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Gramercy Park Hotel
BlackBook Tells Us the Best Hotels for Modelizing During Fashion Week
September 4, 2008 at 9:35 AM | 0 Comments
It's official. According to insiders at BlackBook Magazine, the two best hotels to spot "fashion royalty" during New York Fashion Week are...
The Gramery Park Hotel and The Bowery Hotel.
Of course you're dying to know why...aren't you?
Already well-established celebrity hangs, from Padma Lakshmi to The LoRon (our new name for the Lohan-Ronson couple), to star-spangled soirees for Ashton Kutcher and even Weinstein brawls, these two are perched atop the A-List.
According to BlackBook, The Gramercy is:
"hosting the launch party for The Rachel Zoe Project on Thursday... the Gramercy is a veritable vending machine of skinny girls air-kissing."
Also you may not want to (or want to) miss this one:
"Intermix is celebrating 15 years of fashion at the Bowery Hotel on Saturday. Expect Olsens."
[Photo via NY Times]
Celebrity Scoop
Nicky Hilton Definitely Not Welcome Inside GPH's Rose Bar
February 6, 2008 at 1:39 PM | 0 Comments
If Ian Schrager and his minions have decided that Paris Hilton and her ilk are not welcome at the hip Rose Bar inside the Gramercy Park Hotel, then her sister Nicky Hilton is certainly not going to get in. And Page Six reports that's exactly what happened to the failed hotelier the other night:
Spies outside spotted her "desperately trying to get in" to the hip hotel's Rose Bar, where Tory Burch, Lydia Hearst, Padma Lakshmi, Vincent Gallo, Brittany Murphy, Stavros Niarchos and Vito Schnabel were toasting Serge Azria's label, Joie.
"Nicky was texting Andy Valmorbida to come out and get her," said the spy. But we hear the billionaire art dealer was too busy canoodling with Lenny Kravitz's ex, Sandy Meyer, to lend the Hilton sister a hand.
Wait a minute! Who let Stavros in??
To see who's allowed in the Rose Bar, click here for a list.
Hotel Bars
Another Day, Another Drama at the Rose Bar Inside GPH
November 13, 2007 at 10:19 AM | 1 Comment
The Rose Bar inside the Gramercy Park Hotel was the scene of another fight, this time involving Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein and the bar's resident DJ, Marcos Udagawa aka Gringo Scarr.
The NY Post reports:
MOVIE mogul Harvey Weinstein had to defend a lady's honor Saturday night when a tipsy deejay landed in the lap of a woman at his table at the Gramercy Park Hotel's Rose Bar and groped her, sources said.
Then apparently the DJ took a swing at Harvey who promptly hauled the guy outta there. But there's been no hard feelings as Marcos sent Harvey an email apologizing for his actions. Even Rose Bar's "creative director" Nur Khan said things were blown out of proportion.
Not that the Rose Bar hasn't had its share of scandal. There were some fisticuffs last April when a club promoter brawled with Nur Khan. And we all know that old men like to squire PYTs here.
Related Stories:
· Mogul Harvey to the rescue [NY Post]
Hotel Restaurants
Manhattan Hotel Restaurants Not Living up to the Hype
September 27, 2007 at 2:45 PM | 0 Comments
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.
Related Stories:
· Follow the Burrata to a Familiar Place [NYT]
· Not So Fine China [NYM]
· Wakiya Review [The Strong Buzz]
[Photo: Evan Sung for The New York Times]
Gramercy Park Hotel
Two New Hotel Deal Websites Might Save You Cash
August 30, 2007 at 1:40 PM | 0 Comments
The newest game in the hotel deals market is 14Trips, a high-luxury-low-price aggregator service that hopes to put people in nice hotels instead of "99-dollar Orlando specials." Sorry, Orlando.
Right now, the site has 369 hotel deals on offer with more to come in the next couple of weeks. But are the deals any good? The Gramercy Park Hotel is listed at $545, about 10% less than we can find on the hotel's website. The bed and breakfast package at The Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire costs $475 through 14Trips--a package listed at $575 on the Four Seasons site.
In other words, you won't be saving a ton, but so far 14Trips looks like a good place to at least check out.
You might also bookmark Farecast, which recently started predicting hotel rates as well as airfares. Farecast's is only scanning the major markets at this point, but at least they show some love for Orlando.
Related Stories:
· 14Trips [Official Site]
· Farecast Hotels [Official Site]
· Hotel Deals coverage [HotelChatter]
Hotel Restaurants
Signature Dishes at GPH's Waikiya Restaurant
August 28, 2007 at 10:47 AM | 0 Comments
Finally, the restaurant atop Gramercy Park Hotel has opened. Wakiya is helmed by executive chef Yuji Wakiya and features "innovative and original Chineses cuisine of Shanghai, Szechwan, Canton and Beijing."
Apparently, famed sushi chef Nobu Matsuhisa recommended Wakiya to Ian Schrager, calling his food "the best Chinese food anywhere." Once Ian Schrager traveled to Tokyo to taste Wakiya's Shanghai-inspired cuisine, he was beyond impressed. He was also in dire need of a restaurant since his original plans with Alan Yau had fallen through.
So far, the reviews on the place have been good. The NY Post said it was "a terrific new Chinese restaurant" although the reservations line is a bit reminiscent of Schrager's old Studio 54.
There were no set menus available for us to take a look at but we did get a list of some of the restaurant's signature dishes:
· Cold Dishes - spicy beef salad with yuzu dressing, seared washu beef with black beans, or bang bang chicken
· Soups - seafood hot & sour soup
· Dim Sum - shanghai soup dumpings
· Hot Dishes - Fiery Pepper Hunt (lobster), tong tsu sea bass, or the sea bass or soft shell crab with golden sand, or the Grilled Washu steak
· Noodles - XO omelet fried rice
Should you wish to dine here, the place is opened from Monday through Saturday from 5:45 to 11:15pm and on Sunday from 5:45 to 10:15pm.
Related Stories:
· Gramercy Park Hotel's Wakiya Restaurant Opening July 24th [HotelChatter]
· SAVE SITUATION [NY Post]
Hotel Restaurants
Gramercy Park Hotel's Wakiya Restaurant Opening July 24th
July 20, 2007 at 12:43 PM | 0 Comments
Page Six reports that Gramercy Park Hotel's restaurant, Watkiya, hosted a "friends and family" tasting the other night that included guests like Helena Christensen, Heather Graham and Chelsea Clinton.
And Eater reports that the restaurant's reservation line is open and they are accepting reservations from July 24th to August 5th.
Per the standard buzztastic protocol, there are no 8 PM tables being awarded, though you can still get 7 PM or 8:30 or later.
Apparently, someone called for a 7pm reservation which they were given in early August and the reservationist said the restaurant would need the table back by 9pm. Typical Schrager service here.
Related Stories:
· Wakiya [Gramercy Park Hotel]
Hotel Restaurants
Bowery Hotel Opens Gemma Restaurant
July 6, 2007 at 1:11 PM | 0 Comments
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.
[Photo: Eater]
Related Stories:
· Breaking: Gemma Open for Business [Down by the Hipster]
Celebrity Scoop
'Top Chef's' Padma Lakshmi Also Allowed into Gramercy Park
June 29, 2007 at 12:29 PM | 0 Comments
The scene at Rose Bar at Ian Schrager's Gramercy Park Hotel has caused us to scratch our heads many a time-- Paris Hilton is not welcome there, yet Mary Kate Olsen is. Anne Heche was spotted there flirting with chicks in the middle of all her divorce stuff, and Lil' Kim's been kicking around that place too.
So the latest in this random assortment of celebs on the GPH rooftop is Padma Lakshmi, the host of Bravo's Top Chef (who is somehow qualified to judge contestants' culinary skills since she's a model that wrote a cookbook.) She's supposedly still married to author Salman Rushdie, who was off last week being knighted by the Queen of England while Miss Padma was at Rose Bar.
Page Six reports:
"Lakshmi was spotted hanging out into the wee hours...with a well-known chef who was there without his spouse. 'They seemed to be quite interested in what each other had to say,' said a witness. 'They were oblivious to the people around them.'"
Omg, please let us find out the "well-known chef" was Mario Batali. Not because of the scandal so much, but because we just want to know whether Schrager would ever let someone into the GPH wearing orange Crocs. We certainly wouldn't.
Related Stories:
· What's Cooking? [PageSix]
Hotel Staff
Wanna Work for Schrager? GPH is Hiring
June 8, 2007 at 9:43 AM | 0 Comments
Every so often we like to look at the hospitality job listings on Craigslist, not because we want a new job, but because we want to see which hotels are hiring for what jobs and whether or not they make you send in your head shots along with your resume.
Schrager did this last year while prepping for this Gramercy Park Hotel opening and now, it seems as if they need a whole new staff. On Craigslist, the hotel is hiring for various positions including, room service waiters, front desk agents, cocktail servers, breakfast servers, housekeeping, mechanics and front desk agents.
The hotel also placed an ad for cooks for the hotel's long-awaited Chinese restaurant, Wakiya
Our new High-End Chinese Restaurant located in Gramercy Park Hotel will soon be having our Grand Opening and are seeking Dim Sum, Line, and Prep Cooks.
No word on when that restaurant opening will be of course. But Eater noticed that interviews for the restaurant staff also took place last month. Their opening guess is July 2007 and indeed the GPH site itself says July 2007.
Related Stories:
· Gramercy Park Hotel Casting Call [HotelChatter]
Celebrity Scoop
Tom Brady 'Allowed' At Gramercy Park Hotel
May 8, 2007 at 1:55 PM | 0 Comments
In town last night for the Costume Institute ball, Patriots QB Tom Brady traded in his Yankees hat for a killer suit but still hung onto his camoflauge sports bag as he left the Gramercy Park Hotel. Also, a minion carried flowers, presumably for supermodel Gisele Bundchen, to the awaiting limo.
We're assuming Brady had no problem getting into Ian Schrager's exclusive Rose Bar or Rooftop Garden Club. But in case you were curious here's a list of who's allowed and who is not, not that we are keeping track or anything.
Allowed:
Christina Ricci, Wynona Ryder, Sean Penn, Lil' Kim, Marisa Tomei, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Rachel Zoe, Kate Bosworth, Posh Spice, Marc Jacobs, Liv Tyler, Rolling Stones, Jack White, Mario Batali, Steve Bing, Kate Hudson and HotelChatter (ok, technically it was the Jade Bar.)
Denied:
Paris Hilton, Alan Yau who was supposed to open Park Chinois restaurant at the hotel, and some club promoter who started a fight there last month.
Related Stories:
· Tom Brady Dressed Up--with a man bag [TMZ]
Gramercy Park Hotel
Gramercy Park Hotel's Rooftop Club Opens, Fight at the Rose Bar
April 23, 2007 at 9:52 AM | 0 Comments
Ian Schrager's long-awaited Gramercy Park Hotel rooftop garden/private club has finally opened. Well, at least for the celebrities and anyone else the hotel deems worthy.
Speaking of who's worthy and who's not, Page Six reports that a club promoter was recently denied entrance to the hotel's Rose Bar and then made a stink about it by brawling.
DON'T expect to see club promoter Ronnie Madras on the Gramercy Park Hotel's swanky new private rooftop any time soon. On Thursday night, the Ian Schrager-owned hotel's normally subdued Rose Bar turned into a boxing ring when the bar's "creative director," Nur Khan, told Madras - who was denied entry but sneaked in anyway - "get the [bleep] out of my bar." The two started brawling in front of onlookers including Sean Penn and Helena Christensen.
A hotel rep says the fight was blown out of proportion but perhaps they need to rethink their door policy. C'mon, Sean Penn was allowed in there?
Meanwhile, back up at the rooftop club, the hotel's web site says you can get anything you want up there from spa treatments to dining to hosting a party. Similar to the Gramercy Park, only members and hotel guests will be able to access this exclusive rooftop setting. Let's just hope people won't be getting spa treatments at the same time someone is trying to eat. Or worse, Sean Penn is getting a spa treatment while someone is trying to eat.
Related Stories:
· Two rounds in Ian's ring [NY Post]
· Gramercy Park Hotel roof club: An eden without an arden? [Gawker]
