New York

Highbar

NY's gleaming canyons of steel and glass are a testament to man's ability to make nature his bitch. Throwing nature a bone: Highbar, opening Tuesday.

From the majordomos behind Aspen and D'Or, Highbar's a well-foliaged (plants, and plant-colored chairs), bi-level penthouse aerie perched 15 stories above Hell's Kitchen, like parsley on a steak. Enter through a winding concrete tunnel to a dedicated elevator, then step out onto a blonde-wooded patio w/ full bar and grill (hamburgers, hot dogs, etc), a heated, fully-enclosable lounge, plus daybeds and one 10-person Croatian lounge chair called "The UFO" -- which will inevitably be nicknamed the Unidentified F*cking Object. Downstairs, there's another full bar: a mirrored-up, black-beaded joint w/ a DJ booth and white curvilinear walls deco'd in cut-out outlines of roots, negative space implying dangling vascular organs [Each of us has a dick joke in us. The time is now to reach deep inside and find yours.].

As for drinks, Highbar's serving up speciality talls and shorts (the cucumber/lime/Bombay Wicket, the rum/mint/champagne Old Cuban), plus martinis and flutes, e.g., the white rum/maraschino/grapefruit Hemingway Daquiri -- itself a testament to man's ability to celebrate great authors, and the shotguns that made them their bitch.

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