Nightlife

What to Expect From MePa: The Next Next Generation

Not Ono anymore.
Not Ono anymore.

By this fall, the second coming of the Meatpacking District should be nearly complete. Avenue and the Jane Hotel Ballroom, on the North and South borders of the reestablished epicenter of nightlife, have already opened, as has the Standard Grill. Jane is the first place to have the electricity of Bungalow 8 since, well, Bungalow 8. And we dig, along with the rest, the wit of the cocktail menu, which lists a $99 room at the bottom. Avenue is a club of another kind — a ‘gastrolounge’, officially, far more baller-oriented and shiny, despite it’s no-bottle-service approach. And the Standard Grill is suddenly as tough a ticket as Minetta Tavern.

Assorted new details on another handful of the clubs, lounges and restaurants slated to open are as follows:

Lotus transforms into Abe & Arthur’s.

Standard Hotel, 18th/19th Floors: Here’s the official language on the top floors of the hotel, as of this morning: “When the venues on the 18th and 19th floors open in September, there will be an indoor pool & bar, a separate cocktail lounge (that will serve food), and an outdoor rooftop that will open shortly after.” The ‘indoor pool & bar’ will be all-black tile, other sources say, where the much anticipated massive jacuzzi will preside. Which is to say, yes, the club at the Standard is an all-black sex den spa. The other half, the cocktail lounge, is gold-plated. Gold. Everywhere. Admission at prime hours will, of course, be highly challenging if you’re a non-friend of Andre’s, per the standard Standard playbook.

Abe & Arthur’s/Simyone: The food half of Eugene Remm and Mark Birnbaum’s takeover of Lotus, Abe & Arthur’s, is still slated for late summer. The gut renovation of Lotus (see photos) is progressing, with the most notable change being the addition of a mezzanine above the restaurant portion of the space. The restaurant will be an American bistro helmed by Franklin Becker, of course. The burger he’ll serve is a big-boy eight-ounce custom LaFrieda blend of chuck, brisket and short rib (very rich and fatty when we tasted it earlier in the summer), put on a potato bun with lettuce, tomato and a proprietary special sauce. Expect the rest of the menu to be straightforward, too, including steaks, crab cakes and such. Simyone, the downstairs club in the same venue, will follow Abe & Arthur’s on a similar timeline.

Provocateur: Two words: retractable roof. Though it’s unconfirmed at present, Michael Satsky and Brian Gefter’s (both of Stereo) new club at the Gansevoort, will have a retractable roof — one way the cost of this install will be north of $4 million, we’re told unofficially. They’ve already eliminated all signs of the Garden of Ono (see top photo), and will also take over some of the interior space that previously belonged to Jeffrey Chodorow’s Ono restaurant. The beast is slated to open in October. Bonus: Check out the plywood install on this sucker, now with lights. Entire clubs have been built for what these two are spending on plywood. (18 9th Ave., nr. 13th St.)

What to Expect From MePa: The Next Next Generation