High in the sky, a veteran of Bouley opens a restaurant that channels Central Park.
Vintage Green opens today.
Friends,
I’ve got a great new opening for you today, and this one may be flying under the radar a bit because Bar Contra is probably the cocktail bar everyone is talking about, and with good reason: David Arnold, the acclaimed mixologist behind Booker & Dax and Assisted Condition, and author of Liquid Intelligence: The Art & Science of the Perfect Cocktail, has teamed up with longtime pals and Contra/Wildair chef/partners Fabían von Hauske and Jeremiah Stone to open a new venue devoted to magnificent cocktails. But you can read about Bar Contra on Eater and on Grub Street, and over on OpenTable where my story about the bar will appear. And you should. BUT…
Over here at The Strong Buzz, I like to talk about what you may not be hearing about everywhere else. And that is Vintage Green, a magnificent, sprawling new rooftop restaurant high above The Shelburne Hotel, at the corner of 37th Street and Lexington Ave. The all-season rooftop, inspired by the long meadows, hardscrabble trails, and shady rambles of Central Park, covers the entire footprint of the hotel so it has full East-West-North-South views, with several different bars and seating set ups: couches (check), big booths (check), marble hightops (yup), bistro tables for two (those too). You get the idea.
The menu by chef Christopher D’Ambrosio, formerly of Bouley (RIP), flirts with the idea of a picnic in the park. If only mine contained a basket full of Bikini Sandwiches layered with jamon Iberico, Cantabria cheese, and black truffle tapenade, or Crispy Mushroom Bao Buns glazed with char sui sauce and topped with pickles, and oversized dry-aged hot dogs with special sauce snuggled into pretzel potato buns.
The menu’s also got plenty of snacks, mezze and pizzas to share, and a fabulous super-charred, perfectly pink 38-ounce Tomahawk chop served with spicy “whacked up” romesco sauce, lettuce cups, house-made kimchi, and scallion pancakes. A grand raw bar is on the menu too, as well as views that take in every part of the city and sky, all the rivers and bridges and our city’s beautiful night light, the Empire State Building.
The cocktails are also playful nods to Central Park’s lush hills and meadows: the “A Walk in Central Park,” a mix of brut rosé, lemon, elderflower, and amaro santoni aperitivo, and “A Lion in Sheep’s Meadow,” a margarita-adjacent drink made from Patrón, chinola passion fruit, aperol, basil, lime, with a basil tajin rim. Delightful.
It’s worth noting that this is In Good Company’s 5th rooftop bar; they also run Refinery Rooftop, Penthouse on Park at the Royalton (this one has a pool!), The Glass Ceiling, Rockaway Rooftop, and now this beauty. Terence Tubridy, Jeff Brosi and their seasoned hospitality team have a knack for putting together places that inspire joy in settings that are just as playful, but also uniquely and beautifully designed, venues that kind of take your breath away. Just go to the Rockaway Hotel for a night and you will feel like you’re in Ibiza (okay well, maybe not right away, but after a few Shark Bites, definitely.)
Anyway, my point is this: the weekend is almost here and Saturday’s looking like a beautiful day. If you’re in town, get yourself to Vintage Green with your friends, your special someone, your last lover, or your fine self. Sit in one of the oversized couches or a little table for two tucked inside a nook under a canopy of sky and stars, close your eyes, take a breath. We’ve been through a lot lately.
More tomorrow,
xx
Andrea