Late Nite Bites
by Sarah Bragaw and Peter Cassell(Page 2)
On 83rd and Columbus, we found the upscale Fujiyama Mama. Funky and clean, a Japanese restaurant that has come a long way in a few short years. With a live DJ spinning a wide mix of music, this place has a real buzz to it. The menu is huge (twenty some entrees are listed). They put out good, fresh semi-authentic (and expensive) food to a mostly Yuppie crowd nightly until 1 am.
Up the street at Merchants, slinky bartenders (wearing some sort of cat-suit type thing) work a wood panelled space full of nooks and crannies and a horseshoe bar. Beautiful people serve upscale bar food (sandwiches, pasta, salads) at very moderate prices to a social minded and social climbing crowd until 3am. Not just a restaurant, not just a bar, Merchants is both, with an attitude, and it works.
A wine list offers forty wines available by the glass or bottle. The beer list has 15 entries and the martini list has twelve choices, such as the Sunset Martini made with Stoli Ohranj vodka, Angostura Bitters, and an orange peel twist ($6). Yet another list names 17 scotches including MaCallan 25-year old at a fairly reasonable $18 per drink. After three more lists, bourbons, cognacs and beverages ... we had to leave, too much thinking for this trip, but we would make another trip uptown. Or downtown to Merchant's location at 17th and 7th. It is similar to their uptown site, but more casual in surroundings and menu selections. It is definitely the place in this particular neighborhood. Sit downstairs on seriously plush couches.
Uptown east, there's The Velvet Room on E. 76th for Eastsiders who don't feel like traveling for hip. It looks and feels like it is downtown - a cross between Nell's and Jour et Nuit's upstairs. It serves 6pm to 3am and the food is just what you'd expect and not bad. Truly overheard; "why come all the way up here just to sit on another couch." When their garden opens there might be a reason to travel, it looks great.
Further downtown we come to Greenwich Village and Soho and have a hard time deciding where to go. Should we go to the incredibly pretentious, incredibly cool, Raoul's on Prince Street? It has legendary NYC bartender and storyteller Jimmy Gilroy (brother of Billy Gilroy who owns Match and Lucky Strike) behind the bar. Serving delicious pates, mousses and charcouterie, this place is a can't miss - as long as you can get in.
Next Page
© Copyright 1995 Urban Desires
