Rainbow Room has just re-opened a third restaurant in less than three decades. Offering 9, 431 brunch buffet items with live jazz performances, the remodel of the 80-year-old Gershwin-era building has come into the 21st century through Tishman Speyer, the landlord. Using Gabellini Sheppard Associates as the designers who polished up some of the most notable elements including the crystal chandelier under a 23-foot-high dome and a revolving dance floor, practically everything else is new.
Mirrors help create an optical illusion of the panes being wider than they are. Walls have been redone in a silver-grey fabric, brightening the room, flexible lighting generates a romantic ambience, etc.
And then of course there is the food with a twist. The apple cider doughnut, honey-baked ham, miniature chicken and truffle pot pies, crab claws and shrimps are getting the joint a good name.
Perhaps most significantly about the restaurant is that there has not been such a sky-high dining experience in Manhattan since 9/11. With the Rainbow Room, sky-high dining may have just returned.
