Thirsty? Drink up at one of these top 10 roofdeck bars

by Gadling Staff on

It’s been a long day, it’s hot outside, and you need a cold beverage – stat! Maybe you’re celebrating a good friend’s promotion, or commiserating over a failed board meeting. Whatever the reason, rooftop bars were created for a reason – to relax, rejoice and re-hydrate while taking in some of the best views. Here are the top 10 roofdeck bars not to be missed:

1. Sky Terrace, on the Hudson Hotel – New York, NY

The Sky Terrace is an outdoor bar featuring some of the most amazing views New York and the Hudson River. Grab a chair or hang in an hammock. Caveat: the rooftop is only accessible if you are staying in the hotel or know someone who is.

2. 230 Fifth Rooftop Garden – New York, NY

Another from the New York, NY area is the 230 Fifth Rooftop Garden. Situated in the heart of Manhattan this 22,000 square-foot rooftop bar can accommodate about 350 people. The rooftop has 1940s furniture surrounded by palm trees and fountains, giving it a most tranquil atmosphere. Order up some eats from the mostly Malaysian-influenced menu and sip on a specialty cocktails. The bar is open year round, and guests get complementary robes during the colder season.

3. Float, on the Hard Rock Hotel – San Diego, CA

In San Diego‘s Hard Rock Hotel lives the Float, featuring a comfortable bar, spacious pool deck for lounging and multiple fire-pits for keeping warm on those cold Southern California nights.

4. Spire Bar & Lounge, on The Hotel – Miami, FL

The Spire Bar and Lounge is located in The Hotel in Miami, and is a great place for young spring breakers. Located in Miami’s Art Deco District this stylish bar offers great views of the Miami skyline and beach, both of which may be enjoyed with the bar’s extensive cocktail and tapas menus.

5. Rooftop Lounge, on The Townhouse Hotel – Miami, FL

Also in Miami is the Rooftop Lounge at the top of The Townhouse Hotel. During the day this is an excellent place to kick back and relax by the pool. At night, the roofdeck turns into one of South Beach’s great social hot spots. There are regular parties every Friday and Saturday nights with a maximum capacity of 250 people. The affordable drinks and panoramic views make this a rooftop you don’t want to miss.6. Medjool Sky Terrace – San Francisco, California

Medjool Sky Terrace in San Francisco is the rooftop of the world-famous Medjool Restaurant. It Features a Mediterranean style tapas menu, cocktails, and breathtaking 360-degree views of San Francisco. Medjool Sky Terrace does not take reservations, so in order to take advantage of the bar and lounge it is best to arrive at a reasonable hour.

7. The Peabody – Memphis, TN

A well known hotel for rooftop parties in Memphis is The Peabody. Playing host to parties for some 80 years now, The Peabody Hotel is a historical and elegant place, perfect for vacationers and residents, alike. The cover? A mere $5. The result? A night to remember in Memphis.

8. Sky Bar, The Hilton – Virginia Beach, VA

On the rooftop of the Virginia Beach Hilton is Sky Bar, offering exceptional views from the 21st floor. On a clear night, you can see all the way to North Carolina. Featuring a specially prepared menu, high-end beers, wines, and spirits and the infinity-edge pool, this is the perfect place to experience this hotel’s full beauty.

9. Above Beverly Hills, The Thompson Beverly Hills – Los Angeles, CA

Rising above the not-to-clean air of Los Angeles lies the Thompson Beverley Hills rooftop bar, located just off Rodeo Drive. Only to hotel patrons and their invited guests, this rooftop bar has become a favorite LA hot-spot for those looking out for the newest place to see and be seen. T

10. Highbar, The Gramercy Park Hotel – New York, NY

Nestled on the top of the world famous Gramercy Park Hotel is the Highbar. A likely place to see celebrities, this 18th floor New York terrace bar offers panoramic views of Manhattan. Open until 3 a.m. on weekends, the Highbar hosts drinks and simple foods, such as hot dogs and hamburgers.

Aaron Gruenert is a Seed.com writer

Top five weekend travel media stories

by Alex Robertson Textor on

Here are some of the best travel stories culled from the travel sections of this past weekend’s newspapers.

1. In the Financial Times, Claire Wrathall pens a sailing exploration of northern Croatia’s Kornati islands, which take a backseat to the country’s southern Adriatic islands and port cities.

2. Seven writers weigh in on their first independent teenage trips in a Guardian travel feature. It’s amusing throughout, though the stories told by Terry Alderton and Emma Kennedy are especially funny.

3. In the Los Angeles Times, Michele Bigley recommends ten kid-friendly pit stops along Highway 1 between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

4. In the Winnipeg Free Press, Phil Reimer ponders the future of Antarctic cruises after the heavy-fuel ban takes effect next August. (Another great piece exploring the future of cruises among other tourism ventures was written by Doug French for the June 7 Christian Science Monitor.)

5. In the Irish Times, Ruadhán Mac Cormaic celebrates the virtues of Paris beyond the city’s six most central arondissements, sharing top-five hotel, restaurant, and activity lists.

(Photo: Flickr/Alaskan Dude)

The top 50 cities for quality of life

by Sean McLachlan on

If you don’t live in Vienna, you might consider moving there.

A new survey lists the top 50 cities for quality of life and Vienna comes out as number one. The survey, conducted by Mercer, a human resources consultancy firm, looked at criteria such as infrastructure, economy, housing, recreation, personal and press freedom, and education. Vienna certainly scores high in all that, plus it has historic neighborhoods and cool clocks. It’s just a shame the Toilet Bar had to change its decor.

The top ten cities are:

Vienna
Zurich
Geneva
Vancouver
Auckland
Dusseldorf
Frankfurt
Munich
Bern
Sydney

European cities dominate the top fifty. No U.S. city shows up until number 31 (Honolulu) followed by San Francisco (32), Boston (37), Chicago and Washington (tied at 45), New York City (49) and Seattle coming in surprisingly low at 50. Canada did much better with Vancouver at number 4, Ottawa at 14, Toronto at 16, Montreal at 21, and Calgary at 28.

Mercer actually surveyed 221 cities, with Baghdad scoring dead last. Go figure. They also listed the most eco-friendly cities, with Calgary taking the top spot.

Image of Cafe Central, Vienna courtesy Andreas Praefcke via Wikimedia Commons.

Swiss International Air Lines shows their flower power

by Annie Scott on


In celebration of their new flights from Zürich to San Francisco and back, Swiss International Air Lines has decided to wear some flowers in their air (sorry for that pun).

The new nonstop service commences on June 2, and the A340 which will be making the inaugural trip (originating in Zürich) has been painted with a colorful floral design, as well as the words “San Francisco.”

The design was chosen from a selection of three by about 30,000 readers of Switzerland’s 20 Minuten daily paper. It took eight individuals, three days and “almost 400 square metres of special film” to turn the once normal aircraft into a hippie airbus of love. That’s right. I said “hippie airbus of love.”

Inside the airplane are additional surprises! No, there isn’t a mile-high love-in and drugs are still prohibited, but this A340 (registration HB-JMJ) is the first of the SWISS fleet to include the new SWISS Business cabin, which has a unique, spacious seating arrangement and all-new, firmness-adjustable cushions.

The inaugural flight is long sold-out, but to be one of the first to fly ZRH-SFO or SFO-ZRH on SWISS, visit the website.
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Images courtesy of Swiss International Air Lines.

Traveling culinary competition makes for swine time

by Laurel Miller on

Two garish, heavily-tattooed girls approached me and my friend Adrienne, and pointed their weapons at us. “Pig liver mousse?” asked the blonde, aiming a whipped cream dispenser at me. Her brunette counterpart stood silently, wielding a squeeze bottle of barbecue sauce and a tray of meaty tidbits.

Welcome to the second annual Cochon 555, a lard-fueled, traveling circus of five chefs, five winemakers, and five pig carcasses. It’s actually a 10-city tour, with each destination’s chefs engaging in “friendly competition” for a great cause: “to promote and preserve heritage pigs, and breed diversity in local and national communities.”

Heritage livestock are domestic breeds that are threatened with extinction due to the demands of modern agriculture. In the words of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, “Modern food production now favors the use of a few highly specialized breeds selected for maximum output in a controlled environment.”While some may find it ironic and hypocritical to eat, glorify, and promote animals in the name of saving them, you’re entitled to your opinion. For the rest of you, not only do heritage breeds help to preserve genetic diversity, but they also taste better. Many heritage breeds possess a “true” flavor inherent to the animal, i.e., pork tastes…more porky. Heritage breeders in general also have an emphasis on animal welfare, sustainable farming and animal husbandry practices, and regionality, as they’re generally small, family outfits. It’s hard to argue with those ethics if bacon makes you salivate.

I attended Seattle’s Cochon 555 on May 23rd to support the cause, as well as watch local chefs like John Sundstrom (Lark), and Tamara Murphy (Brasa) duke it out. Each competitor is chosen based on their support of local food sourcing and commitment to sustainability; the pigs are sourced from ranches dedicated to preserving heritage breeds. While the chefs prepare tasting plates (they’re allowed free rein on preparation method) for the guests, local family winemakers keep the grape flowing. Guests help select the winning chef by voting for their favorite, along with a panel of 20 judges. The victor of each destination is crowned “Prince or Princess of Porc,” and moves on to compete in the Grand Cochon finale, to be held June 20 at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

Cochon 555 also includes a VIP “Meat & Greet” with local foods and producers, a “Swine & Spirits” mixology showcase, and- my favorite- a demonstration breakdown of a whole pig carcass. San Francisco’s Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats (and producer of the best damn chicharrones on earth) made a guest appearance in Seattle, and proceeded to dismantle a 140-pound pig before an awestruck audience. The results were raffled off, leaving each lucky winner clutching a package of pork to their chest.

Adrienne and I wandered around, sampling everything from tortellini with pig brains in a pork dashi, to apple-bacon ice cream, and red velvet cupcakes with whipped (sweetened) lard frosting. Not everything was good, mind you, and I can live a full life without eating the lard-shortbread version of a Snickers bar ever again, but chef Chester Gerl’s (Matt’s in the Market) cochinita pibil, a Yucatecan-style preparation made from a Red Wattle pig from Lazy S Farm in Kansas , was outstanding. I also thorougly enjoyed the mini “ultimate BLT” of chef Adam Stevenson’s (Earth & Ocean) cocoa-cured bacon, bologna, and smoked coppa, with tomato jam.

While the $125 price tag ($175 for VIP pass) is too steep- at least, at the Seattle event, where the food and drink ran out before the sun even began to set, it’s for an important cause. Even if you don’t eat meat, there’s a dire need for more humane livestock management, and stricter regulation on livestock production, waste management, and processing. As we used to say at the meat shop I once worked at, “Praise the Lard!”