Midtown

There are about a million places to grab a drink in NYC, though few are as sexy as Baccarat Hotel’s Grand Salon. And few serve a mean afternoon tea in addition to evening cocktails and bites. True to the hotel’s more-is-more aesthetic, the interior is all velvet and silk, punctuated by museum-worthy displays of the exquisite crystal that made Baccarat a household name. 

You know Baccarat, the lavish, storied crystal maker. But do you know Baccarat, the lavish, storied hotel in the heart of Midtown? The building it’s housed in is, unsurprisingly, looks like an ice cube. Inside, once you get up the elevators, it’s all cascading chandeliers, fairytale-looking wallpaper, slick marble, and sexy dim lighting. Speaking of marble, the indoor pool has a checkerboard bottom, which combines with the semi-private cabanas, has a way of transporting you to France the second you dip your toe. Maybe it’s the tufted fainting couches, maybe it’s the four-poster beds and crisp white sheets, but the rooms and suites are somehow minimal and over-the-top at the same time. And the spa? Yeah, it’s La Mer.

Eleven Madison Park alum Connie Chung has opened her first restaurant, focusing on casual Chinese cuisine. Every dish packs a punch, but it’s the Peking duck we can’t stop dreaming about: crispy-skinned, falls-off-the-fork-tender duck on a bed of fluffy rice and marinated cucumbers, all made even more perfect chased by a cold beer. The family-style menu is a steal at $45 for two and holds up well as takeout, although there is outdoor seating available. Images courtesy of Evan Sung.

Clean Market gathers the A to Z of modern wellness under one swanky midtown roof. Cryotherapy, IV drips, infrared saunas, a functional latte bar—which translates to nut milk(y) coffees supercharged with all manner of mushroom dusts—and veggie-packed smoothies are just the beginning. We love grabbing a smoothie to go (The Core—with coconut water, greens, lemon, and pear—is easily our favorite). Toss one of the turmeric power shots—which you can boost with CBD, chlorophyll, oregano oil, and other goodies—into your bag for later. We did.

By night, the Rose Bar comes alive, often with the who’s who of New York’s music, art, and fashion scenes thanks to a packed roster of cultural events. But we love to dip into the blush-colored bar for a cocktail in the early afternoon, when the scene is more mellow. Sinking into those pink velvet seats and simply admiring the beautiful rosy décor after a long day running around the city is—in our book—a form of therapy. Walls are heavy with works from the twentieth century’s heavy hitters like Richard Prince, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and in the depths of a New York winter, when the limestone fireplace is lit, there is nowhere cozier for an afternoon cocktail.

In its former life as the home to America's first professional theatrical club, the Lambs, this Midtown hotel was a hangout for the entertainment world’s brightest stars, like Irving Berlin and Fred Astaire, to name a couple. Today, it’s The Chatwal, a Luxury Collection Hotel—one of Manhattan’s under-the-radar gems, where its relatively small size (just seventy-six guest rooms) makes it a good choice for visitors who are turned off by the busyness of the megahotels nearby. The interior is an ode to its Art Deco history, which has the delightful feel of a glamorous ocean liner, and we love the fun little details (like backgammon sets, playing cards, and copies of The Great Gatsby) in the rooms.

Sessions here range from 30 to 75 minutes and are designed to “work out” the muscles in the face to release tension, support circulation, and ultimately have a beautifully sculpting, lifting effect. Each treatment starts with a warm up before going into cardio, sculpting, and cool-down therapies. Your trainer begins by gently using the knuckles to work in a cleanser. With swift hand-flicking and pinching techniques, the therapy gets under way, tapering off with deep finger sculpting for contouring: The trainer’s fingers dance over your face to help de-puff and stimulate lymphatic drainage. It’s different, fantastic, and feels both rejuvenating and soothing.

Whether you need to recover from a tough workout or detox after an especially indulgent weekend, there are a variety of high-tech treatments to try alone or build into a package. Try combining a CVAC session, where you sit inside a hyperbaric chamber while the barometric pressure is adjusted to reportedly support circulation and detoxification, with a nap using the NuCalm device, which claims to be a miraculously restorative 30-minute snooze. Finish with a session inside the Sunlighten mPulse Sauna, where you can customize the ratio of near, mid, and far infrared rays.

There are tons of treatment options at this wellness hideout inside the penthouse on a particularly hectic block of Midtown. From a targeted acupuncture and cupping session with founder Joel Granik to a float inside a sensory deprivation tank (that's thought to mimic the body’s experience in the womb) to Reiki healing and yoga classes taught in a gorgeous white room with a glass ceiling, everything here aims to balance and restore the body’s chi. There’s an infrared sauna and a salt cave; the walls of the latter are made from hundreds of pounds of Himalayan salt bricks, which infuse the air with negative ions while you relax on a massage bed.

One of Cobble Hill’s favorite artisanal bakeries, Bien Cuit recently opened shop in Manhattan’s Grand Central Market. Husband and wife Zachary Golper and Kate Wheatcroft offer the same hits they do in Brooklyn, including the apple cardamom Danish (puréed apple, vanilla pastry cream, cardamom-almond streusel) and the orange, coriander and olive oil pound cake, made with fresh orange juice and ground coriander. After you’ve picked up a few baguettes to save for later, stroll around the market, stop by Murray’s Cheese and Spices and Tease (an Italian-American specialty spice shop), and remind yourself that yes, in fact, you are in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world.