(New York) — It’s been a year or two since my last visit, but thought I’d try The Bowery Hotel again. Still an awesome place to hang out and catch the scene. You’re in it. All sorts of fun people watching, seeing some famous people…and wondering who everyone else is. And enjoy when the paparazzi pop out between the plantings and get disappointed when it is just you. But also fun to check out the NYPost and see who was staying there at the same time and you didn’t even realize it. The rooms are just very well done, some big, some small. But even the small ones are little jewel boxes. And about the best water pressure in the city. Check out the restaurant
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(New York) — Just north of the vibrant Madison Square Park, the NoMad area is really taking off. Starting with the resurgence of MSP, 11 Madison and Danny Meyer’s faithful vision, then jump started by Eataly and the hopping Ace Hotel, the whole area feels like it about to explode. The NoMad hotel opened late this spring. Designed by one of my favorite hotel designers, Jacques Garcia, the NoMad brings a feel of Paris to this bustling part of town, still teaming with the Rag Trade, a mosque and all the bric-a-brac gift shops of the neighborhood. the Ace is just a block away, with all its hipster vibe, but the NoMad is like an Ace for grownups, European grownups. Perfection. With a gorgeous restaurant
(New York) — A masterwork of modern design and urban planning, the High Line is an old railroad trestle that used to deliver railcars loaded with stuff down the west side of Manhattan towards all the manufacturing plants downtown. Long abandoned as factories moved out and people moved in, the trestle was off limits for years and grew weeds and trees unannounced until someone rediscovered it and came up with The Big Idea. Built in sections over the last several years, it runs for dozens of blocks from around the 30s to its terminus in the Meatpacking District…which is a good place to start your journey. As it was undergoing renovation, dozens of businesses, hotels and condos were built along its stretch. Now it’s their
(New York) — The Bowery. When I was a kid, we heard about Skid Row, drunks and the rough and tumble life on the Bowery…and the corny Bowery Boys. When I was in the restaurant business in New York, what I learned about The Bowery was that’s where you go to buy cheap used kitchen equipment. You could find everything you need on The Bowery. But you didn’t go there at night, but for the bums. Then something happened. Over the years, the Italian and Jewish pan merchants had been replaced by the Chinese knockoffs. Then the New Museum and then all of a sudden, in a matter of a couple of years, a big whoosh came in rebooted the whole street. Like the rest