Our Plea: Get Thee to Pleiades

After giving Café Boulud a beautiful renovation last fall, the indefatigable Daniel Boulud also birthed Bar Pleiades, site of tonight’s Winter Cocktail party benefit for Citymeals on Wheels.  Pleiades mixologist Cameron Bogue (left) busily delivered creation after creation to the dapper crowd. Of his three exceedingly exciting cocktails, the Gourd-geous Sling, with butternut squash purée, left us appreciatively dumbfounded (How seasonal! How brilliant!) Drinks aside (but only momentarily), we couldn’t help but munch on the elegant creations being passed around from Chef Gavin Kaysen (Café Boulud). Guest chefs Nate Appleman (Pulino’s Bar & Pizzeria), George Mendes (Aldea), and Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook (LA’s Animal) scattered themselves around the room, amicably plating and chatting with guests. Our favorite canapé was Animal’s chicken liver paté, a demonstration of bold flavor artfully spread under drops of pear and mustard (wacka, wacka, wacka!) The intimate and classy bar, with niches of beige quilted, Chanel handbag-inspired walls, is one you’ll find us returning to soon. Particularly when we have the chance to support such a worthy cause.

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The Aura of Aureole

Charlie Palmer and his executive chef Christopher Lee (left) rolled out the new Aureole in grand style last night, throwing open the restaurant's doors with a benefit for Citymeals on Wheels. Bold-faced names from the foodie world, including Gotham Bar and Grill's Alfred Portale and the Food Network's Dave Lieberman, turned up to show their support for both Palmer and the Citymeals cause.

The coming-out party for the new venue, which in look and feel is a world away from Aureole's former townhouse space on the Upper East Side, marks another notable eatery that has picked up and moved south of its former digs, San Domenico (now known as SD26) being the other one. With its convenient midtown location, Aureole is primed to attract a slew of stylish patrons, from Condé Nast editors to Garment District fashionistas.

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Fourteen Going on Fifteen

Fourteen restaurants each brought a signature dish to 15 Union Square Park West tonight for a special walk-around grand-tasting to benefit Citymeals on Wheels. The new luxury condo complex (at one time the home of Tiffany & Co.) is far from completion, but the model-unit floor of this very-much-under-construction building proved to be one heck of a hip spot to throw an open-house party. Co-chair and chef Daniel Boulud somehow found a moment to break from his Upper East Side restaurant and accept all-around congratulations for a glowing write-up in this morning's Times. (Frank Bruni's much-anticipated weigh-in reaffirmed the eatery's well-deserved four-star status.) But Daniel wasn't the only happy camper in the bunch. Sated guests left the event with copies of Dining in New York City, the new book by writer-photographer Jan Bartelsman, which features 40 of his picks for the city's best eateries. There are no recipes in the compendium, but with chefs this good in our metropolis, why would any of us even dare to set foot in a kitchen?

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