NYC Travels, #12696

Take a walk around Soho these days, and there are a variety of ways and means with which you and your money will likely part, despite your foolish ways. There are about 358 different tables from which you can choose your ultimate scarf, all scattered around Soho's cobble streets; brooches, pendants, necklaces and other miscellaneous chazerai litter countless more tables in and around the same lush, commercially ungepatched area.

My girlfriend and I braved the weather, the tourists and the dearth of licensed cabs to travel to this very area and we met the challenge with remarkable aplomb. Visits to Pottery Barn, Kenneth Cole, Scoop, Prada, Banana Republic and Kate Spade produced remarkably little shopping fare (aside from excellent replacements for the currant candles which adorn our night tables these days, from Pottery Barn); we found lots of baubles, trinkets and the aforementioned chazerai -- and a few scarves, too. This being our second visit to Soho, I was yet again impressed by her ability to deftly carve through the throngs of anxious consumers and find the particular object she required, be it a brooch, a purse, a pashmina or pair of sunglasses.

Our sole relaxation this day came at Bar 89, a quietly tucked-away gem of a bar/eatery at 89 Mercer. The lines and the design of this bar are ultra Soho -- thoroughly über-cool, with muted neon blues and reds lining the angles and angular metal sculpture finding its way toward the vaulted, auditorium-like ceiling. The bathroom is among the most memorable facets of Bar 89; you ascend a winding staircase to the second floor to find a row of eight consecutive stalls, replete with sinks and toilets, each with its own transparent glass door, mildly reminiscent of the movie "Fortress" with Christopher Lambert. You enter a stall expecting to give the other occupants of the establishment a show, but as soon as the lock latch is implemented, the door's glass becomes opaque and your privacy to perform your duties is safeguarded. High quality design.

Yet the fun doesn't stop at the lavatories and their unique design. The food is creative, she of the grilled cheese club-minus bacon and me of the truck driver salad, with chicken -- and the two of us sipping cabernet, diet coke and each other, really punctuated the afternoon nicely. Each time we visit Soho we lunch here, and though the bar gets fun and populated after five, it never fails to get us smiling.

On our brief walk back to Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel, we stopped for a peek at H&M (lord help us) and shared a few laughs whilst people-watching (red pleather boots and red tights do not an outfit make). And we routinely jaunt past Dean and Deluca as I regale her with the same stories about Steely Dan's familiarity with that particular market, as opposed to Gourmet Garage, FreshDirect or a variety of other specialty eateries, including Eli's, Zabar's and Gristedes.

I highly recommend visiting Bar 89 if you can survive the cool factor; but moreover, spending time in Soho in cold weather is a feat I'll gladly endure with her again, I am sure, so long as there is gin and grey goose behind the bar and we have a few hours to kill outside of these four walls, wherever said walls may be.

We're venturing forth to conquer Planet Sushi with friends tonight, and we'll make our way to Canal Street tomorrow. Edamame, sake and warmth.

More to follow.