October 2, 2009
Private Dining Rooms
I get calls so often from friends who are having a birthday party or an event and are looking for a place with a private room or that can serve a group. It usually takes a lot of calls to find out availability and pricing. Now, Joe Bastianich and a partner have just launched a new service that is going to make it all easy. It’s the Open Table of private dining, called Dine Private (not to be confused with another service called Privatedine.com), it’s an online site. You put in your criteria—date, cuisine, how many people, budget and a list of restaurants with real-time availability pops up. You can book in advance or use it for last minute finds. Right now, the selection is still somewhat limited and some of the restaurants have pricey minimums, but I think with Joe behind it, it’s going to gain a lot of momentum. Some major restaurants like Lupa, Bar Boulud, Daniel, the BLT restaurants are on board. You can see photos of the rooms, info about how many people they hold, menus and most important, availability and minimum prices. They also seem to have discounted prices for Private Dine members. When you go online, be careful because there is a company called Privatedine.com that appears when you search. They seem to be doing something similar, but the site doesn’t look as good.
dineprivate.com
Alvin Ailey
If you are around on Saturday, October 3rd and feel like standing in line, Alvin Ailey is offering $20 tickets to their December 3rd performance that are on sale ONLY this Saturday. You can only get them at the New York City Center box office. While you wait, there are going to be free activities including theTreats Truck, music, chair massages and other surprises, but it is only until supplies last. Tickets go on sale at 9am, but I’m sure the line will begin before then and there is a FOUR ticket limit per person.
Saturday, October 3rd at 9am
CITY CENTER BOX OFFICE
West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues
New York, NY
If you want to participate in the Alvin Ailey experience, their wonderful dance school is offering an interesting workshop. The Masala Bhangra Workout™ Evening workshop is on Saturday, October 17, 2009 from 5:30-7:30pm at The Ailey Studios (located at The Joan Weill Center for Dance, 405 West 55th Street at 9th Avenue). There’s going to be a henna tattoo artist and a live percussionist. It sounds like it’s going to be an interesting experience. The Masala Bhangra Workout™, is a combination of the high-energy folk dance of Bhangra mixed in with a some Bollywood moves-- think Slumdog Millionaire.
The creator, Sarina is is a celebrity exercise person with a show on Discovery Channel’s Fit TV. Her regularly scheduled class on Monday evenings at 8pm is one of The Ailey Extension’s fastest growing classes.
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