Scene-y restaurant with good food for a b'ette?

[Swankalicious]

My friends are taking me out to a nice dinner for my bachelorette party. I love good food, but also want something trendy and scene-y, since I don't get to NYC a lot. I DON'T want to go someplace like Lucky Cheng's. The type of food doesn't matter, but quality does, something mid-priced. ANy ideas? Thank you!

[TrishCT]

Consider Stanton Social, Kittichai, Balthazar, Asia de Cuba, to name a few. For more info on them see menupages.com.

Edited June 8, 2006 by TrishCT (log)

[jm chen]

I've never been to Devi, but reviews lead me to believe it is both scene-y and tasty. If everyone in your party is up for Indian it might be an option.

[Megan Blocker]

I've never been to Devi, but reviews lead me to believe it is both scene-y and tasty. If everyone in your party is up for Indian it might be an option.

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Devi is probably too sedate to be considered scene-y - it's awesome food, though.

[tommy]

you can do well at Rosa Mexicano. i recommend the 18th street outpost, as oppopsed to the other 2. it's colorful and fun.

[Megan Blocker]

How about Buddakan? People seem to really like the food, and it's definitely a scene...it's a little B&T, seeing as how it's in the Meatpacking District and all, but could be a good time.

Il Buco is a lot of fun...I went there with a larger group (around 7 of us?) for a friend's birthday a little while back. Saw Matt Damon and Heather Graham that night. Good celeb sightings, etc.

Have fun - and congratulations!

[Eatmywords]

How about Buddakan?  People seem to really like the food, and it's definitely a scene...it's a little B&T, seeing as how it's in the Meatpacking District and all, but could be a good time.

Il Buco is a lot of fun...I went there with a larger group (around 7 of us?) for a friend's birthday a little while back.  Saw Matt Damon and Heather Graham that night.  Good celeb sightings, etc.

Have fun - and congratulations!

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I think Buddakan is a great idea but is the B&T thing really an issue? I've lived here for 12yrs and it's never bothered me when dining (clubs and bars can be another story). If you're considering this place call today!

I would also consider Matsuri in the Maritime Hotel across the street. It's a beautiful sceney-space serving slightly higher end Japanese fare (a little cheaper than Morimoto). The other bars in the hotel (outside on the 2nd flr or the main deck) are great for drinks before/after din-din.

Congrats

[raji]

My friends are taking me out to a nice dinner for my bachelorette party. I love good food, but also want something trendy and scene-y, since I don't get to NYC a lot. I DON'T want to go someplace like Lucky Cheng's. The type of food doesn't matter, but quality does, something mid-priced. ANy ideas? Thank you!

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Sceney Japanese I'd say Megu, Matsuri, Ono in the Hotel Gansevoort... dunno if I'd call any of them mid-priced.

If it were me I might say go to Rosa Mexicano, Hell's Kitchen, Sushisamba, or somewhere else trendy that has _really good margaritas_, because gals seem to love crack-a-ritas...

[raxelita]

Second Kittichai for your needs. Quite sceney, but the food actually tastes good. It also has a certain girlie vibe/atmosphere to me, if that's what you're looking for.

[Sneakeater]

Third Kittichai.

[H. du Bois]

Agree absolutely with Asia de Cuba - I've been there several times for similar events, and the vibe is perfect for that. (The food is fun, and the cocktails, are, too!).

Il Buco, one of my all-time favorite restaurants in this town, is IMHO, not the right place to take a larger or noisy group. It's a more intimate place.

[Megan Blocker]

Agree absolutely with Asia de Cuba - I've been there several times for similar events, and the vibe is perfect for that.  (The food is fun, and the cocktails, are, too!).

Il Buco, one of my all-time favorite restaurants in this town, is IMHO, not the right place to take a larger or noisy group.  It's a more intimate place.

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Il Buco has that nice room in the back, though - very good for a group.

[Megan Blocker]

I think Buddakan is a great idea but is the B&T thing really an issue?  I've lived here for 12yrs and it's never bothered me when dining (clubs and bars can be another story).

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It depends...it can certainly be an issue if you're looking for something trendy-NYC vs. trendy-B&T - do the B&T'ers bother me when I'm eating? No. Do I consider them to be real NYC scenesters? Eh, not really.

Of course, neither am I.

[Sneakeater]

To be both boring and off-topic, I think you do care about B&T types in these "scene" restaurants because, unlike real restaurants, what you do in these places isn't really dine. To me, they're more like clubs with very extensive menus than like normal restaurants. So you care about the crowd in a way you wouldn't in a normal restaurant.

Edited June 8, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I think Buddakan is a great idea but is the B&T thing really an issue?  I've lived here for 12yrs and it's never bothered me when dining (clubs and bars can be another story).

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It depends...it can certainly be an issue if you're looking for something trendy-NYC vs. trendy-B&T - do the B&T'ers bother me when I'm eating? No. Do I consider them to be real NYC scenesters? Eh, not really.

Of course, neither am I.

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Megan! Tell me right now what these damned B&Ters do to you when you're eating, and I will deal with them in the most severe manner. I'm horrified.

I personally prepare for my journeys into the Big Apple by watching reruns of Sex and the City.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

To be both boring and off-topic, I think you do care about B&T types in these "scene" restaurants because, unlike real restaurants, what you do in these places isn't really dine.  To me, they're more like clubs with very extensive menus than like normal restaurants.  So you care about the crowd in a way you wouldn't in a normal restaurant.

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This is too, too funny. You've got to tell me what "B&T types" do to muck up your good time at your restaurants! Wear odd clothing, smell funny, stick you with the bill, chew with their mouths open, scratch their nether regions, what?

And do you include Brooklyn, Queens and SI in this group?

[Megan Blocker]

To be both boring and off-topic, I think you do care about B&T types in these "scene" restaurants because, unlike real restaurants, what you do in these places isn't really dine.  To me, they're more like clubs with very extensive menus than like normal restaurants.  So you care about the crowd in a way you wouldn't in a normal restaurant.

←

This is too, too funny. You've got to tell me what "B&T types" do to muck up your good time at your restaurants! Wear odd clothing, smell funny, stick you with the bill, chew with their mouths open, scratch their nether regions, what?

And do you include Brooklyn, Queens and SI in this group?

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:laugh:

B&T is a state of mind more than a location...there are plenty of people from all of those places who are not truly B&T.

When I think B&T, I think tacky, loud, only caring that they can say they went out in NYC, not really caring about NYC or about the depth or authenticity of the experience. Does that make sense?

ETA: I'm a snob, and I know it. And I don't really care. Some things are worth being snobby about.

Edited June 8, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[Megan Blocker]

I think Buddakan is a great idea but is the B&T thing really an issue?  I've lived here for 12yrs and it's never bothered me when dining (clubs and bars can be another story).

←

It depends...it can certainly be an issue if you're looking for something trendy-NYC vs. trendy-B&T - do the B&T'ers bother me when I'm eating? No. Do I consider them to be real NYC scenesters? Eh, not really.

Of course, neither am I.

←

Megan! Tell me right now what these damned B&Ters do to you when you're eating, and I will deal with them in the most severe manner. I'm horrified.

I personally prepare for my journeys into the Big Apple by watching reruns of Sex and the City.

←

I'll send you a PM ASAP.

SATC makes me crave cocktails and cigarettes. Definitely good going-out prep. Except for that I don't smoke anymore. Oops.

[Busboy]

To be both boring and off-topic, I think you do care about B&T types in these "scene" restaurants because, unlike real restaurants, what you do in these places isn't really dine.  To me, they're more like clubs with very extensive menus than like normal restaurants.  So you care about the crowd in a way you wouldn't in a normal restaurant.

←

This is too, too funny. You've got to tell me what "B&T types" do to muck up your good time at your restaurants! Wear odd clothing, smell funny, stick you with the bill, chew with their mouths open, scratch their nether regions, what?

And do you include Brooklyn, Queens and SI in this group?

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Bad haircuts give me gas.

When I go someplace clubby or totally cool, especially in New York, I definitely expect the crowd to be hipper than I am, or I'm terribly disappointed. Last time I was in the meatpacking district, even though I tripped over a model (all black clothes, wafer thin - -they should have to wear flashers after dark!) the crowd was mostly just boring -- catalogue clothes, young professional haircuts and glasses that haven't been cutting edge since Seinfeld's third season. Blecch. I can get that at home.

[Sneakeater]

To be both boring and off-topic, I think you do care about B&T types in these "scene" restaurants because, unlike real restaurants, what you do in these places isn't really dine.  To me, they're more like clubs with very extensive menus than like normal restaurants.  So you care about the crowd in a way you wouldn't in a normal restaurant.

←

This is too, too funny. You've got to tell me what "B&T types" do to muck up your good time at your restaurants! Wear odd clothing, smell funny, stick you with the bill, chew with their mouths open, scratch their nether regions, what?

And do you include Brooklyn, Queens and SI in this group?

←

It's tough to know what to do now that Brooklyn is Officially Cooler than Manhattan. These days I tend to think of people from Manhattan (mainly the UES) (sorry Megan) as constituting the B&T crowd.

As for what they do to muck up my restaurants, I don't really go to the kind of places where I said they might make a difference, so the answer is, nothing. To be sort of serious -- and I suppose this is snobby -- there are types of crowds I don't like at bars and clubs. Go to Wolfgang's one night and you'll see them. What do they do? They bray in my ear. As the night draws on, they bray very bad renditions of old Motown songs in my ear. Don't tell them, but they don't have to stick me with the bill: I'd gladly pay them to shut up.

[Sneakeater]

When I go someplace clubby or totally cool, especially in New York, I definitely expect the crowd to be hipper than I am, or I'm terribly disappointed. 

←

That's funny. That's EXACTLY the way I feel. I remember going to the Canal Room soon after it opened -- I really don't go to places like that, but I was with someone much younger -- and looking around the room and thinking, "This is pathetic. I'm older than everybody else in here by some exponent, and I'm still the coolest person in the room."

Edited June 8, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[Sneakeater]

You know, I feel assinine talking seriously about something so frivolous. But in for a penny, in for a pound.

Obviously it's stupid and immature to rate crowds on their "coolness." But "scene" places are fundmentally stupid and immature. So I tend to judge them by their own stupid and immature standards.

Having said all that, I think it's idle to deny that, for hangouts (bars and clubs) as opposed to restaurants, the crowd matters. There are kinds of crowds you just enjoy being in the middle of for long stretches of social time, and there are kinds you just don't.

What the retarded "scene" places don't get, though, is that you can't really control this in any meaningful way by door policy. The way to attract a certain kind of crowd to your place is to operate your place in a manner that makes it attractive to that kind of crowd. For example, Pravda in Nolita has attracted exactly the kind of unostentatiously hip, mature crowd I like from the day it opened -- without an exclusionary door policy. I could see from my one short visit to Clandestino on the Lower LES that it is doing the same thing (on a smaller scale).

Edited June 8, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[Megan Blocker]

When I go someplace clubby or totally cool, especially in New York, I definitely expect the crowd to be hipper than I am, or I'm terribly disappointed. 

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That's funny. That's EXACTLY the way I feel. I remember going to the Canal Room soon after it opened -- I really don't go to places like that, but I was with someone much younger -- and looking around the room and thinking, "This is pathetic. I'm older than everybody else in here by some exponent, and I'm still the coolest person in the room."

←

EXACTLY.

[Swankalicious]

Yikes! I didn't mean for this to devolve into an anthropological study of Bridge and Tunnel people! I was just wondering about some buzzworthy NY restaurants.

[docsconz]

To be both boring and off-topic, I think you do care about B&T types in these "scene" restaurants because, unlike real restaurants, what you do in these places isn't really dine.  To me, they're more like clubs with very extensive menus than like normal restaurants.  So you care about the crowd in a way you wouldn't in a normal restaurant.

←

This is too, too funny. You've got to tell me what "B&T types" do to muck up your good time at your restaurants! Wear odd clothing, smell funny, stick you with the bill, chew with their mouths open, scratch their nether regions, what?

And do you include Brooklyn, Queens and SI in this group?

←

Bad haircuts give me gas.

When I go someplace clubby or totally cool, especially in New York, I definitely expect the crowd to be hipper than I am, or I'm terribly disappointed. Last time I was in the meatpacking district, even though I tripped over a model (all black clothes, wafer thin - -they should have to wear flashers after dark!) the crowd was mostly just boring -- catalogue clothes, young professional haircuts and glasses that haven't been cutting edge since Seinfeld's third season. Blecch. I can get that at home.

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Isn't this what all the B&T's are looking for also in these places?

Me? I'm simply not into scene places. I'll go someplace because I like the way they prepare food or a drink. i could care less who else is there unless they are personally with me. Maybe that makes me an old fuddy-duddy, but then it has been quite some time since I lived in NYC.