NYC restaurants get financial boost from matchmakers offering face-to-face meetups
These 'in real life' (IRL) experiences are organized by a new group of matchmakers – such as Closer, Parlor Social Club and The Dinner Table Club – that offer social interaction beyond texting and sending memes.
The apps help New Yorkers expand their social circles over dinners, cocktails and cultural events.
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6 'In real life' experiences are organized by a new group of matchmakers that offer social interaction beyond texting and sending memes. An event hosted by The Dinner Table Club, above.
The Dinner Table, Inc.
Some have even made more personal connections.
E.K.M. Watson, a 27-year-old Parlor member who goes by Emma, broke the ice with the future love of her life during a 'cocktail mixer' at 48 Lounge in Midtown.
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Parlor pals introduced Watson to fellow member Emil Galiev, a 28-year-old software engineer. Their relationship blossomed at follow-up events.
'It was just me and him chatting and then we went to some concerts and yada yada yada, we were engaged,' she told Side Dish.
Watson, who works in accounting in the film and TV industry, asked one of her Parlor friends to be her bridesmaid when the Jersey City couple tie the knot in September 2026.
The restaurants and other venues where ticketed events are held are also falling in love – with the guaranteed revenue the gatherings generate on what could otherwise be slow nights.
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Gary Wallach, managing director of Renwick Hospitality, has partnered with IRL groups to host various-themed events at Renwick's trendy lounges and restaurants inside hotels like Motto by Hilton in Chelsea and Times Square and at the Arlo Hotel in Soho.
6 The Dinner Table Club currently operates in New York, Washington, DC, LA and Miami, with plans to expand.
The Dinner Table, Inc.
The events range from seasonal communal dinners organized by Dinner Table Club at Lindens to a monthly meetup for members of microgroup DeSciNYC, where science 'enthusiasts' can learn, share projects and socialize.
The in-person events 'spark people's interest in meeting new people in person and getting off their devices,' Wallach has observed.
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They're also good for the bottom line, bringing in anywhere from '$500 to $2,000, plus the revenue incurred before or after the event, according to Wallach.
'We have significant space, so sometimes we can host groups that don't negatively affect busy moments, but we do look for opportunities to drive revenue on slower days whenever possible,' Wallach said.
6 The events range from seasonal communal dinners organized by Dinner Table Club at Lindens (above) to a monthly meetup for members of microgroup DeSciNYC, where science 'enthusiasts' can learn, share projects and socialize.
Nicholas Ruiz
The growth of IRL group meets – which first gained popularity after COVID lockdowns were finally lifted in the city – has also accelerated partly as a rebuke to the exclusive and exorbitantly-priced private clubs that have sprouted, added Closer co-founder David Burstein, 36.
'We aren't super elitist or obnoxious. We are here for everyone,' Burstein said.
And as so much of life moves online, making a 'place and space for human connection' is vital.
'What if you are 35 and you look around at your friends and think they aren't your people. Where do you go?' Burstein asks. 'That's the most foundational and important problem and it's the one thing that is AI proof — finding space to meet other people, to have a human connection.'
At Closer, a 'curated membership platform for connection,' people meet for an in-person 'screener' event, and then members can join events from dinners to cocktails, yoga and wine, to weekend share houses in the Hamptons, Berkshires and upstate.
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6 In New York, Parlor hosts around 100 events a month. Members pay $40 a month, or $70 for an upgraded premium service, which offers more upscale events based on algorithms that match like-minded people. A Parlor event, above.
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The intro costs $35 and includes the first three months of membership. From there, it's $20 a month.
The platform has been a success, expanding from New York to Denver and Washington, DC. Closer will also be launching in Toronto, LA, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Austin, Montreal, Sydney and Melbourne.
In New York, Parlor hosts around 100 events a month. Members pay $40 a month, or $70 for an upgraded premium service, which offers more upscale events based on algorithms that match like-minded people.
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'New Yorkers tend to be closed off. They just need a safe space to open up and let people into their lives,' said Helena Simon, a Parlor employee who met her current life partner at one of its get-togethers.
Parlor started in a physical space before going digital in 2019. They now have 6,000 members in New York and opened outposts in Miami and Chicago, with more cities to follow.
6 Parlor started in a physical space before going digital in 2019. They now have 6,000 members in New York and opened outposts in Miami and Chicago, with more cities to follow.
Gaia Squarci
The Dinner Table Club, co-founded by 26-year-old Tyler Tep and his former roommates in 2023, recently held a sold-out dinner at 1803 NYC, a Cajun-Creole 'elevated' eatery in Tribeca, at $80 a ticket.
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There is no membership fee to join. Dinners cost around $75 to $100 a person and include a three course meal, a glass of wine or a cocktail, tax, tip and social dining programing.
'Our events are open, available to anyone looking to attend our dinner parties and build community in New York and beyond,' Tep said.
Dinners are typically from 7 pm to 10 pm with cocktails and then a sit-down family style meal, where people switch seats in between courses to mingle.
6 At Closer, a 'curated membership platform for connection,' people meet for an in-person 'screener' event, and then members can join events from dinners to cocktails, yoga and wine, to weekend share houses.
Owen Warren
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Others venues that have hosted the often small, intimate events include Altair, ART Rooftops, Lulla, The Alderman, Foxtail, Lindens at Arlo Soho, Loulou and Ferdi Ristorante.
Tep, a Washington, DC transplant to New York, launched his IRL after hosting dinner parties for friends and noticing the demand.
The Dinner Table Club currently operates in New York, Washington, DC, LA and Miami and is expanding to Chicago, San Francisco and Boston next.
'We have been very lucky. All of our people know what they are getting into and have the same purpose and intent,' he said.
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New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Elderly resident's murder at NYC's ritzy Barbizon Hotel remains unsolved 50 years later
An elderly resident at an upscale Manhattan hotel for women that once housed notable tenants including Grace Kelly and Liza Minelli was strangled to death in her luxury suite — and her chilling demise remains unsolved 50 years later. When Ruth Harding's body was found on Aug. 15, 1975, the iconic Barbizon Hotel at 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue — a gilded refuge for ambitious unmarried women chasing big-city dreams, celebrated authors and Hollywood's elite that opened in 1927 — had lost its charm and glitz. 'I wouldn't say it was a lavish hotel by then, that's for sure,' historian Paulina Bren, who authored 'The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free' in 2021, told The Post. 8 The Barbizon Hotel, including its lobby, a typical bedroom, swimming pool and main dining room, in its heyday as a womens' residence. 'Really, the heyday of the Barbizon was the '40s and '50s. In the '60s, it already started to somewhat deteriorate, and by the '70s, much like New York itself, it was very much sort of rundown of its grandeur.' The 23-story hotel — boasting 700 guest rooms — had fallen into disrepair, with a gaping hole in the lobby ceiling, grim rumors of women plunging from the roof and Harding, a reclusive and lonely resident, becoming its only recorded murder victim. However, her vicious slaying has remained cold — and largely forgotten by city authorities and prosecutors — since she was found on the bathroom floor of her posh 11th-floor room with abrasions on her throat. While the NYPD did not answer multiple requests for comment — only asking why The Post was writing about Harding's case — police in 1975 said they had 'no clues' after her murder. 'There were abrasions on her throat, but we have nothing else, no next of kin, no clues,' Detective Sgt. James Stewart told the New York Times after her body was discovered. The extent of the investigation remains unclear, including whether there was ever a suspect — or if the case had been revisited over the years with advancements in DNA forensics. Law enforcement sources — including former officers and members of the city's Cold Case Squad at the time of Harding's murder — told The Post they had no memory of her case and didn't know of anyone who worked on it. 'It is never too late to pursue justice for New Yorkers, and our Cold Case Unit welcomes information from the public about this tragic matter, and any other unsolved homicide,' the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said Thursday 'A place for young women' The historic salmon-hued hotel served as an exclusive boarding house and majestic sanctuary for single women striving to make their mark in the Big Apple and launch careers during an era when they were expected to marry young and start families. 'It was a place for young women, usually outside of New York from sort of small-time USA, coming to New York … to play out their ambition and try to see if they could actually take flight,' Bren said, noting how women had a short window before reaching their 'sell-by' date for marriage. 8 The historic salmon-hued hotel was an exclusive boarding house and haven for single women. Getty Images 'The Barbizon represented that window, and I think the anxiety of these women, in the '50s especially, of everything they'd been taught, and they wanted to do, and how restricted their lives were, and how they tried to find a space at the Barbizon to accomplish what society was telling them they couldn't do.' Aspiring artists flocked to the women-only residence — not just for its safety, since men were barred from entering the residence beyond the lobby until it went co-ed in 1981 — but because it was known for sheltering future stars before they made it big. Among the legendary figures who lived there were Joan Crawford, Cloris Leachman, Joan Didion, Kelly and Minelli — whose mother, Judy Garland, was known for driving the front desk staff crazy by constantly checking in on the young actress, Bren wrote. 8 Legendary figures, like Grace Kelly, lived at the Barbizon before they made it big. Sunset Boulevard Resident Sylvia Plath famously threw all her clothes off the Barbizon's roof on her last day as a magazine intern — an act she later immortalized, along with the hotel, in 'The Bell Jar.' The iconic address, however, also became a hideaway for starving artists, lonely wallflowers and spinsters who checked into the Barbizon in the 1930s and 1940s — and never left. Those, including 79-year-old Harding, were known as 'The Women,' a divisive label coined by the hotel's much younger guests, who pitied and feared that the senior occupants represented a grim future if they failed to achieve their dreams. 8 Sylvia Plath immortalized her time at the Barbizon in her novel 'The Bell Jar.' Bettmann Archive 'There was definitely this rift,' Bren said. 'And Ruth Harding was one of 'The Women.'' She lived on the 11th floor in a 'luxury room' with a private bathroom — a rare perk found in only about a quarter of the rooms — that reportedly cost about $77 per week. Most of the temporary occupants shared communal bathrooms on other floors. 8 Ruth Harding was living on the 11th floor in a luxury suite when she was found dead in her private bathroom. HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images The elusive and seemingly lonely senior would leave her lavish room each night in her nightgown and coat to wander down to the lobby, where she'd linger and talk to anyone who'd listen. 'Apparently, she had no friends there,' Bren said. 'She would go down to the lobby, as many of these women did every evening, and just kind of chat up the sort of dates of the younger women who had to wait in the lobby for them, because they weren't allowed to go upstairs.' While Harding chatted with the eager escorts, she and the other alienated senior residents would unleash 'snide comments to the young women about how they were dressed,' the historian said. 8 Black and white photo of Jane Kendall at the Barbizon Hotel lobby in 1948. The enigmatic elder moved into the Barbizon nearly two years before her death, Heidi Schichida, the hotel's assistant manager, told The New York Times in 1975 — though Bren believes she settled there in the 1940s. 8 A New York Times newspaper clipping of Harding's Aug. 15, 1975, unsolved murder. Ny Times Many described Harding as an intelligent yet talkative woman who craved conversation but remained friendless and never received visitors. 'She was not employed, but she told people she had been an actress, a journalist, a ballerina and everything else,' a hotel employee told the outlet. 'She dropped so many names, made so many claims you didn't know what to believe.' 8 The once-famed Barbizon Hotel was gutted in 2006 and turned into condominiums. NY Post Jim Alcorn Bren received countless letters after publishing her book, but not from anyone familiar with Harding's puzzling death — and only uncovered two Times articles briefly referencing the case in her research. 'It's really bizarre,' she said, adding that Harding's room was left 'undisturbed' after her strangling. 'All of these original sources from the hotel itself, the letters, the registry books, it's all gone. You just can't find that information.' The once-famed hotel was eventually gutted and transformed into luxury condominiums in 2006 — after nearly 80 years of operation — effectively erasing any trace of Harding's memory and unexplained murder along with it.
Eater
3 days ago
- Eater
Tracking the NYC Restaurants in ‘And Just Like That...' Series Finale, Season 3, Episode 12
is a born-and-raised New Yorker who is an editor for Eater's Northeast region and Eater New York, was the former Eater Austin editor for 10 years, and often writes about food and pop culture. And just like that, HBO Max's Sex and the City sequel series returns for its third and FINAL season. And Just Like That... brings back our long-time New Yorkers Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), and Charlotte (Kristin Davis), as well as relative newcomers Seema (Sarita Choudhury) and Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker), to our televisions and laptops. What is summer and fall without our gals talking candidly about sex, making bad puns, and dining and drinking around the city? Like previous seasons, Eater will be tracking where the gang is eating across New York City, from brunch sessions to romantic dinners to cocktail dates. This guide will be updated weekly when each episode airs on Thursdays at 9 p.m., leading up to the finale, which is tonight (!). And we're saying it now: there will be spoilers ahead. Episode 12, 'Party of One ' This is the end, my friend. We're at the SERIES FINALE of And Just Like That… There are perhaps too many loose threads to tie up: will Carrie stay solo or start dating a random dude? Will Miranda and Joy work through their issues? Will Harry be able to have sex with Charlotte? Will Samantha come back? How many pies will be consumed during the Thanksgiving dinner? We get some answers to some of these questions — the on-the-nose revision to Carrie's epilogue of her novel says it all: 'She was on her own.' Elsewhere, we have a pretty wedding dress fashion show as Seema ponders if she wants to get married; Lisa exchanges vows with Herbert even though he's going through a tough time; Charlotte sleeps with a post-cancer-surgery Harry; and Miranda and Joy show up for each other for their respective important moments of life, while Miranda deals with a gross clogged toilet (why?). 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Later on, Carrie calls it her 'lunch with a doll' and wonders whether she can accept being alone. 35-01 36th Street at 35th Street, Astoria Miranda is clearly fond of Mexican restaurants, isn't she? This time, she and Steve are dining at the Queens Mexican restaurant to discuss their son and the forthcoming grandkid. They ordered enchiladas suizas and enchiladas rosa. They talk about Thanksgiving, but Steve isn't coming because he doesn't want it to become a thing since Brady is still mad at him for his outburst, Brady's preference for oat milk, and the fact that they're going to have a grandkid. 401 East 90th Street, near First Avenue, Upper East Side If you get to know me IRL, you'll learn that I love pie! Okay, so last week, I couldn't identify the pie bakery in that episode, and many helpful people wrote in to share their guesses as to what the mysterious-to-me pie shop was. It turns out — thanks to a single tipster who got it right and the helpful awning with an address pictured in this episode — the Petite Pie Place is Michaeli's Bakery (which shared the news on its Instagram). Other potential options included Petee's Pies (which I was digging into, but nixed) and Little Pie Company, since Sarah Jessica Parker is a noted fan of the bakery (perhaps this chosen fake name was in homage to it, too). But also, the Israeli bakery does not sell pie. Anyway, we see Carrie leave the bakery with the pies she preordered, wearing an epic magenta dress with a sequined top, fluffy skirt, and amazing hat. She's the pie fairy, dropping the sweets at her friends' places. First, the Charlotte household gets a pumpkin-looking pie; then Lisa's family gets an apple crisp pie. Next is the 'gluten-free imposter' for Seema, in a perfectly timed car-to-car exchange, and Anthony with his chocolate cream pie. Finally, she arrives at Miranda's place with the rest of the order. We end the episode with Carrie back in her apartment with her pie as she blares Barry White and sings and dances while digging into her sweet amidst a montage of the other ladies eating their pies with their loved ones. Giuseppe smashes the cream pie in Anthony's face, but they laugh and kiss about it; Charlotte et. al. eat pie while looking at Rock's play photos; Miranda and Joy dig into the good pumpkin pie; and Herbert enjoys a second piece of pie while telling Lisa she can relax. And just like that, we're done with the Sex and the City spinoff. It wasn't a wholly satisfying ending — but here's hoping Carrie finds peace with herself and Shoe the kitten. Eater NY All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
New York Post
3 days ago
- New York Post
Eleven Madison Park abandoning veganism shows what New Yorkers really want: Steak
The truth about what New Yorkers really want to eat bit Eleven Madison Park on its precious, plant-based butt this week, with the announcement that chef/owner Daniel Humm's menu would no longer be exclusively vegan. But what took them so long to come to their snooty senses? For 15 years, Humm ran the kitchen at EMP to global acclaim, earning three Michelin stars and a spot atop the World's 50 Best Restaurant list in 2017. Then, in 2021, he abruptly switched to a vegan menu. It laid a big, fat egg — an item forbidden on vegan menus — with Big Apple critics, who ridiculed its three-hour, nine-course prix-fixe meal starting at $350 a head. 4 This week, chef Daniel Humm announced that Eleven Madison Park would no longer be exclusively vegan. Brian Zak/NY Post They particularly piled on a beet that was laboriously tweaked and tortured into a stand-in for duck — 'cooked 18-ways [and tasting] like pretty much any other beet' (Adam Platt on and 'tastes like Lemon Pledge and smells like a burning joint' (Pete Wells in the New York Times.) I could have warned Humm against throwing out his beloved EMP dishes such as lacquered duck in favor of a rigidly purist, vegan menu that seemed more about striking a blow at 'animal exploitation' than about making customers happy. I didn't go back to EMP after it swallowed the vegan Kool-Aid. Root vegetables and laboratory-tweaked seeds without meat, fish or dairy products are neither my — nor most people's — cup of tea. I order steak only occasionally, even in steakhouses. But to the chagrin of 'save the earth' types who put animal consumption on par with war crimes, beef in many shapes and styles is the runaway favorite dish of New York's dining millions. They want steak. More than Italian, more than Japanese, more than tacos. Just count the seats! 4 The restaurant introduced an all-vegan menu, with dishes like pea 'caviar', in 2021. Bloomberg via Getty Images It's as hard to book tables at Daniel Boulud's great new American steakhouse La Tete D'Or, which opened in November, as it was at EMP in its animal product-serving prime. La Tete was preceded by a stampede of giant, successful new steakhouses: Delmonico's, Brooklyn Chophouse Times Square, Beefbar, Mastro's, Hawksmoor, Bourbon Steak and Le Relais de Venise. Then there's the just-opened Mexican-style Cuerno and Korean-inspired Gui. In recent years, we've also gotten a second Brazilian-style Fogo de Chao at the World Trade Center, a third Capital Grille, a second Rocco's, a second Del Frisco's and a third Empire Steak. A new outpost of Cote is coming soon in Midtown. Meanwhile, vegan places such as Modern Love, Seasoned Vegan and Blossom have been folding, as my colleague Jennifer Gould reported, with owners hilariously blaming their flops on 'congestion pricing.' 4 Dishes like Humm's famous duck breast were taken off the menu. Brian Zak/NY Post The truth wasn't lost on real estate king David W. Levinson, who in early 2015 tapped Humm with much hoopla to run a traditional high-end restaurant at his then-rising 425 Park Avenue. When Humm made EMP vegan in 2021 and announced plans to do the same at 425 Park, which had just opened and was seeking office tenants, Levinson went with another chef. 'We didn't want a vegan restaurant at 425 Park Avenue,' Levinson told me in 2022. 'I want [Humm] to succeed, but it was a no-brainer not to have a vegan restaurant.' Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Four Twenty Five opened in the high-rise in late 2023 and had been consistently full ever since. After the early hysterical vegan buzz subsided, EMP could no longer count on booking lucrative private parties, which are most restaurants' cash cows. Even for many regular customers, EMP was a one-time, try-anything affair. Not enough diners wanted to blow a second fortune on an interminable meal without any animal-derived products, not even cheese, butter, honey or gelatin. I had fine vegan dishes at the original Cafe Boulud and at long-gone Del Posto and Brushstroke, but as part of longer tasting menus — not as the entire menu, which EMP forced on us. 4 Humm said he hopes that adding animal products back to the menu will bring more people into the restaurant. Bloomberg via Getty Images Starting on Oct. 14, 2025, EMP's web site says, 'In addition to our plant-based menu, we will offer select animal proteins for certain dishes — including fish, shellfish, and poultry.' Wowee! But —wait for it — there's pointedly no mention of beef. Humm said he didn't intend for his original menu to 'unintentionally keep people out.' I hope his new menu options draw a wider clientele. Otherwise, EMP might soon be RIP.
