Yesterday we checked in on the Brass Monkey’s new roof deck — it was a bit crowded, as rooftops tend to be this time of year! How are the others fairing? We dispatched our videographer, Matthew Waxman, to five recently-opened ones — Studio B, Salon de Ning, Eden, the Pool Deck at the Empire Hotel, and Highbar — to check in on the after-work scenes. We’re hoping this will put you in the holiday spirit so that you won’t miss Grub Street too much— we’re gone fishin’ starting now. See you Monday, barring any debilitating grilling accidents.

Now that Highbar is, um, off the ground (Down by the Hipster checked it out yesterday), Greg Briar (also owner of Amalia) tells us that by Labor Day weekend he’ll open a second outpost of his restaurant Aspen in Vikram Chatwal’s 212 Hotel. Briar says the dining room, designed by the increasingly ubiquitous-again Steve Lewis, will pair aspen trees with mirrored walls to create the illusion of a forest and that “mandelier” artist Jason Miller is installing his notorious antler chandeliers in a 30-by-30-foot dome over the tables. As with Aspen, there will be nods to Hunter S. Thompson and the sort of “world-class loungey-type D.J.'s,” per Briar, that HST probably would’ve scared off with a bullhorn. Also carrying over from the original location are the bison sliders (plus Kobe beef and Black Angus sliders!) and the tacos and quesadillas. No telling how many more Aspens are in the works, but Briar says that he’s planning to launch Highbars in India, London, and then maybe he'll set the controls for the heart of the sun.