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For New Yorkers, bringing your dog with you for day-to-day activities has become quite the norm. Whether it’s out to lunch at an ultra chic corner café, a stroll around central park, or a long day of shopping down Fifth Avenue your four-legged friend is with you every step of the way.

Although they don’t allow dogs during the week, The Ginger Man on E 36th Street is extremely pet friendly on Saturday and Sunday welcoming all well-behaved dogs. www.gingerman-ny.com

With their resident “house dog”, an incredibly friendly pit bull, Von Bar on Bleeker will pour you a glass of one of their finest wines and will pair it with a delicious Milkbone for your pampered pooch. www.vonbar.com

For all you Upper East Siders, Fetch is the perfect outdoor spot to grab a few drinks with your closest fashionistas (including the four legged ones) while listening to great live music and perhaps find a new best friend. (They have pet adoption applications on hand!) www.fetchbarandgrill.com

Although there is no legal drinking age for dogs, you probably shouldn’t let your pup partake in the drinking festivities. These dog-friendly pubs are a great way to include your canine in all of your nightlife activities.

-Lindsey

I heard the cocktails at Rouge Tomate, the new S.P.E. certified restaurant on East 60th were amazing. Where locally grown ingrediants are squeezed, pureed and doused in alcohol and a “healthy” cocktail is born. So when I visited on a random Wednesday I expected something more, um…exciting.

The gigantic space marveled me. Natural elements — wood, rainforest scene light panels, unisex bathrooms. Wow. I was greeted by not 1, not 2, not even 3 but 4 staff waiting at the top of the open staircase. The bi-level, 200 person restaurant also has a private dining room, a “cranberry pool”, which looked like someone dumped bulk cranberries from Cosco in a concrete mote.

The staff seemed somewhat stiff as did just about every patron in there. What it lacked in environment though, it made up for in delicious drinks. I had the Pear Crisp (yum!) and an apple something-or-another that was made with whiskey.  If I liked whiskey, I may have loved it. They provided popcorn to snack on. Rowdy football fans at a too-familiar Brooklyn bar snack on similar tasting popcorn every Sunday, so… The scallops were eh. I couldn’t decide whether they were so supposed to be hot or cold. The Spanish Mackerel and Sweet Onion Flatbread was delicious enough to entice me to stay, and I would’ve been seated and eaten a full meal had  the atmosphere not been so soporific I nodded off mid-sentence, nearly spilling my martini on the spotless cream leather.

It was painfully quiet, made worse by the fact that the tables were impossibly far away from one another. I read a review that called Rouge Tomate “sexy.” Unless you have soup cans and a string to whisper sweet nothings into your date’s ear from across the expansive tables, there will be nothing sexy about this cold, sterile restaurant. Downstairs seating is somewhat more intimate, but it’s still like trying to fall in love in a hospital hallway. Even on Grey’s Anatomy they go into the elevator.

Note: A regularly dressed, dare I say peasant-esque, female was either intensely reading or studying at the bar. Shhhhhhhhh.

The spacious lounge/café may, however, be the perfect place for Upper East Siders to rest their weary feet and shopping bags and have a drink after a long day of sale-scouring – being right across from Barney’s and all. A Pear Crisp would taste delicious with my next-to-nothing Jimmy Choos. Plus, you’ll feel less guilty paying for a pricey cocktail knowing that you’ve been saved by ubiquitous sales this holiday season. In the end, I hopped in a cab and headed downtown to dine. But should you seek solace after retail therapy, then by all means, knock your bamboo socks off

Rouge Tomate
10 East 60th St, between Madison and Fifth 
Open daily until 11 p.m. 646-237-8977

Anne fontaine constitue aujourd’hui la marque de référence en matière de raffinement et d’élégance. En effet, la célèbre créatrice de mode franco-brésilienne a su développer le concept de la chemise blanche devenue l’emblème de la griffe  française.

La gigantesque boutique du 677 Madison Avenue s’étend sur trois niveaux et constitue le temple de toutes les tentations ! La jeune styliste a réuni en un seul lieu une boutique de mode et dévoilera début 2009, à l’instar de sa boutique de la rue St Honoré à Paris, un SPA digne de ce nom, associant ainsi mode et détente. Pour cela, la célèbre créatrice a fait appel à une designer pleine de talent, Andrée Putman. Cette dernière a parfaitement su allier matériaux et textures naturels pour penser les espaces où règnent luxe, calme et volupté.

Dans ce magnifique temple de toutes les tentations ouvert en juin dernier, chaque espace a sa propre signification. « Anne Fontaine » y a accueille ses clientes les plus fidèles dans la « Precious Room». Elle a également créé « la Black Room » qui, comme son nom l’indique, est tapissée de noir du sol aux miroirs pour faire ressortir l’éclat de la célèbre chemise blanche, symbole de pureté.

Dans la « Black Room » y est dévoilée la nouvelle collection qui offre une gamme encore plus étendue et, pour la première fois ! Anne Fontaine innove en déclinant la sublime et élégante petite chemise blanche en coloris divers.

Courrez-y sans plus attendre, croyez-moi ça vaut le détour ! Ne serait-ce que par amour de l’architecture !
 

-Cecile

 Anne Fontaine

212 421 0947 

From the moment you step foot in the Anne Fontaine flagship store on Madison, you will know you have touched upon a hidden treasure. From the elegant store design to the dramatically styled displays, the air exudes luxury and elegance. After you begin to mentally compile a list of items you’re lusting after, reality comes crashing in. Nothing this beautiful, this special, this French, could come cheap. 

With a steep price tag of $195-350 for one of Anne’s signature white blouses, this is certainly not an impulse buy. But if you consider it a fashion investment you just might be able to make this work for you, you closet, and your budget. Oh if they could only see eye-to-eye!

Just remember these two cardinal fashion rules:

A.You get what you pay for and

B. Staple pieces balance out the randomn items you pick up at sample sales and off clearance racks, building chic outfits! 

Anne Fontaine is definitely an ideal spot to scoop up luxurious, high quality pieces that you will want to wear everyday. A favorite of mine was the “Tee” Blouse, a spin on the classic tailored button down made with a comfy, tee-shirt-like fabric that hugs your curves in just the right places. The collection is mainly greyscale, with a few pops of subdued color sprinkled about which immediately gives a feeling of high drama; these garments are bold statements.

Details are definitely what makes her designs stand out.  Double collars, lace trims, and unexpected touches keep otherwise standard shapes looking fresh and fashion-forward. I was particularly smitten with a collection of decorative collars, traditional or adorned in feathers and layers or fabric, that took up an entire wall. What a clever way to play up the menswear trend this season.

If you’re a VIP, get the star treatment in the private room downstairs or dabble in the Precious Collection room, the AF take on couture, with  hand constructed garments and accessories fit for a queen. If you’re just a regular old Joan 6-pack, like me, stick to the main floor. Be sure to peruse the classically shaped handbags, eccentric accessories, and ask about the coming-soon Anne Fontaine Spa.