BlackBook Magazine

Ah, the simple island life. White sandy beaches, clear blue waters, $5,000 for a private VIP cabana -- with full bottle service and a personal cocktail server of course. Nikki Beach is expanding its empire from high-end restaurants and bars in St. Tropez, South Beach, St. Barths, and other jet-set locations to luxury hotels. The first Nikki Beach Resort recently opened on the northeast tip of Providenciales, in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It's the spearhead of an attempt to trade on the Turks' sun-soaked beauty while swapping the islands' sleepy reputation for more hardcore tropical partying.

Raging house music and lots o’ headphone hair can mean only one thing: Winter Music Conference is back. The 23rd annual dance music conference got Miami’s South Beach partying even harder than usual last week, with nonstop events ranging from remixing and editing workshops to DJ spin-off contests, to the International Dance Music Awards. The conference welcomed industry professionals from over 62 countries, but in recent years the declining dollar and all-powerful Euro has lead to skyrocketing prices that have been accused of muscling out Americans and making Miami the new discount St. Tropez. “I think WMC gets a bad rap because in the past it’s been sweaty house boys on ecstasy, but now it’s radio stations, label reps, and diverse talents from all over the world,” says Morgans Hotel Group’s VP of Entertainment Ben Pundole.

An Italian resto with a deliciously split personality

Giano’s executive chef Gianfranco Luorio and friends will tell you (in heavy Italian accents) that their East Village restaurant is named for Giano, a.k.a. Janus, the two-faced Roman god of change. Traditionally, one of Giano’s faces looks to the past, the other to the future. Giano casts his blessing on Luorio’s establishment by splitting the menu right down the middle. One half “Faces the Past” with traditional Italian dishes like spaghetti with pachino tomatoes, eggplant, and pecorino cheese, while the other “Faces the Future” with contemporary dishes that might draw a disapproving glare from your nonna (skewered monk fish wrapped in prosciutto in a white-bean puree, for example).

Former speakeasy on Commerce Street plays it straight with its name and gets original with its cuisine.

The doors of 50 Commerce Street opened yet again on Thursday, February 7th, this time under the nothing-to-hide name Commerce. This marks the latest chapter in a nearly century-old story of a restaurant that’s been reincarnated more times than Siddhartha (but with a much better appetite). 

It all started in the Pre-Prohibition days of 1911, when a cheeky little speakeasy called Blue Mill began serving up forbidden whiskey sours and much-needed debauchery at the corner of Commerce and Bedford Street. Rumor has it the daring (West) Villagers so loved their little haunt, they built secret underground tunnels under the kitchen through which to run their beloved rum while showgirls danced the Charleston and show offs played poker above.

Because when we're not busy shilling our interns, we like a good meal.

First En Japanese Brasserie taught us what all those waifish vegan girls had been saying for so long: tofu is actually good. Then the Lewis Carrol-esque minds at Tailor took us through the culinary looking glass with that wacky sweet vs. salty motif. And just when we thought we had gotten wise to the new wave of N.Y.C. novelty restaurants, Mermaid Inn’s Mickey Price opens Market Table, a new restaurant hybrid—market/table, get it? —on the W. Vil, promising to meet both our date-night needs and Iron Chef delusions at once.