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Water, Water Everywhere at The Shoreham Hotel Bar

Where: 33 W 55th St [map], New York, ny, United States, 10019

[Ed. Note: Alex Salkever is the editor of Hawaii travel blog Hawaiirama.com and a general travel maven on all things Hawaii. He also spends a lot of time in and writing about NYC.]

Water, water everywhere and plenty of things to drink at the Shoreham Hotel. The hotel bar at this upscale business hotel is a sleek creature swathed in glass shot-through with bluish threads that give the appearance of peering at a semi-abstract painting of the surface of the sea.

Floor to ceiling windows of clear plate glass on the street side invite gawkers, although this stretch of 55th St. is hardly high traffic. While this beautiful bar is easy on the eyes, the quality of the patrons varies from night to night. If the hotel is stocked with pretty young things they tend to drift downstairs for a pre-club drink and, depending on your disposition, you're in luck.

The bar menu is intriguing although too cute by half. Foie gras spring roll, anyone? Um, pass. The drinks, however, are creative and striking. The house martini, with Skyy melon, Midori, lemon and pineapple juice, is sweet and citrusy without being cloying. If you aren't at the bar then a clutch of low-slung 70-esque leather mini-pod chairs will keep you from hitting the floor.