Search

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER The Branson at Fifth does not offer your typical hotel experience. There is no concierge, bellhop or front desk--just a doorman in a narrow lobby who hands [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Local may be the rage these days, but California-based We Olive is finding love in Brooklyn. The shop, which pairs wine with small plates featuring the Golden [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER The Big Apple is flush with hotels for guests who don't flinch at nightly room rates of $1,000 or more. The city's super-luxury hotel stock is at [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER The Quin Hotel--formerly the Buckingham--reopened a year ago after a massive renovation, but its crown jewel, a triplex penthouse suite, was off limits. When the Shapiro family, [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Patrizia's Pizza and Pasta of Brooklyn is moving into a space at 462 Second Ave., at East 26th Street, where two other Brooklyn pizzerias failed to catch [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Selling expensive wine by the glass can be risky but highly rewarding. So when Jared Fischer, the wine director at Clement Restaurant in the Peninsula New York [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Patina Restaurant Group has a knack for getting prime real estate at some of the city's most famous tourist attractions, from Rockefeller Center--where it operates three eateries--to [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER It may be a balmy October in New York, but that hasn't discouraged executives at the New York Marriott Marquis from preparing for the holiday season. Defying [...]

Byline: Lisa Fickenscher Jennifer Oz LeRoy is considered New York restaurant royalty. She is the former operator of Tavern on the Green and a daughter of the late Warner LeRoy, [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER When the city's hotel concierges are asked for recommendations to a show or restaurant, chances are their guests will be referred to one of the 15 winners [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER The Mario Batali Greenwich Village Food Tour, launching on Sept. 16, will offer more than tasty morsels at the famed chef's eateries. Walks of New York inked [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Stephen Hanson's departure last December from BR Guest Hospitality hardly signaled his exit from the food world. The prolific restaurateur plans to buy a chain of 15 [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Nightlife impresario Scott Gerber and famed painter Domingo Zapata (below) will launch Studio at the W New York Union Square later this month. The lounge, formerly Lilium, [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER When Ben Mosner joined his family's wholesale meat business in 2000, he'd arrive at its Hunts Point plant in the Bronx from his Rockland County home at [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER For decades, tourists to Ellis Island have been barred from visiting the enormous south-side hospital complex, where immigrants were screened and treated for infectious diseases and other [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Just Salad is having its biggest expansion year ever. The eight-year-old chain founded by former Wall Street executive Nick Kenner has grown to 12 eateries in New [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Jean Denoyer, the prolific restaurateur who owns some 10 eateries, including Orsay and Brasserie Ruhlmann in New York, says reopening La Goulue has become his 'obsession.' The [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Tavern on the Green's gala reopening on May 13 after a four-year hiatus drew scores of celebrities, including some who started their careers at the landmark restaurant. [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER The Thompson Hotel already has a little brother, Tommie, on the way. The so-called microhotel (lobby rendering below) aimed at millennial travelers will offer stylish but tiny [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER The Four Seasons Restaurant, known for its wealthy clientele and impeccable menu, is trying a little night music to lure a younger dinner crowd. Argentine-American songwriter Diego [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Real estate scion Matthew Moinian cut his teeth in the family business as the project manager of the W New York Downtown, which opened in 2010. Now [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Celebrity chef Mario Batali (pictured) will close the wine store at his Italian market, Eataly, for six months and pay a $500,000 fine to the New York [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER JESSAMYN RODRIGUEZ, 37 CEO, HOT BREAD KITCHEN After years of traveling the world and working for Amnesty International and the United Nations, Jessamyn Rodriguez never imagined that [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER MARC GLOSSERMAN, 39 CEO, HILL COUNTRY HOSPITALITY The flavor of success On opening night of Marc Glosserman's first restaurant, Hill Country Barbecue Market, his wife, Kristen, went [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, owner of Gramercy Tavern, Maialino and other eateries, is sharing a drop of its secret sauce with the public. A 10-week [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Danny Meyer used to stroll through the Union Square neighborhood to visit all of his restaurants. These days, he has to hop on an airplane to keep [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER The Manhattan Center, home to the famed Hammerstein Ballroom, wants to be a bigger player on the gala circuit--nabbing events that are ordinarily booked at Cipriani or [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Maria Jose Marquez had no idea when she arrived in New York City with her boyfriend in late January from Buenos Aires that she would leave the [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER No fooling: Le Perigord turns 50 on April 1, and the grande dame restaurant will be celebrating its vaunted age by strutting out a menu from its [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER In the food world, a James Beard award is akin to winning an Oscar. But this year, the organization behind the award will honor six ordinary home [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER The highly anticipated reopening of Central Park's Tavern on the Green has been pushed back to next year thanks to continued construction delays at the famous eatery, [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Family-owned grocer Westside Market NYC is venturing into foreign territory: the East Side. Next summer, the 48-year-old business will open its fifth Manhattan store, at 84 Third [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER THE BRONX'S HUNTS POINT PENINSULA, which houses large markets selling produce, fish and meat, was remarkably spared by Sandy despite being bounded by the Bronx and East [...]

Byline: Lisa Fickenscher Tim Rooney Jr. was born into a football dynasty, but these days he rarely gets to see the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team his grandfather, Art Rooney, founded [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER TASTE NY will soon be expanding from festivals, where vendors give away free samples, to stores in prime locations, such as Grand Central Terminal. Slated to open [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER What it does: Helps small businesses market online CEO: Court Cunningham Headquarters: Manhattan Three-year growth rate: 188% 2012 revenue: $132.2 million Profitable? Yes Local employees: 280 Total [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Foodies will have one more reason to nosh in the Flatiron district, which is fast becoming a culinary hot spot. This week, ilili, a popular Lebanese eatery [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER NEW YORK FARMS are the second-largest growers of apples in the country and the fourth-biggest producers of milk, yet many city supermarkets don't sell local products. That [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Antonio Biagi didn't choose the easy path when he opened a gelato shop, A.B. Biagi, in Nolita last month. A native of So Paulo, Brazil, where his [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Melt Shop, a growing chain that's riding the grilled-cheese craze, is set to open its third and largest location in September at West 50th Street and Seventh [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER FORAGERS ISN'T THE ONLY DISTRIBUTOR bringing locally grown food to the city. GrowNYC, which runs the city's 53 greenmarkets, last year launched Greenmarket Co., a wholesale distribution [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER In February, Bryan McGuire marked a milestone in his career--a quarter-century as the general manager of the '21' Club, the 84-year-old former speakeasy frequented by Hollywood legends [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER Grand Central Terminal's famed Oyster Bar & Restaurant will celebrate its 100th anniversary on April 19, just months after the station's Feb. 2 centennial bash. The subterranean [...]

New anchor for Seaport The South Street Seaport redevelopment project cleared its final hurdle last week, when the City Council approved the developer's plan to build a new shopping mall [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER ZOU SAKOUTIS, 34 Founder and president BLUEPRINT Partying too much turned out to be a good thing for Zo Sakoutis. While working in Manhattan as a hotel [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER CHRISTIAN GOODE, 37 CFO and senior vice president of development, RESORTS WORLD CASINO NEW YORK CITYuGENTING AMERICAS Christian Goode never aspired to be a lawyer, but he's [...]

Byline: LISA FICKENSCHER New Yorkers who move away may never have to hanker for a real bagel again. Zabar's has a new program that allows consumers to sign up for [...]

Kenneth I. Chenault, vice chairman of American Express, intends to promote his company's credit card products to the banking industry. Chenault feels that bank card associations, such as Visa and MasterCard, are thwarting his company's efforts to expand into the larger banking community and he wants to address this issue. Chenault sees his company as having an advantage in being able to offer banks credit management and operational support., American Express Co. vice chairman Kenneth I. Chenault is on a diplomatic mission. He is out to convince bankers that American Express has a lot to offer as a marketing [...]

About a dozen lenders, concerned about the increase in consumer bankruptcies, have formed Bankruptcy Prevention and Counseling, a coalition meant to help them collectively address bankruptcy issues. The coalition, whose members include NationsBank Corp, MBNA Corp and Citicorp, will concern itself primarily with credit card debt. NationsBank VP Phil Davis expects the group to focus on customer service, counseling, and education., About a dozen institutions - including Citicorp, MBNA Corp., and NationsBank Corp. - have formed a coalition to deal collectively with bankruptcy issues. The program, called Bankruptcy Prevention and Counseling, [...]

NationsBank Corp plans to expand its credit card operations to meet its internal goals of at least matching the growth of industry leaders. The company's managed credit card receivables currently represent only about 5.9% of its domestic loan portfolio compared to between 10% and 12% for other major card issuers. NationsBank Card Services president Eileen M. Friars reported that the company seeks to expand the volume of its credit card receivables from around $6 billion to $12 billion., As in so many other parts of its empire, NationsBank Corp. has aspired to leadership in credit cards. And it has succeeded, to the extent that its name follows those [...]