by Tripp W. on This is about the coolest thing ever! I was visiting from NC and everyone told us we had to go to CAS for the date night on Thursdays. I was a little confused and excited at the same time. A science museum open late (until 10pm), bars throughout, no kids, DJ, and special performances. Yes please! Being a nerd/engineer, I love science museums, so I would have a blast regardless. Add in the booze and a happening scene and you get a double win. Favorites of the night: - Rainforest tour; lizards and butterflies everywhere - Aquarium; low lit and tons of cool sea creatures to look at; plenty of places to sit, chill, and talk over your cocktail - Snow machines in the center performance room; the snow was vegan?!? - Great DJ; good selection of music - Neat exhibitors that seemed pumped to talk to everyone about what they were showing/doing - Best icecream sandwich ever in the cafe; oatmeal date cookie with buttermilk honey ice cream; omg! - Lots of other tasty looking food in the cafe which is local, organic, sustainable; wish I would have waited to eat dinner there Only negatives: - The rain forest and a couple other areas were no drinks or food - The cocktails and beer were a little on the pricy side - Cash only at the bars - Getting a cab home took a while, but way better than the $12 parking at the deck This is the perfect date night!
by Jia J. on Let's preface this with: SOMEONE ELSE WAS PAYING - a friend who's suddenly near-royalty in the magazine world. Because you have to push some weight to get in here. We rolled up in a black SUV with tinted windows driven by a chauffeur. Our party was on the list, but the mafiosi-esque people at the door still gave us a silent once-over before letting us in. The lobby was clean and empty and boring, like that of a luxury apartment building. Into the elevator we went, where the trippiest audio-visual artpiece EVER played on the plasma walls the whole 50-plus floors to the top. I was seriously entranced by this thing - definitely influenced by Dante's Inferno. The elevator emptied us out into another boring hallway at the end of which was a 360 view of New York City through glass so clear I immediately felt adrenaline in my veins. It was Wednesday and we were early, so there were about three other people in the whole place. It started filling up quickly, though, with short, well-dressed, constipated looking men and tall, beautiful, insecure girls with expensive clothes and eating disorders. Everyone was ridiculously young, and I wondered how and why they were all there. The DJ took his place and started bumping great music at a perfect volume...more '90s Jay-Z than Lady Gaga, thank God. Lady Gaga has no place in an establishment like this. A non-anorexic waitress with powerful thighs hazardly exposed by the shortest white dress I have ever seen came up to us and started taking our orders. With wild abandon, the leeches, I mean, friends, around me started commanding $400 bottles of pink Veuve Cliquot to be popped and calling for Grey Goose hand-mixed with fresh cranberry juice, soda water, or orange juice. I was so full from a decadent Italian dinner (also paid for by the gracious semi-royalty who had ferried us into the Boom Boom Room) that I started feeling too sluggish to dance. What a damn shame; everyone else was busy shimmying with bored looks on their faces and striking VOGUE poses by the glass walls and on top of a rose-colored grand piano. The bathroom was the best part...there was a wide-eyed Asian man with a towel literally wiping the whole place down after every single use. He pointed me in and I strode in, and literally jerked back for fear of falling off the building...then I realized that there was glass in front of me. Heart thumping wildly, I scuttled backwards onto the toilet and did my thing, and went back to the safety of my party's lounge. Soon, it was raining like mad outside, and we were treated to a show of lightning. Was it fun? Well, it wasn't not fun. But something about this place - Boogie Nights meets Eyes Wide Shut meets some scene from an unborn James Bond film....something about the social climbing bumpkins secretly thrilled to death at being in a room full of filthy rich people but trying to hide it behind faces of affluent boredom...something about it all fell short of thrilling me. After all, in Seoul or any other Asian city worth its salt, you get this kind of view and service everywhere, and usually for cheaper. Then again, the Boom Boom Room is in the U.S. of A. in the one and only Manhattan...besides, how could I ever complain when someone else threw down a few Gs in one night for my enjoyment? I couldn't possibly, even though I guess I just did. I wonder if circumstance will ever deliver me to this place again; if so, I look forward to staring at the elevator video again.
by Cheree Erby on This place is quite near my office and I've been about 20 times. The food is good, the people are always nice, and the prices are reasonable. I love their tuna salad - its not mayonnaise-y at all, but yet not dry. It has a very definite herb flavor to it, and its served on foccacia bread. I think they make all the breads on the premises (it IS a bakery after all). I also am a big fan of their soups. I've had the cream of broccoli and their version of New England clam chowder is pretty darn good. One hint: if you are going for lunch, get there no later than 11:45. The place is kind of small, so it fills up quickly. Another hint: they don't take credit cards, so bring cash. I've heard more than once customers amazed that they can't use a credit card, so be forewarned. All in all, a worthy addition to my list of places to grab quality food at reasonable prices near my office.
