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

[tommy]

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.

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actually, just using the phrase "old fuddy-duddy" makes you an old fuddy-duddy.

i generally couldn't care less who else is in a place unless they're not behaving very well. that happens at sceney-hip NYC places, and local bars. and chain restaurants. and fast food places. and just about everywhere. actually, i do enjoy a "scene" every now and again. i can't believe that people can just block out celebrities and beautiful models and whatever else goes with that stuff. i can't imagine wanting too!

[docsconz]

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.

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actually, just using the phrase "old fuddy-duddy" makes you an old fuddy-duddy.

i knew that as I wrote it, but if the shoe fits...

i generally couldn't care less who else is in a place unless they're not behaving very well.  that happens at sceney-hip NYC places, and local bars.  and chain restaurants.  and fast food places.  and just about everywhere.  actually, i do enjoy a "scene" every now and again.  i can't believe that people can just block out celebrities and beautiful models and whatever else goes with that stuff.  i can't imagine wanting too!

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I don't mind a good scene, but that is never what I go to a restaurant for. If it happens to come along with great food, that's fine. to me the scene is in the kitchen.

[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.

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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?

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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.

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

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That's the irony -- the real scenesters are looking at me and thinking "why do they even bother putting a velvet rope out front if guys like this can get in."

[Eatmywords]

Swank, what's the age range of this wild crew?

[FatTony]

As usual, eGullet's fine membership comes up with the goods. I second (or fourth, or whatever) Kittichai and Stanton Social. Kittichai has a great combination of delicious (Thai, in case you didn't know) food and scene quotient, but the bar area's kind of small if that's important to you. It looks gorgeous inside and it's on the ground floor of 60 Thompson, a pretty cool boutique hotel, which adds a certain something scene-wise. Stanton Social is more bar oriented and there's more mobility if you know what I mean (i.e. good for people watching). I'd say the food's a bit secondary to the drinks and the scene but it's a small plates kind of deal which is always good for groups and ideal for soaking up all those brightly colored cocktails. It's beautifully designed too, though I prefer Public, also designed by the same group. Public's a more full fledged restaurant (think of it as SS's grown up sister. It's in NoLIta (there's your scene) and the food (contemporary, south african chef, international flourishes) is superb. If you decide on a Japanese direction, Matsuri is a beautiful room with a real sense of scale and occasion, great food, bit pricey. Also attached to one of those there boutique hotels, The Maritime. You could also consider Spice Market for a fun environment in the meatpacking neighborhood. What about Schillers? It's owned by the same guy as Balthazar but more down to earth, cheaper, raucous and younger. It's also more cramped. Balthazar would also be a great choice, albeit a more grown up one.

There are tons of other choices. La Esquina's sceney vibe is enhanced by being sort of secret and hidden. Thor? Sushi Samba has 'bachelorette party' written all over it (go to the seventh avenue branch where you can sit on their roof.) Falai's kind of cool but may skew too foody for your purposes. But the table in the window (Falai used to be a store) could be fun for your group. Scene? You'd BE the scene. Enjoy.

[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.

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

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Ooops, forgot about the back room!

[TrishCT]

Wow. Amazing that actual good recommendations to the original poster's question could come from me, whom the urban sophisticate hipster doofuses (Seinfeld reference) would call a B&T Fuddy Duddess. Hmm.. who took my frozen cosmo and Magnolia cupcake...

[flinflon28]

For a different kind of scene you might want to consider the Bar Room at the Modern. Beautiful space, not sky-high prices, and there is a scene but I guess it would be more sedate. The best part is that you'd be enjoying Danny Meyer Hospitality. It would leave you in a kind of quiet part of midtown but that's what cabs are for! Also consider the Bread Bar at Table for Indian fare.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Wow.  Amazing that actual good recommendations to the original poster's question could come from me, whom the urban sophisticate hipster doofuses (Seinfeld reference) would call a B&T Fuddy Duddess.  Hmm.. who took my frozen cosmo and Magnolia cupcake...

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Hey, I think there's a grain of truth to nearly every stereotype; now I know how southern people feel! I do get a huge kick out of these types of discussions, and squirrel them away. Former Manhattan Hipsters and their desire to move the heck out of there are what keep our property prices astronomical!

(And ya gotta love 'em, because they're lovable.)

So, I guess maybe I better ditch the Talbot's outfit and Belgian shoes, that I was planning to wear to the City Meals benefit on Monday night ... I've already cancelled my appointment at Supercuts for something a little funkier.

[Sneakeater]

(. . . they're lovable.)

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Now THOSE are fighting words.

[H. du Bois]

So, I guess maybe I better ditch the Talbot's outfit and Belgian shoes...

Ditch the Belgian shoes?

[FabulousFoodBabe]

So, I guess maybe I better ditch the Talbot's outfit and Belgian shoes...

Ditch the Belgian shoes?

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for Jimmy Choo, of course. though I might wear the Belgians for the commute.

[Megan Blocker]

Oh, man, now I feel like a snob, FFB!

You can wear Talbots around me ANYTIME!!!

But keep the Jimmy Choos - I'd like to borrow those.

The Modern is a neat idea...there are lots of restaurants with that kind of scene that didn't occur to me at first. Town comes to mind.

[H. du Bois]

for Jimmy Choo, of course. 

Jimmy Choo ...

[Sneakeater]

I think I see why FFB is so pissed off here.

I hope she doesn't think that "B&T crowd" literally includes everybody who had to go over a bridge or through a tunnel.

(I also hope she understands that the whole concept only applies to places that market themselves as "cool" to begin with.)

[Megan Blocker]

I think I see why FFB is so pissed off here.

I hope she doesn't think that "B&T crowd" literally includes everybody who had to go over a bridge or through a tunnel.

(I also hope she understands that the whole concept only applies to places that market themselves as "cool" to begin with.)

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Exactly - B&T is a frame of mind, as I said upthread, not where you're from.

And any place that has to claim it's cool probably isn't.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Oh, man, now I feel like a snob, FFB!

You can wear Talbots around me ANYTIME!!!

But keep the Jimmy Choos - I'd like to borrow those.

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Me, pissed off? Naw. I love these types of discussions and like I've said repeatedly, there's a grain of truth in 'em. And once upon a time, I was cool ... No, really.

But Megan: You, a snob? Nevah. And the Choos will never fit your teensy feet. Snif ... I had teensy feet, two kids, and a career of being on my feet 14 hours a day, ago.

Swankalicious, may your wedding day be beautiful and bright. Many good wishes to you, and please tell us where your party was held!

[herbacidal]

I hope she doesn't think that "B&T crowd" literally includes everybody who had to go over a bridge or through a tunnel.

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Hmm, really? I always thought it did.

Interesting.

[H. du Bois]

I hope she doesn't think that "B&T crowd" literally includes everybody who had to go over a bridge or through a tunnel.

Hmm, really? I always thought it did.

Interesting.

Taken quite literally, it does, but it's a cultural distinction far more than a geographic one. Think of movies like Working Girl or Saturday Night Fever, in which crossing the water was seen as spanning a great cultural divide. Calling someone B&T was a slur aimed by Manhattanites toward anyone outer borough-ish in behavior or appearance. There was/is a lot of solipsism in NYC - in the 80s, some of my downtown artist friends used to disdainfully refer to going above 14th Street as "going upstate," and that's an attitude just within Manhattan alone.

Things have changed drastically in the past few years though, in that there are some vibrant neighborhoods over the water in which some of the most interesting art, culture, cuisine, and residents are to be found - not that Manhattanites would ever deign to acknowledge that! Sneakeater brings up an interesting POV above, when he refers to the new B&Ters as being from Manhattan.

It's a difficult distinction to define to non New Yorkers, especially as urban hipness or sophistication aren't confined to one side of the river or the other anymore.

[Megan Blocker]

Well put, H. du Bois.

FFB, I'll stuff the toes with cotton. Well, if they're pumps. If they're sandals...I'll come up with SOMETHING!!!

Edited June 12, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[FabulousFoodBabe]

May I ditto the "well said" to H du Bois? (Who among us didn't laugh at the 'dos in Working Girl, or the nails, or her devotion to Page Six?)

BTW, I read Page Six online every single day. Sigh.

Sandals, Miss Megan. but I do have some Manolo mules that would go great with that happy smile!

[Sneakeater]

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/give_i...an_niemietz.htm

[raji]

Nice one -

but Quo was B&T the second it opened. Getting the truth out of 6 promoters in a room is like Rashomon - they're called promoters cuz they bullshit for a living!