24 Hours in SoHo
Sunday, April 8, 2007 at 4:39PM 
Manhattan is so peaceful from up here...Greetings from West Broadway and Canal! Yes, Ms. P&C finds herself in the thick of downtown Manhattan, happily tucked into a beautiful room within the SoHo Grand Hotel. A totally unexpected business trip has come up, and luckily a meeting "first thing Monday" predicates my being in New York on Sunday...things could be worse!
After a bit of a luggage snafu coutesy of the snarky people at United Airlines, I finally arrived in the city late last night. My old friend Pierre was ready to meet for a cocktail-gossip session, so we finally hit the cold night at around 11PM, with absolutely no idea of where we'd go. As we started to walk through SoHo, Pierre thought of Merc Bar over on Mercer Street. We arrived at the sleek doorway, only to be told that we'd have to wait "behind the rope" for some other people to leave before we could go inside. Here we go. Dude - I just got off of a cross-country flight, with all kinds of typical bullshit airline shenanigans, and now I need to wait to get a drink? I don't think so. Even at home, I am not one to be kept waiting to simply belly up to a bar - I mean, gimme a break, there are watering holes every five feet in this city and we're waiting here in the cold? This is a joke. When I finally asked Pierre if we should consider going somewhere else, the bouncer approached...: "We can let you in now if you want to be seated, but if you want to stand, you'll have to wait." Hunh? Um...okay, we'll take the seats, I guess? Excellent choice.
How very civilized New York is - they really have the nightlife thing down pat. I mean, how many bars have you been in where people simply cluster and drape over every empty table top? Not so at Merc Bar. The empty tables are given a "reserved" sign, and should anyone sit down that the hostess doesn't know about, they're quickly shooed away by the nasty glare of her pocket flashlight. This is one classy operation.
Pierre & I took a seat, and I looked around the room - the exposed beams, brickwork, black & white photos, and canoe on the ceiling made me think I was inside of an Abercrombie & Fitch store. It's true - Merc Bar has that classic Adirondack look about it, but the crowd was cool, and the tunes were downright excellent, if overwhelmingly loud...but in a good way. The music was of the late-nineties "frat party" type: a little U2, a little bit of The Cure, a little Led Zeppelin, and a little bit of Tribe Called Quest. You know, familiar, relaxing, and fun. Pierre and I quickly settled in with some cocktails and had one of our long, drawn-out gossip-fests... God, I miss having you around full-time P!
Three Manhattans later...I return to my hotel at about three AM. Someone please explain why more cities don't have the extra-long drinking hours like New York? How much fun would we have in San Francisco if we could make the night go that much longer? I hate being forced to turn into a pumpkin at 2AM - regulations are ruining our social lives!
My sister and brother-in-law, Maura & Brian, made brunch plans for 12:15 at The Stanton Social, which although isn't that far away, is somewhat difficult to find. Even my cab driver didn't know how to get there - he asked me, and I said: "hey man, you're the cab driver..."
The Stanton Social is not to be missed: everything is family-style small bites. As my brother-in-law said, "you just order everything and everyone shares..." Or, in our case, we just let him do the ordering for everyone. There were seven of us, and between the little tacos, mini bruschettas, and dumplings of this and that, we were all happy campers. My late-night head especially loved the three-bite Kobe beef sliders...ooooh yummy! Even the bloody mary's and coffee were perfect - no small feat in New York. Overall, The Stanton Social was utterly delicious.
When we parted from our friends, we wandered over to McNally Robinson for a great Sunday afternoon book browse. I was totally captivated by Penguin books "Great Ideas" series, with letter-pressed covers - I almost bought a few, but wondered if I really needed to struggle through Sun Tzu's The Art of War - um, maybe next time. Their fashion section was amazing, and I found yet another Assouline Memoire that I must have, Costumes of Light, about the gorgeous outfits that professional bullfighters get to wear. I also saw Fairchild's Dictionary of Textiles - 7th Edition which had me drooling. Meanwhile, Brian picked up a book on the Dominican Republic, as well as Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker, and Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye. McNally Robinson clearly had the "easy like Sunday morning" atmosphere, (even if it was the afternoon,) locals gathering in the cafe, people reading in the aisles, and yet the place doesn't feel like a scuzzy-BoHo sort of place. It's clean, beautiful, well-organized, and full of both unusual and classic tomes. Definitely the kind of bookstore I wish was in my neighborhood.
My sister & I left Brian to get some work done at home, while we went to get our nails done. Jin Soon is a little corner of bliss in the big city - a clean, serene, zen-like spot for great buffs and polishes. Our feet soaked in sea-salt water with a soupcon of grapefruit essence, as we began to have a good chat - which rarely happens with bi-coastal sisters. Oh, and the pedicure I received was possibly one of the best ever. When we left Maura told me that Jin Soon is one of her favorite places to go...I had to agree. If I had a spot like this within my five-block-radius, I'd be pretty excited too. But where my sister has Jin Soon, my brother-in-law has Murray's Cheese...and they could quite possibly roll down the street to both places from their new apartment. Living south of 14th Street truly must be rough.
And so, here I am, back in my hotel room appointed with Frette-linen and HBO (yeah Sopranos!,) watching the traffic approach the Holland Tunnel.
I like to visit New York from time to time, just to remind me of all the reasons why I love California. But I will admit, New Yorkers have it pretty good.
Merc Bar - 151 Mercer Street @ Prince
The Stanton Social - 99 Stanton Street @ Ludlow
Jin Soon Hand and Foot Spa - 23 Jones Street @ Bleecker
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