30 to Midnight

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.

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.

Inside Park at St. Bart's, Midtown East

Thursday, 6pm

Inside Park at St. Bart's
325 Park Ave. (50th St.), Manhattan

The Terrace at Inside Park at St. Bart's (The Inside Park Terrace, pictured) is closed until May. Sorry. But the inside part of Inside Park is open. Yea! If you like your Age Appropriates in suits, you will love the crowd here. Not only do they all look good (suits make the man, and woman) but also they all have jobs.
What?! All we're saying is people without jobs are mostly kinda miz. So this is a happy crew; lots of co-workers but an equal amount of co-mingling. Bonus X2: darn good food, and it's so deliciously Manhattan here - pretty Park Avenue Malls (look north) and maybe-prettier urban architecture (look anywhere). If there's a flaw it's the volume of the music. We AA's like our 80's but we also like to hear the person next to us.

Bar 12:31, Midtown East

Sunday, 6pm

Bar 12:31
Hotel Chandler
12 East 31st St. (5th Ave.), Manhattan

We almost declared this bar to be AA because they close at Midnight Mon-Wed and Sat-Sun (2am Th-Fri) but we decided AABM had the same degree of accuracy. No surprise that a hotel bar, even in a little known hotel, will be a place for thirtysomethingplusers.

4Food, Midtown East

4Food
NW corner of 40th Street and Madison Avenue, Manhattan

Opening Tuesday, June 1st

We're all about New and Untested today, huh? Maybe because Sara was busy yesterday learning how to Talk Radio: Throwing Like a Girl with SG. 

Bill's Bar & Burger, Midtown

Bill's Bar & Burger
51st Street, btwn 5th and 6th, Manhattan

Stay Tuned...

Roosevelt Island Tram Service Suspended March 1 - August 31

The 33 year old Roosevelt Island Tram will undergo 6 months of "modernization and upgrades" starting tomorrow, March1st. That's all of summer 2010 without one of our favorite tourist to-dos.

Anyone who needs to get to/from Roosevelt Island can take the F-train or the Q102 bus. There will be a temporary shuttle bus too.

Here's something good to know: The AA Tram travels 3,100 feet at a speed of 16 miles per hour in 4.5 minutes.

Aburiya Kinnosuke, Midtown East

Monday, 8pm

Aburiya Kinnosuke
213 E. 45th St. (Third Ave.), Manhattan

We've been talking about restaurants quite a bit lately. Is that a problem for you? People often ask us dating-related questions. That's fine but they're irrelevant if you're sitting at a table in a dining room. We always investigate a restaurant's bar (where meeting people happens), but in the case of Aburiya Kinnosuke (sibling of Yakitori Totto) there isn't one. There is, however, a roomful of Age Appropriates all close enough to interact, which we actually dislike while eating here. Hmm. Why are we writing about this place, you ask? Because the point is to surround yourself with your peers. Better the person next to you is taking her companion's ear off about her divorce and second wedding than having to hear anything that at any point has a sentence starting with "Last year, at school..." Plus, the food is tasty, though we find Totto a more enjoyable experience (from chicken parts to vibe).

Last note: the Michelin review says "you won't be rushed through your meal" but at Aburiya Kinnosuke they do kick you out after two hours. If you're a party of two, that's probably not a problem. Just letting you know.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Midtown East

Saint Patrick's Cathedral
Fifth Ave between 50th and 51st Streets (and Madison Ave too)

It's great to be spoiled, to live in a place where every walk is amazing if you only look up. Not lookupandstopwalkingmakeotherpeoplecrazy. We're talking lookupandsmelltheair to appreciate where you are. You can go in too. St. Patrick's has tours, masses, music, candles, history. It's the largest Catholic-Gothic cathedral in the US (they need to qualify 'Catholic' because St. John the Divine is the largest of any denomination). Here are some words to throw around when looking at the exterior of either of these mega structures: pinnacle (the pointy things on top), buttress (the supports against the wall), flying buttress  (the free-standing buttresses attached to wall by an arch or a half-arc). Want to have your wedding or baby's baptism here? You need to be a member of the congregation, need not be in a hurry, and need not care if strangers walk in on you.

Fairy Tales Can Come True: Public House, Midtown East

Wednesday, 5pm

Public House
140 East 41st St. (Lexington Ave.), Manhattan

Did you ever wonder if anyone actually ever wins those prizes offered to those who drop their business card in a fishbowl? Did you have to read that sentence twice to make sense of it?
Fishbowl. Business Card. Prize.
Karina won one -- a 50-person one-hour happy hour at Public House. 50. The best part is that the bartenders hustled, making sure everyone ready for second and third drinks got one. Impressive. Bartender says the crowd is generally after-work-AA. We like the high high ceilings and the wings and how easy this place is for a midtown drink.