My spouse and I
visited Crimson and Rye on a Monday evening in late April 2018. Crimson and Rye
is open for drinks and dinner only from Mondays through Saturdays (closed on
Sundays). You can make a reservation
using the online Open Table system.
Crimson and Rye is located in Midtown East/Turtle Bay on East 54th
Street near 3rd Avenue. Chef and restauranteur Charlie Palmer created
the cocktail bar in a street-level space in the Lipstick Building in July 2014.
(The building gets its name from its shape and color, which resembles a tube of
lipstick; in addition, it is famous because it is where Bernie Madoff operated
his $65 billion Ponzi scheme on the 17th through 19th floors.)
The 2500-square foot space offers
several seating options for about 90 customers at a time, either at its large
oval bar, at a few booths, at regular tables, or at some leather armchairs with
small cocktail tables adjacent. In warmer months, a sidewalk patio (with
overhead protection from the telescopically projected building) accommodates
about 40 guests. The lounge area in the building’s 30-foot high lobby creates a
more intimate nook with the aid of partial walls, a lower ceiling, soft
lighting, vintage carpets, and polished dark woods.
Crimson and Rye
serves upscale American cuisine in snack, small plate, and larger plate sizes.
We shared a prosciutto and parmesan flatbread with truffle salt as an appetizer,
followed by the mini pork tacos (served in three hard mini shells filled with
spicy salsa verde and pickled onions) and the shredded beef sliders (also
served three to an order, with meat and cheese piled on tiny buns, and served
with sides of grated horseradish and sliced dill pickles). The menu also
features a selection of oysters, cheese, and charcuterie. The bar does not
offer desserts, but our server recommended two nearby establishments where we
could order a sweet ending to our meal.
Food service was
incredibly slow, so slow that we joked that the food might be prepared in an
alternate location and then messengered over with Uber Eats or a similar delivery
service. The restroom scenario is also odd; you must exit the restaurant, enter
the office building lobby, take the elevator to the basement level, obtain a
key from the elevator attendant, walk down a deserted basement hallway, then
use a key to unlock the appropriate door.
The food at
Crimson and Rye was tasty and the drinks were interesting, but the slow service
and the bathroom situation would prevent our return.
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