Dinner with Friends

Kimpton

My husband and I have enjoyed staying in Kimpton Hotels for years. They're high end boutique hotels but at moderate prices. And they have animal print carpeting in the rooms!!

For years however, they had not tried to enter the NY market. I was disappointed by their first NY property as it was all beige and the restaurant was just ok. Finally, last summer they opened 3 NY hotels that are true to form-full of turquoise bubbles or red spaceships but with the famous animal print carpet. I wanted to do an event in one of them desperately and last November I was asked to plan a dinner one evening then an all day meeting the following day-for 125 people. Exciting!!!! Well, Eventi let me down. They refused to sell me the ballroom unless I bought 60 sleeping room which, in my almost 10 year history planning for the company I do I have never needed that many rooms. I cajoled, argued and fought but they wouldn't budge. The hotel feels there's not enough profit in selling NY only meetings, with no sleeping rooms. "What if's" don't pay the rent. It's the company's choice of course, but I spent a lot of money on that meeting, which was fabulous but it was somewhere else. More important than the many thousands of dollars I spent was that they lost my good will. I haven't tried to give them another chance, nor would I recommend any of their hotels to any of the many people who ask me about event space (I work for a company that has about 15 sister companies around the world and somehow everyone from all the companies seems to find me when they need to plan a meeting or event-which makes it a lot of fun for me!). Kimpton in NY lost my goodwill.

Yesterday 3 charming ladies from Kimpton came to my office to talk about this &  that relating to our hotel needs and thoughts. We had a productive and fun meeting. 2 colleagues whose opinion I trust did an event at the hotel a few months ago and had such a wonderful experience that I was willing to give Kimpton another chance but after the meeting, I knew for a fact I would. I still don't agree that they should hold out for a meeting with rooms that they may or may not be asked to plan. Again, "what if's" don't pay the rent. Or, if I plan a meeting for a number of people they tell me no-what if they get a larger meeting-when would they ever sell the meeting room? Nor am I a fan of the restaurants that fall under the China Grill umbrella which theirs does.

We had also been invited to a cocktail party at Eventi to celebrate the hotel's birthday and to show it off. My glam BF and I arrived to a glorious terrace on a beautiful evening and knew almost immediately we would have a grand evening! We were then invited to the second party in FoodParc and we had an absolute BLAST!! (it's a stylish food court that I have wanted to go to since I 've been reading buzzy things about it.  And now I have!) The food and service were fabulous with many of the other guests gorgeously glad in high fashion sorts of things. We met some ultra fab people too!

3 hours of sleep after a black tie burlesque show and 4 hours of sleep after an AMAZING party! I have a flapper's life that is the bees knees and I'll definitely do a do at the Eventi sometime soon!!

Burlesque

The first sultry (and rain free) evening of the season and I had the incredible joy of walking through it in an evening gown and tiara. :)

My glam best friend knew of my need to wear my gown and last Thursday night came the call!! Be ready on Tuesday night-it's a black tie burlesque show at a gorgeous space, called Griffin, in the meatpacking district.

I slipped the heavy silk of my Ralph Lauren gown over my head, buckled my silver shoes, grabbed my vintage bag and off I went to indulge my flapper fantasies yet again.

My glam BF lived up his moniker in the tightest black pants he owns, a satin corset and an amazing long vest.

And, walking through the late streets of Manhattan in an evening gown and a tiara is an incredibly wonderful experience! People looked at us, clearly assuming we were coming or going from something fabulous! And we were!

The show was an extravaganza of drag, of burlesque and of siren songs. We met lovely people from an interesting mix and my heart and soul is bursting with the joy of the evening and having such a friend.

 

 

 

 

The Darby

I do love a good speakeasy. And. I think, we all know why. Last week my glam best friend and I went to the Darby, a new speakeasy that's been on my list since it opened several months ago. And I don't need to go back. It was uneven. The ceiling was gorgeous (red with a sculpted plaid of stainless steel flat bars screwed to it with several chandeliers that were hundreds of strands of silver bugle beads hanging from a criscross circular form. On one side of each chandelier the strands were longer and then twisted into a loose knot but the tables and chairs were awful (washed wood, but in a wierd brown-grey, though you can't tell if you look at the link I've added, it looks much more glam in the photos). The lounge downstairs was one of the ugliest rooms I have ever seen-brown, rust, beige patchwork leather banquets ran all around the room and down the center, with grey vinyl floor tiles covering the floor. Like someone's parents' awful basement recroom from 30 years ago.  I am not doing an event there. The bartender and the bus-staff were wonderful (caring, professional and elegant) but the maitre'ds were snotty. Our waiter was the new annoying breed that wants to "go over" the menu-which translates to "read" the menu to you (WHY???) The food was also uneven, the Brussels sprouts oozed butter into your mouth and balanced against the crispiness of the edges made them one of the better dishes. The chicken liver mousse toasts were terrific, the ricotta cheese crostini were nice (good flavors but it had some long crispy noodle thing on top that kept poking me as I tried to eat it), the tomato soup was delicoulsy creamy but the grilled cheese garnish was a bit off (the toasted peasant bread totally overpowered the melted brie inside).  Dessert however was divine-a chocolate walnut torte, bathed with a chocolate ganache that was so shiny and firm that it truly looked like patent leather. A caramel sauce was strewn around the plate with candied walnuts dropped into it.

The combination of flavors and textures was quite perfect.  

I am glad we went but I don't need to go back.

Do you know what's fun?

Finding things. Shopping my own attic so to speak. I mentioned the evening gowns I bought...I've been thinking about what jewels to wear with the black gown and 2 weeks ago my glam best friend came over for dinner and to look through my earrings with me. I wanted to wear black chandelier earrings but the ones I have were too small for the gown, they were lost, even with my hair up. He mentioned he would like crystal or rhinestone so I thought about my Dior earrings from long ago.

When I was 18 and first started working at Bonwit Teller there was a pair of Dior costume jewelry earrings that I had fallen in love with. I visited them everyday but could not afford the $50 for them. In 1982 that was tres expensive and for a someone working weekends only and going to college that was indeed a big deal. In those days people dressed in evening clothes more often than we do now (which I think is tragic for now) so I would have had places to wear them.  I watched supplies dwindle though and tried to save up for them (I am SO not a saver) and was unsuccessful. Then they were gone.

Sadly, the age old, but moderate department store, Abraham & Straus announced it was going out of business. I was working for a menswear designer at the time, Alexander Julian, and traveled to a different mall every day to check on sales people, merchandise, customers, I gave seminars...I shopped. I found a pair of my beloved Dior earrings on a spinning fixture of Dior earrings at the A & S in Roosevelt Field Mall (it's now, guess what, Macy's-are they taking over the world or what?!?!?!). They were 60 percent off!!!!!!!! I grabbed them!!!!!!!!

They are about a 1/2 inch wide, a half moon covered in columns of tiny "diamond" chips, they clip onto my ear and I still adore them. I wore them a few times over the years, they are very elegant and can really work in all seasons. If it's a minimalist (I choke on minimalism) moment they are small enough to be a small sparkle. If it's a maximalist moment (I revel in these moment's and this one has lasted several years I'm happy to report, though I think in the next year or two it might...dare I say... end) then I can layer my earrings with many other pieces of jewelry.

With my glam BF in my dressing room with me I went to the box I kept them and the box was, alas, empty. It means of course that I put them into an evening bag or a pocket and now I have to go through all my bags to try to find them. I think tomorrow afternoon I'll have time to do that. I looked in another drawer for them and instead found dozens of pairs of Dior earrings-I must have cleaned up at that A & S sale after all. I did find these beauties

 
and will probably wear them with my gown, quite happily. But I still would like to know where my earrings are.

Friday when I came home I looked through most of my 7 evening bags and didn't find them.  I can't think of an evening outfit that would have pockets.  I must keep searching...