Carte Blanche

• Cuisine(s): Contemporary
  Price: $$$
• Payment Types: All Major Credit Cards
  Serving: Dinner, Lunch
• Reservations: Accepted
  Parking: No Parking

Description

It stands to reason that restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow would own three establishments in the ever-trendy Gansevoort Hotel. The other two, Tanuki Tavern and Plunge, are a bit more formal than CarteBlanche, although this bar and café is hardly a dive. Located in the hotel's lobby, it features a pool table surrounded by cushioned space-age chairs and a brown and orange color palette. It's as if ICRAVE, the design studio that created it, were envisioning what someone from the 1970s would think the future would look like. Take a seat after checking in and order a large carafe filled with one of the bar's many specialty cocktails. There is a café section too, serving coffee from Philadelphia-based roasters La Colombe and casual fare like Panini and breakfast pastries. Eat inside in the sunny café area, complete with colorful pastry display case and chalkboard menu, or out on the patio, which is filled with little wrought-iron tables.—Keith Wagstaff