New York - June 08, 2000

Welcome to the Meat Market

Rhone Wine Bar

Your elbows are jamming into some PYT’s Fendi baguette. (Python, ouch!)

The dirty-Helmut-Lang denim-wearing waif to your right is blowing smoke from her American Spirits in your face.

Your Jimmy Choos are killing.

You’re hungry. You’re hot.

You, dear friend, are in the meatpacking district. (Thank you, Pastis et al.)

Pivot 180 degrees, out the door, and around the corner to Rh?ne, a new wine bar (26 French swills by the glass; 8,000 bottles in the cellar). Owned by Jeffrey Goldenstein, the 3,800-square-foot space features mahogany-inlaid floors, black walnut tables, flatter-me-lighting, lilac velvet curtains, and a stunning bar. The menu, conceived by Payson Dennis, the former sous-chef at Gramercy Tavern, (foie gras, roussel fish stew, quenelles rillets, etc…) is not bad either, even if it is still a work in progress.

Go before it catches on. Otherwise, plan on hitting Hell, that quaint little bo?te next door.