Profile

Business relationships take a more casual tone over the jumbo martinis served at this polished hotel bar just north of Grand Central. Small, cozy, and furnished with chic lamps and bouncy upholstered armchairs, the bar is a refuge from the hotel’s overly bright, expansive lobby. International cell phones jingle over generic jazz as dark suit- and briefcase-bearing business execs sip a pre-dinner drink and network over conversations about the stock market and designer silk ties. Silent but ever-present waiters float around the bar, hands neatly clasped behind them when they’re not relighting candles and replenishing crystal bowls of popcorn, nuts, and plump green olives. Those who suddenly find themselves two or three drinks under stumble no farther than the ornate lobby, where they can eat a dinner of crab cakes, lamb, or veal at one of about a dozen tables. — Lee Cabot Walker