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Drink Up will be a regular bar review column appearing Friday afternoons, in hopes that it'll give you a new (or old) spot to check out over the weekend. Enjoy, and drink up!
Gothamist was curious as to what George Ruotolo (Tribe, Vig Bar) had up his sleeve when he and partners opened PS 450 in the unsettled area of north Murray Hill. We bravely ventured above 14th Street to report and were immediately put off by an entrance that owes too much to the W hotel chain. The front of the venue wants to inhabit a middleground between martini bar and club with its requisite dj alternating bossa nova and standards and good (read: dim) lighting.
Quick, attentive staff and a great second bar in the back (perfect for private parties) made us remember there is more to the place than the bankers and the bleached blondes that love them by the door. The weeknight we visited, the back room was host to a private wine tasting and the party was effortlessly separate from the after-work crowd. At nearly a dozen ingredients, the “Perfect Margarita” ($12) has a juice too many but the “Park Avenue Lemonade” (also $12) is nearly perfect - the soda adds a sass that reminds us why lemonade is the one non-alcoholic beverage we can wax poetic about in the summer. This version owes a lot to Hampton Chutney’s (Prince at Lafayette) orange blossom infusion and we hope that the one will be the afternoon to the other’s evening drink this spring.
Though Gothamist prefers to get all our calories from alcohol, martinis are available with food and the fries are definitely worth the $6. PS 450 is still figuring out what it wants to be, but right now it’s a great place for an expense account fueled private party or consoling drink with a friend just coming to terms with selling their soul to work nearby.
Photo courtesy of Noah Kalina.
PS 450, 450 Park Avenue South at 30th Street, (212) 532-7474.
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what a dork comment, "we bravely ventured above 14th street". truly only a comment uttered by transplants from the midwest or former bridge and tunnel. looooooser. no wonder now it's more annoying downtown then it's even been.
that's right near my job but I can't justify spending $12 on a 'perfect' margarita or lemonade when I can get two beers or two well drinks for that price.
I work by this place so our happy hour crew checked it out right after it opened....really good and big martinis and a nice bar food selection.
as for anna's comment: as someone that's lived above 14th, below 14th and in other boroughs, i can't help but agree that "we bravely ventured above 14th street" is a pretty short-sighted (and obnoxious) thing to say.
$12 drinks, doesn't sound like a "regular" bar. What kind of beer do they have on tap?
yeah man, me and my bros went to this place for a few cold ones after work one day, and all I can say is this:
What's the deal with that bald goateed guy doing a split in new_york_rose's face directly to the right? is that some sort of in-u-end-oh? I mean she's grinning like she likes it and all, but that dude is gross, 4 real. just gimme a call, baby, and me & my bros be to yr place double-quick. just make sure you can hang with flexible frankie, roller skating limbo champ of Sincinnatti 22 years running.
and here's a yell to KS from the HH krew! aye.
mmm ... bleached blondes, bankers and $12 sweet chick drinks. (gag)
I went to this place during march madness and it was great!
Whoa, harsh but that first comment was well deserved . Author of review sounds like a transplant that has been reading to many "how to be a cool New Yorker" articles.
Since when is 30th and Park ave so. north of murray hill?? maybe you kids are right about the transplant theory...and maybe gothamist should make sure their writers are actually familiar with gotham neighborhoods. tsk tsk.
This place wasn't too bad. A friend of mine suggested it and it was a very mixed crowd when I went. I went on a Wednesday night and it was pretty packed early on.
I would have liked it a lot more if I could only remember this really cool girl's name to whom I was talking! I kept calling her by her friends' name and she corrected me a couple of times and eventually and rightfully so, she just gave up after a while. I wasn't drunk, I just have very poor short term memory. So my apologies Susan...or Michele. Damn!
Olive: update your perscription, dear. She said "of north murray hill", not "north of murray hill".
I'll assume all the obnoxious, rude comments about "venturing above 14th Street" are from people who live above 14th Street, and are therefore very jealous. To those, I say: nya-nya-nya-nya-NYA-nya! Don't fret - I hear the Bronx is a nice place to live, too.
Now I understand why gawker sites have no comments. It becomes a retard hate-fest.
"prescription". Retards: takes one to know one.
L'Emm,
I live downtown (and have for a long time) and found the "ventured about 14th st" comment to be just ridiculous and unneccessary and just contributes to the whole 'sex and the city'fying of the city attitude that seems rampant these days. It was just asinine and smacks of "trying to be cool." And I would daresay that anyone defending that line is a downtowner midwestern transplant defending another.
God, People.
Manhattan is small enough without having these stupid turf wars between yuppies. Stop acting like it's a big fucking deal to take the subway a few more stops.
And yes, 30th St is most definitely NOT "north" murray hill.
Call it Murray Hill, call it North Murray Hill, the area is a barren wasteland full of those "Sex and the City" yuppies you seem to detest.
Also, if Martha rarely goes above 14th Street, isn't this just stating a fact? God knows I rarely venture to midtown or uptown outside of work. Why should I? Outside of the occasional restaurant or museum, there is no reason to.
As for midwest, well, if Astoria is located in the midwest, then I guess I was born in the midwest.
If the people who waste so much time with rude, pointless comments about a bar review re-routed some of this energy into political activism or charity, maybe you would have some credibility when complaining about "yuppies" and "trying to be cool".