’d go back to Da Silvano is if I couldn’t get a seat at Bar Pitti or Scuderia and I didn’t want to take that 5 minute train ride over to Soho to go to the Cipriani.

Ambiance: 6

Food: 4

Service: 6

Overall: 5

Verdict: Mirage

[Photo via]

Scuderia – CLOSED

Scuderia on Urbanspoon
Today was gorgeous in Manhattan. It was 76 degrees, sunny and breezy so it wasn’t too humid outside. So of course I had to check out Bar Pitti for its fantastic outdoor seating and decent pasta. But to my dismay it was a 20 minute wait for a table outside, and why would I sit inside at Bar Pitti during the Spring…the food isn’t that great, I’d rather shell out the extra $30 for a window seat at the Cipriani in Soho. So since I’m going to Da Silvano tomorrow, I walked across the street to Scuderia. Scuderia is owned by Leyla Marchetto who is Silvano’s daughter. Scuderia is priced in between Bar Pitti and Da Silvano, but in actuality the pricing is a matter of a few dollars. A plate of pasts costs $13.50 at Bar Pitti, $16.50 at Scuderia and $18.50 at Da Silvano. The main difference about Scuderia’s menu is that they serve pizzas (which I didn’t get the chance to try sadly).

Scuderia is basically a Da Silvano for the people who want the non-pretentious attitude that come along with it. However, most people to choose Da Silvano and Bar Pitti over Scuderia. Both restaurants were fully packed today however, Scuderia was full outside but not a single patron was seated inside. Also, you kind of feel a bit isolated from the “party” that is 6th Avenue & Bleeker Street since Scuderia is on the opposite side of the street from Bar Pitti and Da Silvano.

The food at Scuderia is what made it stand out over Bar Pitti. Though the scene is much better at Bar Pitti, I enjoyed the food better at Scuderia. The menu is bigger and features much more than Bar Pitti, but its very similar to Da Silvano’s menu (except for the pizzas). I had the Papardelle with Wild Boar Ragu. The pasta, though a bit small portioned, was very good. The ragu was wonderful and almost beat the veal cheek ragu at the Cipriani (though my heart belongs to the Cipriani in Soho when it comes to Italian restaurants). In addition, the pasta was cooked well.

The only problem I encountered at Scuderia was the service. I’m accustomed to crazed service at restaurants like this, but I had many servers at my table and none brought me my water I had asked for till well after 10 minutes I had been seated. I was quite frustrated…I wanted my water…and it took a while to come. Also, finding a host to be seated is quite a mission. I had to search both inside and outside to find the host and eventually asked a bus boy to seat me.

Overall I liked Scuderia. Am I running back, not really. That area is a bit out of my way and the scene isn’t good enough to make it a regular destination for me. Though the food is pretty good and its priced right, I kind of want to be in the midst of the action going on at Bar Pitti and Da Silvano and sadly you’re kind isolated at Scuderia!

[Photo via]

Bar Pitti

Bar Pitti on Urbanspoon
Sixth Avenue & Bleeker Street in the West Village belongs to the Da Silvano crew. Da Silvano essentially take up one entire end of the side walk during warm weather and the party doesn’t stop there as Scuderia is just right across the street. Actually, though the roots of Bar Pitti started with Silvano Marchetto, Giovanni Tognozzi (Silvano’s partner) split away from Silvano after he was accused of stealing Da Silvano’s famous meatball recipe. With that Bar Pitti contains similar Tuscan dishes such as Pappardelle Alla Fiesolana and Prosciutto Cotto E Mozzarella Grigliato and has the same chic sidewalk seating that draws massive crowds. The main difference between Da Silvano and Bar Pitti is that the prices are substantially lower at Bar Pitti than at Da Silvano. A plate of pasta costs around $20 at Da Silvano, which is nothing compared to the $39 plates of pasta at Nello, but only $13.50 at Bar Pitti. Of course that extra $6.50 buys you that slightly extra glamorous feel but its not that much of a difference and Bar Pitti is often more packed than Da Silvano and has the same clientele. Though at Bar Pitti the only place you should sit is outside. The inside is very tiny, narrow and gloomy and Bar Pitti doesn’t even have a bar which you could sit at. The outside seating is where its at. The service is very jittery and chaotic as the five waiter run around the Bar Pitti sidewalk and try to serve all tables at once resulting in hit-or-miss service. My table was fine, but this guy at table next to me got cheese grated on his lap instead of his pasta. As for the food, the pastas are pretty good and well worth the inexpensive price tag. I was served a generous portion of Rigatoni Pitti with turkey sausage, peas, cream, tomatoes & parmigiano which was great. The pasta was cooked al dente and the cream sauce had the flavors from both the smoked turkey and tomatoes to make it more than just the average pasta with cream sauce. The Penne Arrabbiata with tomato sauce with garlic, olive oil & crushed red pepper was a pretty simple Italian dish with a little spicy taste to it to make it less bland than a traditional Penne with Tomato Sauce. Bar Pitti is a place to see and be seen with out the Nello or Cipriani price tag. Though its not exactly glamorous on the inside, the prime sidewalk real estate is where the party is and don’t be surprised if you spot a celebrity or two and if you can bear with the service, you’ll get to enjoy some good Italian food at the same time!

Ambiance: 7

Food: 7

Service: 5

Overall: 6

Verdict: Mirage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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