Sunday, February 5, 2012

NYC Dining Challenge Update: Maialino at Gramercy Park Hotel

A great way to start off your day is to have breakfast at Danny Meyer’s Maialino at the Gramercy Park Hotel. Order an olive oil muffin, the ricotta pancakes ($12) with cranberry compote and maple syrup, enjoy the view of the park from your table and you’ll be ready to tackle the day. Bar Maialino at the front of the restaurant is a coffee bar in the morning and serves the complete menu throughout the day. The trattoria at the back of restaurant, which is where I was seated, has blue-and-white-checked tablecloths and views of Gramercy Park. It is the preferable area for a business meal or quiet conversation with a friend.
Maialino means “little pig” and if you dine there for lunch or dinner, order the Malfatti al Maialino, which is malfatti pasta, braised suckling pig and arugula. Executive Chef Nick Anderer was formerly at Babbo and Gramercy Tavern.
The restaurant was designed by the New York-based Rockwell Group, which was the team behind the newly renovated Hotel Bel-Air, Trump SoHo, Nobu, The Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas, two recent Academy Awards shows and Catch Me if You Can on Broadway. At Maialino, Rockwell successfully created a warm and comfortable Roman-style trattoria environment with contemporary flair by using wood flooring, reclaimed ceiling beams and modern pendant fixtures.
When you finish your meal, be sure to stroll into the lobby of GPH and enjoy a libation in the lounge. Ian Schrager brought the artist Julian Schnabel on board to design the interior of the hotel. Prior to the opening of GPH in 2006, Schnabel said, “I built a place that I’d like to be in.” In fact, it reminded me of his home which I visited with a group of young art collectors in the early '90s. Works by Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cy Twombly and, of course, Schnabel have been featured at GPH. The hotel rotates the pieces and most of them are on loan.


Maialino
Gramercy Park Hotel
2 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10010
1.212.777.2410
http://www.maialinonyc.com/
http://www.gramercyparkhotel.com/

Rockwell Group: http://www.rockwellgroup.com/

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