Ski lodge-style restaurants are all the rage in New York City, the New York Times reports in "Antlers and S'mores," a piece in the paper's December 7 edition. There's the Pinetree lodge, "a maze of comfy rooms with so many trophy heads mounted on the walls that you'd think they'd snagged taxidermist rights for the Central Park Zoo," as well as the Black Bear Lodge and Camp, where you can even order s'mores supplies.
Or you can "hit the Aspens," which the Times describes as "high gloss attempted re-recreations of the upscale Colorado vibe."
How Colorado does this sound? Aspen, a restaurant and lounge at 30 West 22nd Street, has "three icy deer head sculptures mounted above the bar," and a late-night party scene "far more ethnically diverse than your average ski lodges" (but how hard is that)? The Aspen Social Club, an sibling that opened this fall at 157 West 47th Street, features a menu restricted to tapas-sized plates (bison sliders, Colorado lamb lollipops) and "antlerific" decor that includes gold-planted antlers, mirrors reflecting a row of Aspen tree trunks (think Beatrice & Woodsley, pictured above) and wood from a Pennsylvania barn.
It's all downhill from here, Colorado!
