All of my holiday photos this year are from around 5th Avenue, so mostly the boutiques and department stores. Have a fashionable holiday!
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Happy Hour at ilili
ilili is one of the best happy hour experiences in New York. With $7 cocktails and $5 bottles of beer, happy hour is an amazingly priced alternative to a full dinner (the first entree on the menu will set you back $90, although it is for two). It’s also one of the longer happy hours I’ve seen at a restaurant of this caliber: Monday through Friday from 4-7:30pm. The small bites offered during happy hour can easily serve as dinner, but the regular menu is also offered in the bar area after 5:30pm. …
Flûte Midtown
Saturday night at Flûte Midtown is dark, intimate, and low-key.
We were more intrigued by the signature cocktails than the tasting flights and bottles. Several Champagne Mojitos were ordered on the glowing recommendation from our server. The verdict was split– two of the party loved the Champagne Mojito, two felt it tasted oddly of tonic water. I was puzzled by the $15 half-full sherry glass of Antoinette, a champagne cocktail made with grapefruit-strawberry puree. The presentation threw me, but it tasted as expected, like a drier version of a Bellini. The gin-based, mint, cucumber and champagne Gabriel (also $15) was deemed solid. However, Flûte’s version of the Dark and Stormy ($16) was the clear favorite of the night. The right combination of sweet and savory, lighter than an classic Dark and Stormy but just as enjoyable.
Seating-wise, the couches with plush pillows are comfortable and avoid getting stuck on an ottoman. The choice of music for the night was unexpected, but not bad. I almost felt like I was listening to my Ellie Goulding Pandora station. I did note a surprising lack of Moët & Chandon Impérial on the menu, so the die-hard Moët fan readers (you know who you are) should seek their lifeblood elsewhere.
Flûte Midtown is located at 205 W 54th St between 7th & Broadway. Reserve a table at flutebar.com.
