30 to Midnight

30toMidnight is the entertainment source for everyone over-30

We tell you Where to go, Who you'll find there (How old they are), What they say to us, and When to leave. Check out our Glossary to understand our parlance, and read More About Us to get to know your guides.

Peels, East Village

Sunday, 1pm

Peels
325 Bowery (2nd St.), Manhattan

Click on that picture and make it big. Try not to focus on the people before asking yourself: How awesome is this City? It's gorgeous in every way, from every angle. It is such an absolute pleasure to live here, even with tourists and AI's and other dingbats who don't know how to walk.

So what are we talking about when we talk about Freeman's Part II, aka Peels? We're talking about AI's, which is too bad because Build-A-Biscuit is a concept we like.

Laduree New York, Upper East Side

Saturday, 2:45pm

Ladurée
864 Madison Ave. (71st St.), Manhattan

If you think the outside line at Ladurée is long, wait until you get inside. Or, don't. As discussed ad nauseam here at 30toMidnight, Age Appropriates aren't into lines.

Harley's Smoke Shack, East Harlem

Next Week

Harley's Smoke Shack
355 East 116th St. (1st Ave.), Manhattan

We don't usually pre-review places but Harley's Smoke Shack has been intriguing us for months and we're told it's finally going to open: next week. Why is this so important that we're compelled to mention it before we've gauged age? Because while many of you may not partake in the many good things East Harlem has to offer, all of you trek there now and again to shop. If not Costco, then Target or Best Buy, etc. Merry Christmas. You now have a non-tac0 116th option. Age TBD.

 

Christmas Tree Lighting, Rockefeller Center

Wednesday, 7pm

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting
30 Rockefeller Center (5th-6th Ave.), Manhattan

We love the City and we love Christmas, but we do not love crowds. True, the absence of Justin Bieber likely means slightly smaller and older crowds at the 2011 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting, but not smaller and older enough to get us anywhere within ten blocks of this event. Street closures begin at 4pm. This is what the area looked like at 9am. Nice, huh? Will be just as nice when you (a) watch on TV, and/or (b) come back tomorrow to see the 30,000 lights.

Mr. Dennehy's, West Village

Friday, 9:15pm

Mr. Dennehey's
63 Carmine St. (7th Ave. South), Manhattan

Borderline...Feels like I'm going to lose my age advantage...
You just keep on pushing your median age over the borderline.

As you know, we are pretty big fans of Mr. Dennehy's but these days there's the issue of ever-skewing age. Not that this is a kiddie spot, but it does mean it's best to skedaddle by midnight. That is all.

Wolfgang's Steakhouse, Midtown East

Tuesday, 6pm

Wolfgang's
4 Park Ave. (33rd St.), Manhattan

Not including the groups of multiaged boys that sometimes enter Wolfgang's, bartender says it's a mostly AA bar, as evidenced by our recent research. It's gorgeous too. Grand Centralesque Vanderbilty ceilings. Now that's style and design.

City Swiggers, Upper East Side

Saturday, 7pm

City Swiggers
320 East 86th St. (1st Ave.), Manhattan

Part beer store, part beer bar, part sit in the back and chill, City Swiggers is the most exciting, Age Appropriate addition to East 86th Street since Fairway arrived in July. AABM because it closes before Midnight, but putting in AA too so it doesn't get overlooked. This is a fun, extensive collection. Breckenridge, Ithaca, Petaluma, Philadelphia...you can travel the country off the shelves here. Other parts of the world too, proving once and for all that not even microbrews are micro anymore. When I was your age, we had to walk a mile in the snow, uphill, to the actual brewery to get this kind of beer.

Chickalicious, East Village

Sunday, 4:30pm

Chickalicious
203 East 10th St. (2nd Ave.), Manhattan

Three-course dessert meal. Do we need to say anything else? It's not about sweets. It's about lingering over coffee or wine, taking time to enjoy a perfectly-crafted amuse, dessert, petit four, and the person with you, or the person with his maybe-girlfriend who keeps looking at you. Age-Appropriate couples and friends here. Chika tells us it's frequently that way. Come before 6pm to sit immediately and not feel bad for those on line outside. Closes 10:45pm. 

Reader Says: Hill Cafe, Clinton Hill

Thanks to Shpendi in Brooklyn for writing in to tell us that Hill Cafe (17 Putnam Ave., Clinton Hill) is a Cool local spot! Cool = Age Appropriate, obviously.

Know something we don't? Leave a comment and let us know.

Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Holstein's

Saturday, 11pm

Holsteins Shakes and Buns
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

While Age InAppropriates in all forms of dress were being corralled in front of Marquee, we joined other Age Appropriates in balancing alcohol consumption by consuming the world's highest production dairy cow

Rhumbar at the Mirage, Las Vegas

Saturday, 9pm

Rhumbar
The Mirage, Las Vegas

We debated going AA or AABM here (bartenders were unsure how to guide). We let the presence of a hookah be the deciding factor (since everyone partaking was AI, or the I side of AA).

Lagasse's Stadium, Las Vegas

Sunday, 1:15pm

Lagasse's Stadium
The Palazzo, Las Vegas

As far as Las Vegas Sports Books go, Lagasse's Stadium (yes, that Lagasse - Bam!) is pretty great.

SNAP, West Village

Sunday, 2pm

SNAP
248 West 14th St., Manhattan

Did we ever tell you the story about when Sara lived on the north side of West 14th Street, just about directly across from SNAP, pre-SNAP, pre-meatpacking hysteria, post-her great grandmother living there?

Kibo, Union Square

Saturday, 6pm

Kibo
111 E 18th St. (Park Ave. South), Manhattan

Kibo is very large, like Nobu 57 dining room large but somehow larger (maybe it was the perspective from the footstools in the lounge area, behind the bar in the photo). Scantily-clad cocktail waitress tells us it's too soon to put a number on average age of customer, but, not to worry, it's been fun. That says Age Appropriate Before Midnight to us, if you like sitting low, or at a large, non NYC-like bar (not our NYC, we should say). Know differently? Do tell.

Age Appropriate Airplane Behavior

Speaking of travel, if you have not flown United lately, count your blessings. Perhaps their merger with Continental will be a good thing. But perhaps not given the merged miles programs will be United's which suggests they have the upper hand. Yuck.
Yuckier? Denver to LGA next to a barefooted Age InAppropriate. Bare. Feet. On an armrest. On a plane. Through security.  And at the frat house.

Laguna Champagne Bar, Las Vegas

Saturday, 6:45pm

Laguna Champagne Bar
The Palazzo, Las Vegas

A pattern in Vegas emerges: If you sit down and pay for stuff that's not cheap and you're not in a nightclub or pool lounge, you're likely to be surrounded by Age Appropriates. Speaking of age, the Shirley Temple pictured is a Champagne Cocktail: Hennessy, Grand Marnier, Sugar(!), Bitters, Moët & Chandon Impérial, and possibly a bit more sugar.

CARNEVINO, Las Vegas

Saturday, 5:30pm

CARNEVINO
The Palazzo, Las Vegas

So you came all the way from New York just to eat at a Batali restaurant? Well, Yes. Though like Rao's it was inadvertent. It was more like: hey, this is a Batali place with the words MEAT and WINE in the name and it's not that smokey here but we can watch people "playing" slots and everyone inside is Age Appropriate. Ka-ching! (Slot machine winning sound?).

Rao's, Las Vegas

Saturday, 2:30pm

Rao's Las Vegas
Caesar's Palace

We can't imagine how many times the bartenders at Rao's Las Vegas say, jokingly, "So you came all the way from New York just to eat here." But that's their thing. And it's true, except for the implication that it was planned.