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“Ono”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Asian	MeatPacking	Moderate	Great

It was about ten years ago (maybe a year or two more) that I was a regular at China Grill, one of Jefferey Chodorow’s first mega-successes. And as I walked inside the sultry, ebony-toned lobby of Ono, Chodorow’s 23rd restaurant—designed with rich, dark and sexy elegance by Jeffrey Beers—who also designed China Grill—I was 24 all over again, and pushing my way through the revolving doors of China Grill, into a long buzzing bar jam-packed stunning suited men gobbling up plates crispy calamari salad while scarfing down fruity cocktails with abandon.

Those were the days—a decade ago, starting my first job as a summer associate at Chadbourne & Park, where my time was split between lunching at Judson Grill and spending too many nights leaning on the bar at China Grill, flirting with the bartenders, watching the chefs fling woks in the open kitchen. It all seemed so simple then. (Cue the violins). If you remember that far back, you also remember that China Grill was THE place to go. It was the first restaurant to make Chinese cuisine a scene to be savored—think 66, ten years ago.

Walk into Ono, close your eyes, and it’s 1994 all over again. You feel the China Grill vibe, tweaked for the new Meatpacking millennium. It’s big, and bold, with a signature open kitchen and fire-breathing robata grill. Indeed with Ono, Chodorow, who is jumping on the chic-Japanese bandwagon by following up on giant sushi temples like Megu and Matsuri, is attempting a China Grill replay with sushi, robata, nigir, and more.

Located at the super-fabulous Gansevoort Hotel in the stiletto-scorched Meatpacking District, Ono is all about beautiful people, by way of flattering lighting and sleek design. And it seems that just by virtue of being in there, you too are stunning and fabulous. It’s like one of those mirrors that makes you look tall and skinny. The illusion is quite intoxicating. (But then morning comes and reality—and a nice sharp headache—greet you.) But here at Ono, life is good. Everyone looks great, and heck, so do you.

In the moody bar—a chic, low-lit Genie-in-a-bottle type space in the round—you’ll find cocktails shaken by stunning men dressed in lapis blue silk tunics that happen to make them all look like Batman’s sidekick Robin. Seriously, all these guys need is tights and a cape and they are set for Marvel comics. (Seth from Craftbar i ... [more, click below]

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Posted: October 31, 2004

Other restaurants in MeatPacking :
+ Paradou   + Florent   + One   + Bivio   + Spice Market   + Ono   + 5 Ninth   + Fatty Crab   + Del Posto   + Morimoto   + Los Dados   + 5 Ninth   + Merkato 55   + Scarpetta   + The John Dory   + The Standard Grill   + Bill's Bar & Burger   

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