Don't look back at Barney's long lines - you may turn into a pillar of salt

Sharp hipbones swiveling for spots at the bench for shoe try-on. Come to the sale with padding. One hoarder had well over 100 pairs in a clear plastic bag. Turnout huge - all ages, all sizes, all boros, white hairs, flaming bottle reds. The unemployed, the good weather, the curious, consider The Barney's Warehouse Sale a free edition of the Fringe Festival. Look for markdowns of 25% off extra on blue marked shoes.

~brenner, nancy

Best Buffed Men in NY...

...spend nooners at the Leather Spa where their bespoke shoes are polished to perfection.

This shop is is lined with tell-tale red soled Louboutins and exudes eau de exotic leather. A woman with a mink caplet and matching headband dropped off her boots for full treatment. My six-year + Barneys warehouse sale Prada boots looked like they would be in good hands. I also left a leather lambskin lasercut cut skirt with a rip (don't even ask how that happened). The results: the boots look like they never touched a sidewalk and the skirt - well if you can see where the original tear was - you are standing way too close to me.

If Dorothy's ruby reds needed a spit shine, she'd head to The Leather Spa. Expect to pay more than your neighborhood taps and heels guy, but this is the place if you need a little leather Botox, 10 West 55th St.

~Nancy Brennahhh

The Dress to Match Yesterday's Heinous Shoes?

This is one of those times when a picture indeed speaks 1,000 words.  As my friend who first came upon this asked, "Body Glove, anyone?"

Barneys & Bergdorf's: A Shoepacalypse

There was discussion among the downtown set at Anna the other day that the shoes at high-end department stores were crazy, ugly and/or unwearable. I thought that sounded plausible, but wanted to do some real investigation (while looking for some new boots) myself, so I headed to two meccas: Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman.

Um, yeah, holy tacky cheese fest. There were easily 8,000 pairs of shoes and boots between the two stores, and I liked about 4 of them. I'm not even going to get into the absurd cost factor, but it seems to me that these retail shrines have turned to pandering to the lowest common denominator of style. Think Sopranos. And beyond style, who can actually wear these 9" heels?

Speaking of which, as I walked in the door of Bergdorf's Furio from the Sopranos was walking out. And no I am not kidding.

My quest continues. It's possible that this year in shoes is a wash. Or it may be time to refurbish ye olde boots in the closet. Either way, I shall continue to seek on all of our behalves.

p.s. Just say NO to over-the-knee boots. Especially if you are not 5'8" or taller!

Barneys: The End of the $700 Shoe is upon us

I remember a couple of years ago when I started noticing that it had become "normal" for stores to charge $700 for a single pair of shoes. It wasn't just at the highest-end boutiques, it was rampant. I remember thinking, "No way, this is insanity." And now that the economic "adjustment" is upon us, I am happy to have been proved correct (for now). Apparently it also caused me to use "quotation marks" without pause, but I digress...

OK, so these are by no means "cheap," but I thought everyone would like to know about the huge shoe sale going on at Barneys, including everyone's favorite over-the-top designers.

As pictured above:

Prada : was $750, now $450

Christian Louboutin (red): was $865, now $520

Robert Clergerie (turquoise platform): was $695, now $415

Rouge Tomate: 4 Stars / Barneys: $2,500

I wrote about this fabulous-yet-health-conscious restaurant a few weeks ago. The raves continue. So if shopping at Barneys (or just ogling at Barneys), eat here afterwards!

Speaking of which, did you know you can sign up to win a $2,500 shopping spree at Barneys by just providing them with your email address? The winner will be notified on or about January 15, 2009.

New York Daily News Restaurant Review
At midtown restaurant Rouge Tomate, less is more
Tuesday, December 2nd 2008

The interior of Rouge Tomate.10 E. 60th St., between Fifth and Madison, (212) 237-8977;

Open seven days, noon-4:30 p.m., 5:30-10:30 p.m.;

CUISINE: Modern American;

VIBE: Glossy culinary spa;

OCCASION Midtown lunch, business dinner, detox dining;

DON'T MISS DISH: Arctic char, yellowjack crudo, rabbit with chestnut pasta; PRICE: Appetizers $10, entrees $20, desserts $10;

RESERVATIONS Accepted in downstairs dining room. Different menu in upstairs cafe; both equally good.

There are 393 calories in the rabbit Fleischnacke at Rouge Tomate. The nutritionist counted. How many restaurants do you know that have a nutritionist?
Fleischnacke is German for minced meat rolled in pasta and cooked in a stock. At Rouge Tomate, this means farm-raised, braised rabbit rolled up in chestnut pasta and sautéed in rabbit jus. None of the ingredients requires quotation marks.
There's not a mock anything anywhere in this dish. Those 393 calories also include a celery root purée, roasted celery root, roasted chestnuts, chestnut foam and a salad of apples, celery leaves and tarragon.
And that's one of the more caloric dishes on the menu.
My favorite appetizer - the celery root and almond panna cotta - is only 155 calories. The panna cotta is made with unhomogenized whole milk and topped with lots of peekytoe crab, grapefruit segments and fresh tarragon. The calories matter, but only because the food is so exceptional.
Usually the thought of self-consciously healthy food makes me depressed - so depressed I get the urge to curl up with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon.
But I don't feel that way at Rouge Tomate, even though they've replaced most of the fats we associate with haute cuisine. Take butter, cheese and cream away from most chefs and they would throw their hands up in despair. But Jeremy Bearman, chef at Rouge Tomate, has had a few good mentors, including Joel Robuchon and Daniel Boulud.
Here's how it works: Take the lobster à la plancha with green fennel risotto. Usually, what binds a risotto together is butter and cheese. Instead, Bearman uses fennel stock, fennel purée, fennel juice and fennel-fronds purée - the quintessence of fennel. He finishes the dish with sauce Americaine, a brandy-spiked lobster stock with a splash of Pernod. These are robust flavors and you never pine for the absent fats.
Rouge Tomate adheres to an 85-page S.P.E. charter - Latin for Sanitas Per Escam. That means health through food, a phrase that comes from Emmanuel Verstraeten, the founder of the original Rouge Tomate in Brussels. What this really means is sourcing, preparation and enhancement. It's the cult of culinary balance - the balance of taste and nutrition - not a bad cult to be in. But it's bigger than that.
Rouge Tomate may be a prototype for a restaurant of the future - a new way of thinking, a new way of eating, a new way of dining out.
Let me just point out some of the highlights of this wonderful menu: squab and slow-roasted faro salad; Arctic char with smoked sea salt and Asian pear sorbet; and yellowtail amberjack crudo with vanilla salt, a mung bean salad, crispy ginger, kaffir lime and fresh tropical fruit.
There's also dessert, which is where you would really mourn the missing calories. Except you don't here. The chocolate and banana tasting is 272 calories - a chocolate and caramelized banana napoleon, roasted baby banana split and a teacup of rich hot cocoa. James Distefano, the pastry chef, makes a terrific parfait with yogurt, fresh huckleberries, candied lemon and a chamomile crisp. In fact, the only dessert that doesn't work is the Hudson Valley apple soup.
I hope Rouge Tomate is going to be here for a long, long time. Especially if Jeremy Bearman stays in the kitchen.

Rouge Tomate & Cavatappo Wine Bar: Food & Drink

Yours truly had the great opportunity to have dinner and lunch at soon-to-open (October 28) Rouge Tomate before it opened to the public. Located on E. 60th across from Barney's, Rouge Tomate "provides a harmonious alignment of balanced cuisine, well-being, and social and environmental consciousness. This nutritional approach demonstrates a genuine respect for the integrity of ingredients used in crafting balanced, healthful and flavorful dishes."

Bottom line? The space is amazing, beautiful, airy, and I'm not sure exactly what I mean by this, but...harmonious. If a restaurant could look healthy and delicious, this is the spot. And the food presentation is artistic and beautiful -- I might even say breathtaking if I wasn't afraid that it'd sound a bit too gushy. I have to say that of everything I ate the lobster and beet salad (lunch) was my favorite as was the chocolate/peanut butter dessert (dinner).

And last night I made it into Cavatappo Wine Bar on Third Ave. and 26th St. (other location on Second and 89th). With a substantial selection of wines, a bit of food, decent music and a mature atmosphere, this place may be one of the saviors of a neighborhood on the brink of turning into Hoboken. If you are in the hood and not interested in football or jello shots, I strongly suggest this as a top option.

90% off at Barney's Warehouse Sale Today

While I was cleaning and putting together some DIY pieces of furniture (a bathroom shelving unit and a coat rack - I DO NOT recommend doing this), I received a note from a loyal GS blog reader regarding today at Barney's Warehouse sale. I'm hoping somebody got this on tape:

"It was sheer madness - the guy trying to manage the line outside, which curled around seventh to who knows where announced "enter at your own risk" - no hair pulling, biting or fighting - you can check your stroller at the door, but not your baby - and of course, ladies you need to check your big bags - you know who you are!"

I went to Barneys Warehouse Sale

(Photo courtesy of Racked.com)
Yes, I went. Last night after work at around 6:15 p.m. It was not crowded at all. But it was calm chaos nevertheless. Shoes all over the place, clothes all over the place. I was almost moved to buy some shoes, but then thought that perhaps I should wait til the final day and return in hopes of scoring a real bargain. The prices are certainly lower than usual, but I wouldn't have felt as though I had led a retail revolution. Also, so many of the shoes have 4-inch heels, and my feet have been through the wars the past couple of years, so I just can't try and hobble around the city that way any longer. At least not until I get a podiatrist on the case.

I was also seeking an evening bag, but the prices were too Crazy Eddie for me. As you might know, I am not a handbag lover, so I won't throw down hundreds of dollars for something I may only use twice.

And in closing, the sizes are teeny tiny. Seemingly Barneys equates a 10 with huge mongo giantism and they shove that small rack off in the corner for the "special people." OK, maybe I'm feeling a little bit out of shape this mid-winter week, but you get my (snow)drift.

I also went to Loehmann's right 'round the corner looking for similar items. That place was (is) a disaster and I found no bag there either. However, they did have what appeared to be a recent shipment of fancy schmancy shoes including many styles from Sigerson Morrison that you might want to check out.

Yes Barneys Warehouse Sale Has Begun

Through March 2, 255 W. 17th St (between 7th and 8th), 212-450-8700

WSJ: Latest Luxury: The Store Concierge

For those of you who have more money than you know what to do with:

Latest Luxury: The Store Concierge --- Retailers Kick It Up a Notch To Coddle Affluent Clientele
By Ann Zimmerman
20 December 2007
The Wall Street Journal

Dallas -- Not long ago, Mark Krug, a concierge at the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, dealt with a panicked hotel guest who had arrived at 10 p.m. in an irreparably ripped pair of pants.
The executive had an important business meeting the next morning and needed new slacks to match his suit jacket. Mr. Krug knew exactly what to do. He dialed the cell phone of the concierge at the Dallas store of luxury retailer Barneys New York. The concierge, Gary Jackson, who goes by the name Jackson, opened the locked store, scooped up some potential selections and brought them to the hotel by 11 p.m.
"It made us look good and it gave Barneys fantastic customer loyalty," say Mr. Krug. "I call what Jackson does 'making magic.'"
In the race to attract customers, luxury emporiums are doing what the best hotels have done for decades -- installing concierges. Customer service has always been the hallmark of luxury retailers. But Barneys New York (a unit of Dubai World) and Nordstrom Inc., in particular, have kicked it up a notch by stationing concierges at several of their highest-profile branches to fulfill an array of customer requests that have nothing to with shopping -- for example, obtaining seats at the best restaurants or arranging admission to the hottest clubs. In return, the stores say they gain new customers and foster deeper loyalty in their old ones. It is another way for retailers to set themselves apart in a world where even the best stores often carry similar brands.
Seattle-based Nordstrom, for instance, has concierge desks in eight of its 101 stores. They are in stores in the largest cities and serve in part as a local chamber of commerce, providing information about the city's sites, best restaurants and other areas of interest. Among other tasks, they also deliver merchandise to people's homes or hotels at no charge.
Saks Inc. has concierge service in stores in its biggest cities and tourist towns. The concierges will give customers water, take returns or help answer questions about bills and for the best customers can arrange extra-special services. A valued customer of the Manhattan Saks Fifth Avenue, for instance, uses the store's visual team to decorate her home for the holidays, according to Suzanne Johnson, general manager of the store.
The stores with concierges say the service is available to any customer, regardless of how much they spend. But clearly, the extra mile is expended on the customers who are best known to the store. Several of the concierges say not all customers know their cellphone numbers, for instance, for getting last-minute favors.
For sending them business, restaurants, hotels and clubs often comp the concierges. But the programs aren't without their risks. Mr. Jackson, the Barneys concierge in Dallas, recalls calling the VIP manager of a new private club to get a store customer on the guest list. The manager called him the next day to tell him the customer had drunk too much and started a brawl. "I made it clear to the customer I wouldn't be rebooking him in the future," he says. "Their behavior reflects on us as well."
Barneys's concierge program started about a decade ago in its store on Manhattan's Madison Avenue. Taylor Piedra, a former sales associate for Barneys, pioneered the program and now trains the others, who work in Boston, San Francisco, Dallas and its soon-to-open Las Vegas store.
Stationed right inside the entrance behind a custom-made teak and leather desk, under a sign saying Concierge Services, Mr. Piedra is sort of a ringmaster and tour guide. Like hotel concierges, he has sources that provide hard-to-nab theater tickets. And he knows exactly who to call to get his best customers into the newest, hottest restaurants.
One recent day, he gets an email from Lisa Jurick, a customer from New York's Long Island who has heard that the Waverly Inn restaurant in Manhattan's West Village only takes reservations two days in advance. Then she tells Mr. Piedra she wants reservations for two weeks hence for "five peeps." Mr. Piedra makes a note of it. "He is the love of my life," says Ms. Jurick. "When I want something, I want it now and Taylor makes it happen and with such calm."
Mr. Piedra's services are free, and Ms. Jurick says she never tips him, but does give him lavish Christmas presents. Last year, it was a Philip Stein Teslar watch, which retails for more than $1,500.
While Mr. Piedra doesn't do any direct selling, he drives sales nonetheless. His computer has bookmarked a currency converter, to help foreign customers figure out just how much money they are saving on their purchases with the dollar being so weak. "Finding out the exact savings can clinch a sale," says Mr. Piedra.
When Kevin Dyson became the general manager at the Manhattan Barneys, he asked Mr. Piedra what exactly a store concierge did. Mr. Piedra replied that he dug for answers to customer questions and didn't quit until he found them -- "like a ferret, but an elegant ferret."
During his stint, he has had to answer some far-fetched questions, once including where to find a real hippopotamus jaw. Mr. Piedra, who didn't ask why the customer needed it, found a little taxidermy store in Soho that had one.
Mr. Jackson, the Dallas Barneys concierge, plays a different role. He serves as the store host and has been essential to help building clientele at the year-old store. Barneys's previous attempt to crack the Dallas market failed in the 1990s. Jackson stocks beer, wine, champagne and the best customers' favorite liquors. He remembers every customer's name like a good bartender and is out every night finding the new chic watering hole. "Every restaurant and club in Dallas wants our customer," he says, whose background includes designing furniture and jewelry.
He has become something of a celebrity in town, invited to 50 events a month. An out-of-town customer once corralled him to squire his daughter, a local college student, and her out-of-town guests around town to the newest in nightspots.
Last week, a TV actress was shopping in the store when a man who pretended to know her threw his arms around her and kissed her. Mr. Jackson intervened. The actress was upset that the man had gotten his cologne scent on her and asked for a disposable wipe to get it off. Jackson searched all over the mall until he found one.