10011-5020 Travel Guide
Hotel News / Celebrity Scoop / Dream Hotels / Vikram Chatwal / Hotel Woes / Hotelier News / → All Tags
A New Low? Vikram Chatwal Gets Kicked Out Of His Own Hotel
The downstairs restaurant at Dream Downtown hasn't exactly had an easy run. First, it opened as the "theatrical dining" concept Romera, by neurologist-turned-chef Miguel Sanchez Romera. The NY Times panned it. Then, earlier this year, a BondSt sushi spin-off opened in the form of Japanese-French fusion joint Cherry.
And now, the NY Post reports that, after an "altercation" inside Cherry, hotelier Vikram Chatwal was thrown out of his own hotel. Yikes.
Hotel Rooftops / Hotel Bars / Dream Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Party Hotels / Hotel Nightclubs / VIP Hotels / → All Tags
How Easy Is It Getting Up To The Dream Downtown's Rooftop?
Oh, Dream Downtown. In a perfect world, we'd love you all the way. But you sure don't make yourself easy to get to!
Back a few weeks ago, we thought we were doing y'all a favor by posting our list of which hotel rooftop bars to hit up on which days of the week, but since we've gotten some flack on the feasibility of actually getting past the door and up to some of those places, we thought we'd offer some advice on entering one in particular, PhD at Dream Downtown.
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The Dream Downtown Is Getting All Chic With A New Boutique
Since it opened last summer, the Dream Downtown has consistently engaged us with its pretty and unusual public spaces (see: the bubble-licious lobby, Christmas at the Dream and the "beach").
Now, a new retail space, named Safira, is being added to the giant lobby, and it will function as the hotel's go-to spot for a whole slew of fancy thingamajigs and what's-its like silky dresses, perfumes, art books and sunglasses. Dream is referring to the shop as an "inventory of must-have brands from around the globe." Well, "must" is a relative concept, but we doubt they'll have any trouble luring guests in. The fact that Safira is located right next to the elevators doesn't hurt, either.
Celebrity Scoop / Justin Bieber / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Dream Hotels / → All Tags
How Many Justin Bieber Bodyguards Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb?
Well, judging from how many of them it takes to babysit him while he eats dinner, we're guessing: a lot.
The Biebs was spotted at New York's Dream Downtown on Saturday night, dining at Marble Lane with his pal Usher. According to Page Six, the pair stopped in for a late dinner, and were taken to a corner booth of the ground-floor restaurant. Surrounding them throughout the entire meal were four bodyguards, plus an extra "lookout guy" to make sure no one came close enough to swipe their bread sticks.
Hotel Restaurants / Manhattan Hotels / Dream Hotels / VIkram Chatwal / Hotel Tasting Menus / → All Tags
The NY Times Liked The Curtains At Romera, But the Food, Not So Much
Romera is located in the Dream Downtown's basement, and its chef Miguel Sanchez Romera, is a former neurologist who decided to show the world how he thought molecular gastronomy should be done. But judging from Pete Wells' recent review for the New York Times, the various tasting menus, (6-course, $125 ; 9-course, $185; 12-course, $245) sound more like a tutorial in how to make very pretty food art.
Disappointing—and kind of ironic—for the Dream Downtown, which until now had proven to be an exceptionally pretty addition to the NYC hotel scene. A "Romerian mosaic" (the pattern of brightly colored spices and powdered vegetables seen above, and on many of the dishes) would be great to look at in a museum. But for dinner? Folks wanna munch, not ponder!
Holiday Hotels / Hotel Christmas Trees / Hotel Art / Hotel Lobbies / Manhattan Hotels / → All Tags
The Dream Downtown's Christmas Might Just Go On Forever
Forever in search of Christmas cheer (even with only two days to go!), we poked our heads inside the Dream Downtown to see what they had cooked up. And boy were we not disappointed! The entire lobby has been transformed into a winter wonderland. From the snow white peacock greeting visitors at the front door, to the giant polar bear towering over by the back windows, you feel like Santa's about to walk in at any moment. The friendly-looking reindeer peeking out from behind a cluster of evergreen trees (above) certainly doesn't detract from the illusion either!
As it turns, the hotel enlisted the services of an upstate New York taxidermist, who, apparently, did such a great job that Dream is now considering making the as-yet-unnamed polar bear a permanent member of the space. Unsurprisingly, the feedback from guests has been extremely positive. What bad things are there to say about a polar bear?
