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Tags: Wine Travel / Interactive Menus / Technology Travel / Wine Bars / → All Tags

Pick Your Poison Via Touch Screen At Clo Wine Bar In NYC

Lovers of interactive restaurant menus (a geeky group we do admit belonging to) need to know about a wine bar in New York that's got the geek thing going: Clo, on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center.

Whether you know heaps about wine or only care whether it's red or white on a given night, you will probably have a lot of fun choosing your wine using Clo's "motion-activated" touch screen list. Not only that, you can pay by credit card and then—the ultimate geek touch—the wine is automatically dispensed into your glass, in 2oz or 4oz measures. No waiters required. And they have some special preservation system in place so all those open bottles of wine don't go bad.

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Tags: Museum of Arts and Design / Museums / Wine Bars / → All Tags

New York Museum Adds Pop-Up Wine Bar With Central Park Views

Manhattan’s Museum of Arts and Design most likely doesn't make your list of must-stops for an NYC cultural crawl, despite the allure of their spiffy new Columbus Circle digs.

So the contemporary art spot is following in the lead of MoMa, the Guggenheim and other stuffy art institutions that have realized you can’t attract nearly as many patrons with actual art as you can with a nightclub atmosphere and booze. There's just something about drinking in a museum that feels so wrong but so right.

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Tags: Summer-Signature-Cocktails-Map / Drinking Travel / New York City / → All Tags

The Very British 'Pimm's Cup' Gets Adapted For Summer In NYC

While the summer is at its peak and you're no doubt tired of chugging bottled water under the sun at tourist sites, we're going to hit some of the world's best watering holes and down their famous summer cocktails. Bottoms up!

Whoever says you have to be at Wimbledon or at some stuffy polo match in order to enjoy a nice Pimm's Cup obviously hasn't swung by any of Gordan Ramsay's restaurants. For those of you who head to the city in the summer instead of the beach, Ramsay's London Bar on West 54th Street in New York City puts a twist to the classic to make it even more fresh, more thirst-quenching.

It's called the Pimm & Proper, and although it's $16 at The London Bar, it's hard to find a good variation on a regular Pimm's Cup outside of England, so drink up. As a typical summer cocktail, the Pimm's is ubiquitous across the Atlantic, but Ramsay knows just what to do get us salivating; make it fruitier:

· Pour 2 oz of Pimm's No. 1 into a tall glass
· Add 1 oz Grey Goose L'Orange
· Add 1 oz Lillet Route (a French aperitif wine)
· Fill glass with 3-4oz of seltzer or ginger beer
· Top with a dash of cranberry juice and a sprig of fresh mint

Related Stories:
· The London Bar NYC [Official Site]
· Summer Cocktails Map [Jaunted]

[Photo: The London Bar]

Tags: Twitter / Jetblue / Southwest Airlines / Airline Parties / → All Tags

Guitar Hero Showdown: These Are Your Airlines On Twitter

Last night at an unassuming bar in Midtown Manhattan, we ordered up some mozzarella sticks and raised a beer to the first official Guitar Hero showdown between airline Twitter representatives. It was, as you can imagine, a combination of video games, general nerdiness, and hilarity which made the event a success.

Appropriately enough, the idea for a Guitar Hero match between the two top Twittering airlines of Jetblue and Southwest Airlines gathered strength at the music and media SXSW festival back in March. Both Jetblue's Morgan Johnston and Southwest's Christi Day were there and discovered that they'd both be in Manhattan in May for yet another conference, so why not pep up the festivities?

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Tags: Tourists / Technology / Tourism Boards / Tourism Marketing / New York City Travel / → All Tags

New York City Wants Tourists to Touch Their Technology

What is New York City to its tourists but a loud, crass and hectic metropolis centered around areas like Times Square and Fifth Avenue, places that only further the frenetic mood. Seeking to counter this as well as bolster their own resources, the tourist board opened the starkly fresh "Official NYC Information Center" in Midtown this January.

Nestled into a storefront on Seventh Avenue between 53rd and 52nd Streets, the friendly space designed by WXY Architecture is packed to the gills with user-friendly technology. It's pretty much a confused tourist's dream, with touch-screen map tables which can help you to create personalized city itineraries, along with the ability to browse free events and NYC Visit's "Just Ask the Locals" feature.

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Tags: Top Chef Travel / Food Travel / Reality Television Travel / Restaurants / Eric Ripert / → All Tags

Chef'Testants are No Match for Eric Ripert

The Top Chef'testants had a particularly tough time with this week's challenge--reproducing a dish from guest judge Eric Ripert's legendary seafood restaurant Le Bernardin. We were a little disappointed with the chefs' output (especially Leah, how did she not go home?!), but the episode certainly did get us salivating to try the real deal--Ripert's classic French dishes like black bass tartare, poached escolar, and pan-roasted monkfish.

So we're wondering--just how hard is it to get into Le Bernardin nowadays? Reservations are notoriously difficult to come by (on the first business day of every month, they become available for the month after that, and their phone lines get busy quickly), but it turns out you can get around that if you're willing to eat super-late. We just did an OpenTable search and found tables for two available tonight at 10pm, and Friday and Saturday at 11. Not so hard after all!

Of course, you still have to be willing to pay for all that fishy goodness. The lunch prix fixe is $68, dinner is $109, while the extravagant chef's tasting menu is $185 a head.

Oh, and bonus news for all you Ripert-heads: Looks like he's enjoying this TV thing. Ripert will get his own show, "Avec Eric," coming to PBS this fall.

· Le Bernardin [Official Site]
· Checking In At Jamie's Place [Jaunted]

Photo: [Bravo]

Tags: Recession Restaurants / Recession-Restaurants-Map / New New York Restaurants / Mario Batali / → All Tags

Bon Appetit Supper Club & Café

What’s a foodie to do when times get tough? Jaunted has you covered with our list of high-class restaurants with recession-era pricing.

Up next is Bon Appetit Supper Club & Café. The food magazine is sponsoring this pop-up restaurant, which recently took off for it’s second annual outing in midtown Manhattan. The supper club part consists of by-invitation-only dinners, but for the rest of us, the cafe is serving up lunches from celebrity chefs at pauper prices--but only through October 31.

Stop by this week to sample offerings like Mario Batali’s empanada with chorizo, pancetta, peppers and onions ($8); Charlie Trotter’s grilled beef tenderloin and blue cheese salad ($9); and Cat Cora’s chickpea and roasted red pepper soup ($5.50).

And check out our other frugal foodie ideas on Jaunted’s Recession Restaurants Map.

Related Stories:
· Bon Appetit Supper Club & Café [Official Site]
· Recession Restaurants Map [Jaunted]

[Photo: Bon Appetit Supper Club]

Tags: Museums / Art / Design / → All Tags

New Museums Travel: Art and Design in NYC

We love it when the right things end up in the right place, like the excellent, soon-to-open (Sept. 27) new space for the Museum of Arts and Design. You can't miss the building: It's the sleek, tower originally done in 1964 by Edward Durell Stone on Columbus Circle.

With more than double the exhibition space of the current location (including, for the first time ever permanent gallery space), a restaurant on the ninth floor (with sweeping views of the park) and a Tiffany & Co. Foundation Jewelry Gallery on the second floor, it's definitely a step up for the museum.

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Tags: Museums / Art / → All Tags

Dalí Travel: Painting and Film at the MoMA

September around the corner means it's time for a dose of cultural inspiration pronto. Head to the Museum of Modern Art through September 15 to see Dalí: Painting and Film, which explores the mega-role that films and cinema played in the artist's work.

With more than 130 paintings, drawings, scenarios and films by Salvador himself, the exhibit delves into his true passion--cinema--which served to ignite his creativity in other media. Collaborations of his work with various filmmakers are staged right alongside relevant paintings and drawings.

This one's not for the faint of heart though, as Dalí had an eye for the macabre. To wit: Un Chien Andalou, a film made together with Luis Buñuel, features the gag-worthy sequence of a human eye being slit by a razor. Creepy!

Oh, and can't make it to the museum with your busy fall schedule--or just want to save yourself $20? Check out the online exhibit instead.

Related Stories:
· Dalí: Painting and Film [Official Site]
· Museums coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: king.jabe]

Tags: New-York-Spas-Map / Spas / Yoga / → All Tags

New York Spas: Finding Our Doshas

Tranquility in the big city might sound like an oxymoron, but we decided to suspend our disbelief long enough to check out The Chopra Center & Spa, located in a gold and saffron-hued subterranean space at The Dream Hotel. The primary draw? The facility was co-created by renowned wellness guru and self-help specialist Deepak Chopra, an endorsement that actually gave us some hope we'd be walking away feeling healthier--if not less stressed.

We went for a balancing facial based on the principals of Ayurveda, an ancient Indian science that attempts to harmonize one's mind-body type, or dosha. As our therapist did the assessment of our type, we asked so many questions that she had to gently remind us that Ayurvedic healing is something best experienced--not understood through the mind. So we settled in on the table and completely relinquished control for the next 80 minutes as she steamed, massaged and moisturized our congested skin. We surrendered so much that we actually drifted off.

In addition to facials, the Chopra Center has bodywork treatments and other spa services. Guests can also sign up for yoga classes or join in on complimentary guided meditation sessions. We would have stayed on to explore the pathway to enlightenment, but you know, we had to hightail it back downtown before our dry cleaner closed.

Related Stories:
· Chopra Center & Spa [Official Site]
· Spas coverage [Jaunted]
· The Dream Hotel [HotelChatter]

Tags: Celeb Travel / Karaoke / Ne-Yo / Tyra Banks / Beyonce / → All Tags

Is Fancy Karaoke The New Bottle Service?

They could have models and bottles, but all they want are Madonna and "Friends in Low Places." Hip hop stars flocked last week to Spotlight Live, the Times Square karaoke bar which is just a more expensive version of those divey party rooms. The extra price gets you back-up singers and a band, which apparently was enough to entice Naughty By Nature to perform at the spot during a Bad Boy entertainment party last week.

Mya, Ne-Yo and Beyonce have all reportedly stopped by Spotlight Live to belt out bad karaoke tracks. Unfortunately none of these performers were stupid enough to get caught on camera, but Tyra Banks was not so lucky when she decided to perform "Proud Mary" last year; Best Week Ever has the video.

Oh, and since every performance at the bar is broadcast to the street below, you could see someone famous, too!

Related Stories:
· New York's Hottest Tuesday Night Ticket [MTV]
· Clubland's Toughest Door Is in, uh, Times Square? [NYM]
· Karaoke coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: jwillys]

Tags: Museums / Art / Design / → All Tags

Prefab Houses Coming to Midtown Manhattan

New York's Museum of Modern Art is gearing up for a new outdoor show of prefabricated housing. After inviting roughly 400 architects to submit plans for pre-made dwellings, MoMA has picked five to erect in a vacant lot next to the museum on 53rd Street.

While the show doesn't officially open until July 20, the process of turning the empty lot into a mini neighborhood is part of the fun. Foundations will be laid in February and the homes will arrive in late May, popping up in next to no time. Design geeks who can't make it to NYC can follow the progress of the installation online, as the architects blog at MoMA.org.

If you can't wait for spring, the museum has a couple design-focused exhibits indoors. The text-focused collection 50 Years of Helvetica continues until March, showing off the typeface you'd recognize from American Apparel's advertising. Starting February 24, Design and the Elastic Mind promises to explore "the relationship between design and science and the approach to scale," which probably means something to you if you're into design.

Related Stories:
· Is Prefab Fab? MoMA Plans a Show [NYT]
· Seurat at MoMA [Jaunted]
· Museums coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Horden Cherry Lee]