PX This.

Oi! So, you think you know what’s what, what? Well, let yer ol’ chum Mark Baker tell you the bloody score, chap. This nightlife business isn’t all jolly good fun ‘n games, innit. This is serious bloody business; you’d be positively knackered and gobsmacked if you’d ever seen some of thing ‘e’s been through. Bloody bollocks, some of it! So, sit yer arse down and ‘ave a lesson. Or bugger off, slag!

Pip pip, cheerio and all that rot.

*See also (earlier):

• Mark Baker’s wedding to Vicky Andren

• SPOTTED: Volume12

• PX This presents: The Travel Series

** And, for even more on Mark Baker, read PX This – The Revised Edition (and PX This Too – Coming Soon in the Summer of 2010)

PX This presents THE F&F REVIEW

Hey, sorry we couldn’t make it to "Friends&Family," we were out of town/ had to work/ not invited. We’re really glad we finally managed to come by, though— it’s so nice to see you!
What’s that? You would still like us to take the time to fill out the F&F survey, because you’d love to take advantage of all our vast experience, knowledge, insight, and expertise as long as we’re already here? Because you invited 75 people to F&F, and afterward all you got was 41 "Congrats[es]!" 22 "Awesome[s]!" 3 "Ciao[s]!" and 9 "Best of luck[s]!" ?
Of course, we’d be honored. Oh ha, yesss, we’ll be honest— brutally honest even, ha ha! After all, that’s what friends & family are for!
No no please, don’t send anything more, we’re stuffed, we can’t breathe, you’ll have to roll us out of here, ha ha ha… !

Beba [CLOSED June 2010]

What was your first impression?
oh, here we go. another one of these…

Please rate the Bar:
okay. small, but comfortable. nice enough. and the bartender is sweet— poor child, in that hideous awful uniform.

Please rate the drinks/ cocktails/ wine:
ugh i’d already started my evening elsewhere so i completely forgot to look to the wine list. sorry! but one of my guests this evening is a wine aficionado, and she opted for glass of wine, so the offerings can’t be all bad. there’s a pretty sparse selection of liquor though— the bartender did say they’re "working on" the inventory and was kind enough to make note of my request for don-julio blanco. but they did have chopin, so— somebody’s thinking.
also: SoHo prices. of course.
but yet: stoli bev naps. whatever, kids.

Please rate the Dining Room:
it’s okay but personally i think the front dining area is sightly nicer than the back. i would have done it differently, but hey— to each his own. actually i thought it was better than the photo i’d already seen, but my wine snob buddy commented something along the lines of: "was some of this shit here already [in its prior incarnation]? cuz i can’t imagine anyone would throw this look together on purpose." oh snap.
i didn’t think it was that bad— on the contrary, i can well imagine someone did throw this look together very much on purpose (and probably got paid for it too). but i mean, really— i’ve seen worse. (i kinda like the "chandeliers"!)
really bad acoustics, however.

Please rate the BOH:
pretty good. seriously, better than i expected— especially from one of these joints. yesss, Beba is so totally jumping face forward into the whole tired assed nightclub posing as restaurant trend. you just have to take one look at all the lovely staff ladies in those hideous awful uniforms to know this— Hooters® by marc-jacobs (or some shit).
so, i feel a little bad for the poor, sure to be underappreciated BOH. but maybe they’re making such great salaries in the club business they really couldn’t care less.

How was the staff?
sweet. lovely. very pretty. and friendly. those poor girls in those hideous awful fucking uniforms.

What did you eat?/ How was the food?
i just tried a bunch of the smaller things cuz, like i said, i wasn’t expecting the food to be that good. there was the "selection of spreads," calamari salad, salmon and tuna tartar, keftedes (meatballs), and grilled sausages. and it was all quite good. a bit fancy (there’s the whole bit with the ice cream scoop presentation for the hummus and taramosalata etc, e.g.) but certainly not cloyingly so. and really very tasty. clean, quality execution. a great twist on greek classics, made with an undoubtedly accomplished, artful hand.
but who cares, right? i know i know, you’re a little too busy right now ogling the Hooters® by marc-jacobs.

What did you like?
the food was really a very pleasant surprise.

What did you dislike?
did i mention how i feel for those poor lovely ladies? i’d rather work for lois-freedman than don one of those atrocious things. and you knooow i mean that shit literally.

What was your last impression?
well, it was sweet of fellow diner matt-levine to say "nice meeting you!"— but uhh, we didn’t actually meet. duh.

Would you come back?
bar, drinks, nibbles— sure, i think so.

Thank you, and hope to see you soon!
thank you, and best of luck to you.

in keeping with this week’s article in New York magazine, about the legendary Limelight’s transition into a shopping mall— i uhh… turn you over to james-st.james. sorry, that’s all i got.

rest in peace Tom Buckley and Mark Berkeley.

what a time we had.

*See also (earlier):

• Talk Loudly… and Carry a Big Stick – Part One

• To Those Who Were There

• Remembering the Limelight

• If Madonna Calls…

photograph: Scott Osman

It’s Friday, let’s dance! In keeping with New York Magazine’s upcoming article on the legendary Limelight and its impending transition into a shopping mall— PX This urges you to: WORRRK.

(If Madonna calls, I’m at "Boom Boom.")

Juliet Supper Club would like to announce it has forsaken BonBon Tuesdays (formerly hosted by Kenny Kenny and Susanne Bartsch) for… uh… hot angry lesbians?

Whatever! Get it, girl.

Starting TONIGHT…

**See also (earlier): "BonBon Tuesdays Now Defunct"

Kenny Kenny regrets to inform you that Juliet Supper Club has forsaken Tuesday night BonBon, co-hosted by Susanne Bartsch (and once by Tinsley Mortimer), for "the bottle-service crowd." He states, "Uck. See you at Vandam Sundays at Greenhouse!"

For shame, Juliet! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon/ Who is already sick and pale with grief… Oh forget it, never mind.

:(

Aaaand, that’s the state of nightlife…

** See also (earlier):

• "SPOTTED: Rosario Dawson at BonBonTuesdays"

• "VANDAM Fashion Week -by Kenny Kenny"

Rosario Dawson at Tuesday night BonBon hosted by Kenny Kenny and Susanne Bartsch at Juliet Supper Club.

• See also (earlier): "SPOTTED: (Volume 20)"

* With special thanks to Kenny Kenny

wow look what i found. "to mr. fuji’s house of pain…" :)

that’s where i first met gilbert-stafford, at Mr.Fuji’s. how many people went from CoffeeShop to Mr.Fuji’s? there was even a rumor charles-milite almost had a nervous breakdown in the office. [no offense, charles we love you xo.]

what a time.

Rest in Peace, Gilbert Stafford.

♡

(sorry i didn’t make it last night.)

- image courtesy of frank151.com

As the Limelight “Mall” nears completion, PX This would like to mark the occasion by presenting the following excerpts from the upcoming revised edition of PX This (coming soon):

[**warning: Eats, Shoots and Ladders Leaves freaks, please CLICK HERE and HERE before reading any further. then take that favorite book of yours and stick it Read more…

Welcome to: Where I Spent My Day Off —by a NYC Restaurant "Insider"

So, what do you do in the industry?
I’m the General Manager for a [very popular] 160+ seater in midtown.

And you have how many days off a week, generally?
Two.

What did you do for breakfast yesterday?
I hardly ever eat breakfast; I just don’t have the appetite for it most mornings. Just two cups of my special recipe of blended espresso with a lot of hot milk, at home.

Lunch?
My friend and I went to Kelley & Ping, because we were both craving ramen. Normally, we probably would have chosen Ippudo, but I read that thing you guys had about the MSG (LOL)! Somebody should call them or something, and tell them to stop using that stuff; maybe they’re losing a lot of customers! They probably wouldn’t care anyway, though, they’re so busy all the time…
Anyway, Kelley &Ping was good; I still love that place, too.

And afterward?
Walked around SoHo and then stopped in to see our friend who’s a bartender at Balthazar. Had a couple glasses of white wine.

Dinner?
Met another friend at Perilla. I looove Perilla. They have this amazing sea urchin foam thing, and the seafood pasta dish is incredible. Sooo good. Their staff is really great, too— so professional and really nice.
Plus a lovely wine list— some good choices at decent prices. I refuse to go to places that have crappy overpriced wine, which actually, is like, half the places in the West Village.
My friend had "thai sausages" which were just OK, though. We also joked that the execution seemed more "Vietnamese" than "Thai," but whatever. And he also had the burger— was it duck? In any case, he liked it.

And afterward?
We decided to try Avenue, since neither one of us had ever been there before, and we were both curious to see what it looked like. And since it was a weekday and still earlyish, we figured we wouldn’t catch that much of a hassle at the door. Well, we were wrong. We got there probably right before 10PM, but the guy at the door told us it was a "private party" or "reservation only," something like that. We’re not the type to argue our way into places, so we just decided to have a drink at The Park next door instead.
My friend decided to order the mushroom fingers because it sounded weird and intriguing, even though we were both still stuffed from dinner. I only had a couple bites; they were eh, not bad, but not great either.

Then as we were leaving The Park, my friend saw Wass Stevens, whom he knows, manning the door at Avenue. So then we went in.
I mean, so ridiculous— clubs in NY are so retarded now— do you want us, or don’t you? Maybe that other guy was just new or something, but seriously? A guy and a girl at 10PM and you’re going to give us a hard time? Not to sound conceited, but we’re not exactly hideous, you know.
So then we get inside and of course the place is totally empty. As we’re getting drinks at the bar, a waiter recognizes my friend (who’s also in the F&B industry) and takes us to table and says he wants to introduce my friend to the Maitre d’ or whatever. And he offers to send food, but we tell him we’ve already eaten. So then he sends over a mochi dessert! I mean, this is why nightlife is so crappy now. Make up your minds— you don’t want us to come inside, but then when we’re inside you’re happy to see us? So ridiculous.
We didn’t stay very long— we just had the one round.

How much did you blow today?
About $30 during the day, including lunch and half the tip at Balthazar. My friend insisted on paying the check at Perilla, The Park, the two drinks and the tip at Avenue, but I’m going to get the next one. Or maybe I’ll just cook for him.

Welcome to: Where I Spent My Day Off —by a NYC Restaurant "Insider"

So, what do you do in the industry?
I’m an architect, but I worked in the F&B/Nightlife industries for about 8 years as both a waitress and a doorperson at several [very popular] places in NYC.

And you have how many days off a week, generally?
Right now, ostensibly, I have weekends off, but often I end up working one way or another either one or both of those days. When I worked in nightlife, usually I had 2 to 3 days off a week.

What did you do for breakfast yesterday?
I was up pretty early so I ordered room service and had coffee and pastries while I did some work on my laptop. My boyfriend ended up sleeping in ’til later in the morning, which turned out well, since I was able to get a lot more work done. When he finally got up, he said he wasn’t hungry, so we skipped breakfast and headed straight for the beach.

Lunch?
The Setai is very close to the W where we’re staying, so we decided to leave our things and walk over and have lunch at the pool bar there. It’s actually one of my favorite places on the beach; I think the food is great there. We had the caprese salad and the caesar salad, which were both very good, but the ceviche was the best dish of all. It was a twist on a classic ceviche, with sour mango and jicama— so fresh and delicious. I also had a lychee martini, because the Setai makes the best one I’ve ever had— it’s not too sweet, because they use fresh lychee instead of the canned syrupy stuff. I don’t normally go for sweet tropical drinks, but it’s Miami!

And afterward?
Went back to our beach chairs and stayed a few more hours just lounging around. We ordered a bottle of white wine and enjoyed the sun and ocean. What a gorgeous day it was.
Afterward we decided to go for a walk on the promenade, and since we ended up walking farther than we thought, I sent a message to a friend of mine from NYC that we happened to run into the day before at the W bar. I haven’t seen her in years, and she and her husband just happened to be in Miami the same weekend!
She answered my text message pretty quickly, so we decided to stroll over to the Mondrian where they were staying. I had planned at some point to go and see it anyway, so that worked out really well.
When we got to the Mondrian, they were sitting by the pool in a cabana, so we just joined them for a drink. It turns out there’s a great view of the sunset from the bay side of Miami Beach, so it was beautiful to hang out there.
When I’d been booking our hotel for this visit, I actually couldn’t decide between the Mondrian and W, but because my boyfriend likes the beach, I chose the W. Well, evidently, Mondrian guests have access to the Delano beach, which I didn’t realize. If I had known that, I probably would have booked us at the Mondrian instead. It’s a very cute hotel, and even though I think the W is also very nice, somehow the crowd at the Mondrian seems cooler and more urbane to me. I think next time I’ll very likely try staying at the Mondrian.

Dinner?
We left our friends so that they could get showered and ready for dinner and took a walk back down the promenade toward the beach. I guess we were getting tired, because the walk seemed longer, and my boyfriend started feeling hungry. It was still early though (about 6:30PM) so we decided to just pop into Nobu for a light nibble, because he loves it. We weren’t dressed, so we just sat at the bar, which worked out fine, because apparently the dining room doesn’t open until 7PM anyway.
We ordered a medium-sized bottle of sake and had the shishito peppers, the rock shrimp and the yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño. I felt like we didn’t order that much at all, but that still ended up being $144 (including auto-gratuity).

And afterward?
Went back to the hotel to shower. It just so happens our friends that were staying at the Mondrian had reservations at Mr. Chow, so we planned to meet them there later. We weren’t hungry anymore after our meal at Nobu, so we just decided to sit by the pool and have another drink.
We stopped into Mr. Chow to see our friends, and even though we had only planned to join them for drinks and not dinner, it turned out they had two extra seats at their table anyway, so we sat down with them. Since we weren’t that hungry, we just had the chicken satay, the quail lettuce wraps and the shrimp spring rolls (which, obviously, are Mr. Chow classics). There seemed to be a lot of familiar faces there that night, and Michael Chow even stopped by the table to say hello.
Then after dinner, we all decided to check out Wall. Seeing the doorman initially was a turnoff, but he ended up being very nice. Inside was very dark (despite the neon laser light show patterns) and loud, so we ended up just taking a quick look around and leaving, because none of us were feeling into that kind of scene. So we just went to the main lobby bar instead, which was a lot more comfortable and easy-going.

How much did you blow today?
Oh god, I don’t even know. But I guess if I had to estimate? For everything all day? Maybe about $425? (Our friends got the check at Mr. Chow, and my boyfriend paid the tab at the W lobby bar).

Remember Bad Influence?

No?!
Well, do you remember the ostentation and decadence of the 90’s? Do you remember when nightclubs used to be cool? Do you remember when parties were glamorous and fun? Do you remember how you once had a huge crush on Rob Lowe? Do you remember James Spader?

Watch Bad Influence again to reminisce about all those things. (Oh yeah, and the story is pretty enthralling, too, remember?)

OK, we’ll bite.

With a Grand Opening slated for New Year’s Eve 2010, the 16,000 square foot Vanity, located at [7th borough of NYC] Las Vegas’s Hardrock Hotel, is an “eclectic jewel box… adorned with pearls and hand cut crystals fused with bronze and gold metallic surrounded by antique mirrors, rubbed brass and black chrome. The organized chaos of velvets, deep satins and rich tapestries add to the gleaming textures throughout the club creating the perfect backdrop of reflective brilliance. The heartbeat of the club is a cyclone chandelier of over 20 thousand lit crystals bringing the dance floor to life.”

Hmm, sounds… nice?

One question, though: Who the hell is “the Nightlife Group”?
Just curious— enquiring (competitive) minds want to know!

…a toast! Here’s to the wonderful memories— Palladium, Limelight, Club USA and Tunnel. We miss you!

♡

* Limelight photograph by Scott Osman. With thanks to Barbra Mora for the club passes.

yah so. everybody’s been buzzing bout theBoomBoom! and evidently, pxthis was no exception (it also seems we were the ones who got the information correctly the quickest, but hey what else is new).

then apparently yesterday, our ole buddy steve-lewis (and then grubstreet) broke the news "Kamil Parchomienko will handle the room…" !!

wow! and yay!

those of us who know and love and/or remember former original subMercer GM/Maitre d’ kamil-parchomienko (also of MercerKitchen, SunsetBeach, StandardMiami, and StandardLA) are of course totally delighted that kamil, the prodigal son, has returned to NYC after a loooong time away. hooray!
oh but i kinda feel a little bad for him though, cuz i don’t know whether or not kamil will appreciate his name being alls out there right before he is about to open the hottest spot in town. i mean like for example,
we alls know the WaverlyInn’s emil-varda has a fake name (and business cards). i also know two of my pals who run LaEsquina refrain as best they can from giving out their names too. and for sure, back in the day, i rarely ever gave peoples my real name either.
not that "the press" ever gave a shit who the GM or Maiterdees were before, so that’s a new one, but whatever.
but i digress.

anyhoo. steve-lewis goes on to describe "They want to do two seatings, 4–9 for small plates and 10–2/3 for late night. Super high-end Rainbow Room/Rose Bar/Windows on the World style $18–25 drinks and DP by the glass…"

wow again! and uhhh… kinda… THANK GAWD (?!)
i don’t know about you, but i’m a little sick of places that only cater to young unkempt insomniac kids whose trust funds haven’t quite kicked in yet. not that i ever went to any of those places (mostly cuz ha ahaa i couldn’t get in), but i just think it’s really really great somebody is finally thinking of us "olds" (ya know— the ones with TASTE) and giving us a place we can go and have fun before one o’clock in the fucking morning.

oh! yah— and since you were wondering
the answer is YES! that’s the kamil you’re thinking of. of course it is! who else would it be.
he’s also one half the character "michael" in the series (the other half is current BlueHill@StoneBarns GM, philippe-gouze) and if all goes well, he’ll be played by actor (and former clubUSA bartender) darren-kendrick.

hmmm how many is that now? ha ha ha ahaa haaah i’ll give a crisp new benjamin to the first person who can correctly identify every person in the book who now works at theStandard.

*

… came into existence and utterly devastated nightlife, special guests of the clubs were given “drink tickets” as a token of appreciation for their patronage, decorum and all around magnificence. Indeed, the true mark of a PX was measured in the enormity of one’s “stack.” The drink ticket (stamped nightly on the back with varying images) was the one bestowable voucher that could conceivably make an individual more popular than the coke dealer.

Cheers to the good ol’ days.

*Thanks to Joyce Bagner Hetherington