Best of New York 2011 • Fun

• Lavo

  39 E. 58th St., nr. Madison Ave. 212-750-5588

  The histrionics of the daytime dance party are well known by now, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still ridiculously fun. The new king of the brunchtime bacchanal is inarguably Lavo, the Vegas-inspired midtown ultralounge, which draws an always-amusing mix of Europeans and publicists, runway models and derivatives traders, New Jersey cougars and MePa club kids. They arrive en masse around 1 p.m. to start coating their stomachs with white-polenta pancakes, breakfast pizzas, and colossal bottles of rosé Champagne. By three, everyone is balancing on banquettes and shouting over Abba. Order a four-figure magnum (like the six-liter Perrier-Jouët for $2,250) and it may be delivered by a costumed server: a woman painted gold, perhaps, or a little person standing on the table pouring a bottle bigger than himself.

  See Also: Chatting Up All the Revelers at Lavo

From the 2011 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine