Looking back at 2011, we suppose we could have done it all differently. Then again, if we had, we would have missed the following towering achievements of humankind. So, basically, we made the right call.
Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas branched out from Alinea this year with Next. You didn’t make reservations. You bought tickets. (Most likely, you did so on a secondary market.) Then came Aviary, the sci-fi cocktail lounge next door, and the Office, the invite-only speakeasy downstairs. Your ability to charm your way in: priceless.
You had a lot of champagne this year. And your favorite place to pop a few corks: the bi-level ode to Parisian decadence from R.J. and Jerrod Melman, who teamed with their dad’s Lettuce Entertain You empire. Your only dilemma: drinking downstairs with dinner or upstairs with Cee Lo. So you did both.
It was a modest proposal. Just show up under the Picasso wearing all white, bringing along a folding table and a white tablecloth. Maybe some candles. Oh, and dinner. Then suddenly, your irrepressible suaveness was part of the biggest flash mob picnic with a dress code this city’s ever seen.
A social networking site for your exes. Talking about you. Comparing notes. It was one of those ideas that was so simple, so diabolical that you had to wonder why someone (i.e., you) didn’t think of it years ago. And then block anyone from creating it.
Today, we look back. But this year, famed hotelier Ian Schrager looked even farther back to find inspiration. He turned the Ambassador East into the Public hotel and Pump Room into... a new and improved Pump Room, more Gosling than Rat Pack. The result: timeless.
Your intern wanted real-world experience. So you gave him a crucial task: stand in line at Brendan Sodikoff’s (Maude’s, Gilt) tiny fried-dough boutique. Supplies were limited. The demand, stratospheric. And if he came back without a pistachio, he didn’t need to come back at all.
You were looking pretty dashing this year. But you wanted a little extra. So you accessorized appropriately: Libero Ferrero, a Chicago-based line of exquisite leather bags at Apartment Number 9, and Haberdash EDC, an entire shop for all your badger-hair shaving brush/art book/oxford needs.
