Or so it seems like there were a thousand stars at the Bowery Hotel last night, judging from an item in today's Page Six.
The hotel hosted an after-party for a screening of the Bob Dylan biopic, "I'm Not There." Heath Ledger who has lost his good looks faster than Britney Spears lost her kids was there as well as Adrien Grenier, Julianne Moore, Richard Gere and Jason Bateman.
But apparently the hotel couldn't handle all the star wattage.
In order to clear the way for the slew of celebs, hotel staffers had to shuffle guests like Simon Doonan and Amy Hilfiger, who were there celebrating the Adam Moss-hosted launch of New York magazine's latest biannual fashion book, "Look," off the deck.
Some big-name reviewers have recently stopped by a couple of big-time New York hotel restaurants, and all in all, they're not too impressed. But Gemma, at the Bowery Hotel is doing better than Wakiya at the Gramercy Park Hotel, it seems.
New York Times critic Frank Bruni thought, like we did, that the gnocchi were great:
Among the pasta dishes and main courses, there was plenty to savor. Soft, light gnocchi met a meaty Bolognese, while the rich, salty sauce of pork sausage, tomatoes and cream over one night's special of squiggly strozzapreti was superb.
Bruni didn't care too much for the slickness of the place, though, even though varnish and patina are central design elements. It's too stylish to be a real restaurant, he figures, though with Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson behind the project, what would he expect?
Wakiya, too, is a place more focused on the scene than the food, but that's not serving it well. Adam Platt of New York Magazine even felt fit to give it zero stars, and the eternally verbose Andrea Strong won't be going back, after getting terrible service.
HotelChatter has been holed up in the Bowery Hotel and we are mightily impressed. Initially, we were skeptical to book the Bowery Hotel despite a pretty good rate of $375 a night. And yes, it's sad that $375 is a good rate but honestly, we were scouring NYC for reasonable prices and anything under $500 was a steal. (Of course, we're talking about hip boutique hotels.)
But back to us being skeptical of the Bowery. Initial reports of the neighborhood as us scared about staying here alone (i.e. nearby methadone clinic, homeless man selling a stereo, etc.) Ulimately we decided we needed a little more danger in our life, so we went ahead and booked it. We even took the plunge by upgrading to a Bowery King room for $425 which still beats the $625 the Gansevoort was asking.
While the competition down the road at Cooper Square might be coming down, The Bowery Hotel has finally opened its restaurant, Gemma.
The Down by the Hipster Blog received a tip saying that the hotel's restaurant opened last Friday with absolutely no fanfare but that by 9:30pm the place was packed.
A commenter on the DBTH story had this to say of the service:
The service was like dating an investment banker... it seemed that they forgot about us, then remembered and would be all over us, then forget about us again and on and on.
Yikes. But the food did get pretty good raves. And Eater was in there before the place opened and says its got massive potential.
Meanwhile, we are still awaiting the opening of Gramercy Park Hotel's Wakiya restaurant which they say will open in mid-July.
Outdoor space is a rarity in New York City so when a hotel room comes with a guaranteed spot on a romantic patio take it, even if said property is the technically-open-for-business-but-technically-not-finished Bowery Hotel.
One of our tipsters is in love. Yup, that's right. In love with the Bowery Hotel, the new Lower East Side hotel from Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode that is just so hot right now--well except for that meth clinic thing. According to our friend the hotel's restaurant Gemma is coming along nicely and the terraces on the hotel's Terrace Suites are going to get some outdoor jacuzzis which just sounds unreal.
In fact, our tipster is so in love with the BH, he had this to say:
"I Love the Bowery Hotel So Much I Want to Take it Behind A Middle School and Get it Pregnant! And You will too.
For all of you who don't know, that's a line from 30 Rock's character Tracy Jordan. But shame on you if you haven't been watching that show this season.
MORE on our tipster's sick and disturbing love for the Bowery after the jump.
These days everyone is looking for four bar, non-complicated, hotel WiFi when they check in. Sure there are a bunch of hotel WiFi lists out there, but they are quickly out of date and unreliable. This week, as a lead up to our popular annual hotel WiFi report, we will let you know our favorite WiFi hotels in five hot travel destinations. The rules are simple. The signal has to fast, and reliable, the cost should be free (at the very least free for guests) and the WiFi experience at these hotels offer a comfortable surfing environment. Have a city or destination you want us to investigate? Let us know. And if you have a favorite WiFi hotel you are willing to share, no matter where it is send it our way.
The Bowery Hotel is one of the newest hotels in New York and one with a lot of buzz. Say what you will about the location, the knife fights and the homeless man/stereo salesman, the hotel has free, fast, working wireless. A friend of HotelChatter recently stayed there and said signing on was easy--just find the Bowery Hotel network and you're good to go.
Best Part: Naturally, being a hot hotel like the Bowery means you as a guest might be able to witness some celeb events like this Chanel Dinner that was attended by Sarah Michelle Gellar. If you're not into celebs and prefer to hole up in your room, then the giant factory windows like the one above should making doing work not feel so work-y.
Also with the exception of the Tribeca Film Festival this week and next, rooms at the Bowery are nowhere near Schrager prices ($550 and up) with a queen room available for $375.
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by juliana
