Sorry to start the day on a note of bitter envy, but check out all these really, really, ridiculously good looking places we can't get into nor afford! While their styles are somewhat disparate, they do share one thing in common: they all sprang from the minds of Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch, the hip couple behind design firm Roman and Williams. SO hot right now—but you might not know it if you can't afford a room at The Standard, or can't wait hours for a table at The Breslin or The Standard Grill, or have naively tried to visit that insane Mordor-esque red-glowing bar, formerly known as The Boom Boom Room, atop the 18th floor of The Standard. (To be fair, impecunious nobodies are perfectly welcome to buy a coffee from Stumptown and drink it in the lobby of The Ace Hotel.) more ›

After two entertaining yet vicious slams on Hotel Griffou and Gus & Gabriel, interim Times dining heavy Pete Wells throws a one-star bone to The Standard Grill, which has been winning over critics despite the grotesquely exclusive velvet rope scene at the door. Wells declares that "it is not the place I would send friends who want to study the latest contortions of the yoga masters of haute cuisine. But it is exactly where I would direct anybody who needs to recharge by plugging straight into the abundant, renewable energy source that is downtown Manhattan." And yet! "The tiled, barrel-vaulted ceiling makes for treacherous acoustics. At times conversations across the room are beamed directly to your table. Sitting by the open kitchen one night, we heard an expediter shouting out orders as if he were communicating with cooks in Jersey City." Still, "with 100 seats in this room, another 100 in an even noisier antechamber, and 85 more on the sidewalk, it is a marvel that the kitchen reliably bangs out solid, flavorful food." more ›