New NYC bars and clubs

Hotel Griffou

Brought to you by the masterminds behind the Waverly Inn, GoldBar and Pastis, the Hotel Griffou offers a lovely and labyrinthine five-room pleasure suite of food, booze and meticulously chosen décor—an exposed-brick-and-chandelier wine vault; a rosy, cozy bar area; a stone-walled, dimpled-leather library; a red-walled and modernist studio filled with eclectic art and murals; and an elegantly wallpapered and upholstered salon (plus a terrace in there somewhere)—throughout which Griffou's servers are pouring specialty $14 cocktails, like the Bloodhound & Fox (dry gin, sloe gin, apricot liqueur and lemon juice) and the Navy Grog (various rums, falernum, grenadine, pineapple and lime juices), as well as serving Griffou's classic-American menu, which includes dishes like stuffed lobster tails with brown butter veloute ($42) and the Griffou burger with melted gruyere ($17). Sort of reminds us of that Edgar Allan Poe story, "The Masque of the Red Death," where spoiled revelers move among multicolored opulent rooms, except at Griffou no one's dying of plague at the end. Presumably.

Hotel Griffou
21 W. 9th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves.
646-448-4632